Guide Rating -

Tagline: "An unforgettable story of forty gallant years."

The central character in "Blimp" is Clive Candy, portrayed brilliantly by Roger Livesey in a performance that reminds me in some ways of Orson Welles playing the title role in "Citizen Kane" (1941). But I don't think there's much similarity between the British film and the American one. "Blimp" presents a warmhearted, affectionate portrait of its central character, and I see the British movie as basically a comedy, albeit one with serious overtones.

Perhaps I should mention that there is no character named Blimp in the film "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp." The movie's title is metaphorical. Colonel Blimp was a print cartoon character created in the 1930s by David Low, whose concept was to satirize the British old guard who erroneously believed the British Empire was still going strong and anachronistically tried to uphold the feudal-aristocratic tradition. The DVD contains a few examples of Low's cartoons, and while the film character Clive Candy is far more complex than the cartoon character Colonel Blimp, there are enough similarities that the movie's title is apt.

"The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" focuses on three periods in the life of Clive Candy. The earliest period is in 1902, when young Lieutenant Candy has just returned to England from the Boer War as a decorated hero. The middle period is 1918-1919, when Brigadier General Candy serves in Belgium during World War I, then returns home and gets married. The final period is 1939-1942, when Clive remains in England and contributes to the World War II effort, particularly to the Home Guard. Clive is an admirable and likable man, but he fails to grasp that the 1902 ideals of clean soldiering and honest fighting are luxuries that cannot be afforded in the battle against the Nazis.

Austrian-born actor Anton Walbrook does a fine job in playing the German career officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff. Clive and Theo first meet as opponents in a saber duel in 1902 Berlin, but this doesn't keep them from forming a beautiful friendship. Later, Theo serves in the German army during World War I, and upon his release from a POW camp in 1919, he and Clive renew their friendship. Theo leaves Germany when Hitler comes to power and by 1939 is living in England, where Clive has his old German friend move in with him. It's Theo who helps Clive finally come to the reluctant realization that the Nazis are different from previous threats and that old-fashioned concepts of fair play have no place in World War II.

Deborah Kerr, who was only 20 years old when the movie was shot, plays three roles in the film, and it's easy to see why she went on to Hollywood stardom. She first plays the vivacious Edith Hunter in 1902 Berlin, and Clive takes Edith as his notion of the ideal woman. Later, Kerr portrays Barbara Wynne, the woman Clive marries in England in 1919. And in her third role, Kerr plays Angela "Johnny" Cannon, Clive's feisty military driver during 1939-1942. Incidentally, Michael Powell and Deborah Kerr became engaged to be married during the filming of "Colonel Blimp," but the wedding never took place.

World War II was still raging when "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" was released, and like most films made during the war, there is propaganda in the movie. But I find it interesting that Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the British government not only refused to cooperate in making the film, they opposed its release. The main objections were probably the movie's depiction of a British general too obtuse to comprehend the nature of the Nazi threat, its sympathetic portrayal of a German officer, and the message that the Brits would have to fight dirty to win World War II.

One of the things I like best about "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" is its complexity. At one level it's about an aging man failing to come to grips with a changing world, but it's also an elegy to a code of conduct whose time has passed, an unlikely friendship that spans 40 years, and a man's search for his ideal woman. And I love the way Powell and Pressburger accomplish all this with such a light, deft touch. The film is visually beautiful, and there are never any unpleasant images. Of course, Clive Candy sometimes comes across as a blustering old fool, but in the final analysis, he's one of the most lovable characters in film history. For my part, I agree with Theo when, near the end of the movie, he calls Clive a "grand old man."

The DVD comes with some nice bonus materials. There's a rather good feature-length audio commentary track containing remarks mostly by Michael Powell interspersed with some commentary by Martin Scorsese, although it sounds like the two men were recorded separately. There are also a lot of production and publicity stills, and the 24-minute documentary about the movie is worth watching. Finally, there's a selection of Colonel Blimp cartoons that helped me understand the film a little better.