The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Released Jun 10, 1943

2h 43m

Drama

War

Romance

List

97%

Tomatometer

34 Reviews

90%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

General Candy (Roger Livesey), who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women (all played by Deborah Kerr), and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

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Critics Consensus

A moving evocation of both British values and the passage of time, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is an epic portrait of a singular character by Powell and Pressburger.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

This glorious film is about the greatest mystery of all: how old people were once young, and how young people are in the process of becoming old.

Rated: 5/5

May 17, 2012

Full Review

Wally Hammond

Little White Lies

Staggering and heartbreaking. Still.

Rated: 5/5

May 17, 2012

Full Review

Alan Morrison

Empire Magazine

A wonderful salute to British decency and a touching portrait of a friendship that bridges national boundaries.

Rated: 5/5

May 14, 2012

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Zita Short

InSession Film

A more precious, overly serious young actress would have given a stiff, overly mannered performance in the role Kerr was handed but she works wonders with it.

Feb 10, 2023

Full Review

Edward Porter

Sunday Times (UK)

This portrait is deeply moving and executed with great cinematic flair...

Dec 5, 2022

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Only together could Powell and Pressburger create such a balanced and visionary body of work, its bounds and sophistication matched only by its boldness and passion.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 20, 2022

Full Review

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Alec B

A deeply complex epic that avoids the often cheep romanticizing you get from similar films made during WWII. Certain sequences (i.e. the duel) are way ahead of anything else being made at this time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/09/24

Full Review

Matthew B

There are two types of character who often appear as a villain in the conventional World War 2 movie. These are the German officer, and the out-of-touch senior official on our side who has no understanding of what war is really like. The former features in the more gung-ho flag-wavers, and the latter in the cynical anti-war film. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp has both these characters in it, only here they are the movie's heroes. If this was a revisionist war movie made many years later, we could understand this challenging of stereotypes, but Colonel Blimp was made in the middle of the war. It is hardly surprising that these two decisions led to some criticism of the film. While Michael Powell was an unashamed patriot, and Colonel Blimp is a celebration of Britishness, Powell was broad-minded enough to not feel a sense of jingoistic nationalism. He took pride in the fact that the film crew for Colonel Blimp included a mixture of nationalities. There are prejudiced remarks by characters in his films, but there are also many sympathetic portrayals of other nations – Americans, Canadians, Dutch people, Scottish people, Greeks, and, yes, even Germans. What made Colonel Blimp different is that it is about a British officer who seems to be out of step with his country, making the addition of a ‘good' German seem all the more outrageous. There are many qualities about Candy that we may not like. His patriotism is blind, and his sense of honour causes him to view the world through blinkers. He is gentlemanly to the ladies, but seems to think that their place is in the home. He hunts wild game, and his walls are festooned with the heads of all the wild animals that he has killed. Nonetheless there is much to admire and love in Candy. He is brave, honourable, courteous and respectful. When he gets angry, he is quick to apologise and forgive. His patriotism is tempered with an open mind. His best friend is a German officer who caused him a serious injury in a duel. He is also romantic, and a part of him stays youthful, even into old age. Michael Powell manages the difficult task of making a movie that is both pro-British and critical of the British army. He also accomplishes the even harder undertaking of creating a hero who is both admirable and wrong. The film ends with Candy staring sadly at a leaf in water, and remembering his wife. However as the army marches past, he forgets his self-pity. He turns to face the soldiers, stands to attention and salutes. The film's final impression is that while Clive may be wrong-headed, we have lost something loyal, noble and brave in the passing of such officers. I wrote a longer appreciation of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/the-life-and-death-of-colonel-blimp-1943/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/28/23

Full Review

mike d

Absolute rubbish. Don't know why everyone is saying it's the greatest film ever made. Must be a joke.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If I could have understood anything in the first 15 minutes of this film I would have ranked it a bit higher. I love all the work of Powell and Pressburger, but this one I will happily ignore.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/20/22

Full Review

Christopher B

Often considered one of the greatest British films of all time, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp tells the story of Clive Candy over the course of four decades. The film captures numerous British sensibilities and traditions as well as a look into the country's past and it's citizens during wartime. The film is a deep and complex character study and one that while slowly paced tells a nuanced and moving story.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/07/22

Full Review

William L

Simultaneously a satire on traditional British sensibilities in the face of a dynamic, entirely uncompromising, and comprehensively evil enemy, and a touching character study in its slightly misguided, but largely moral and wholesome protagonist. Livesey's Candy gradually transforms from lively idealist, to refined intellectual (albeit one tainted with naivete), and finally to a jaded, resolute pragmatist. The film provides a poignant take on generational parallels while still recognizing the role of change in the world that must be accounted for. At once, a celebration of British culture and a satire of its shortcomings, particularly its overreliance on tradition and formality. For the period, exceptionally vivid color certainly adds to the spectacle. I do feel that the triple role of Kerr as a unifying figure between the British and German home lives of yesteryear and the more modern world that Candy ultimately finds himself in is somewhat hokey, though. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/07/20

Full Review

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Michael Powell

Director

Emeric Pressburger

Director

Roger Livesey

Clive Candy

Deborah Kerr

Edith Hunter

Anton Walbrook

Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff

John Laurie

Murdoch

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Synopsis

General Candy (Roger Livesey), who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women (all played by Deborah Kerr), and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Screenwriter: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Production Co: Independent Producers, The Archers
Genre: Drama, War, Romance
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 10, 1943, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 4, 1945
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 8, 2017
Runtime: 2h 43m

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