Posted on 07/21/2019 9:14:44 AM PDT by Rummyfan
The unintentional theme of this year's movie columns has been "accidental movies": ones I watched and ended up loving, despite a slow start or homely title.
So it's fitting that today I talk about Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943).
Based on its awkward moniker, I'd long assumed that The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was one of those grimy, eat-your-spinach English anti-war comedies like The Bed Sitting Room and Oh, What a Lovely War. So what was it doing on so many "greatest movies of all time" (or at the very least, "Greatest British movies") lists?
Weirder still is that "Colonel Blimp" was a once-famous British cartoon character, a walrus-like blowhard spouting jingoistic clichés. His name quickly became a byword for Establishment ignorance and arrogance.
An unlikely inspiration for a superb film — until you recall that Coppola's The Godfather was based on a trashy "airport" novel, hastily written by an aging, unknown author who knew nothing about the Mafia, but was desperate to keep loan sharks from breaking his legs.
So to get a sense of what an awe-inspiring achievement today's movie is, imagine Wes Anderson — without a single ironic wink — turning Hagar the Horrible into an elliptical, enigmatic epic to rival Citizen Kane.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
A film society can legally show archival restorations. Such revival theaters make use of that. The restorations breathe new life into old b&w films.
I adore that movie! Roger Livesey of the throaty voice! Don’t you want to kill Dame Wendy on occasion especially when she puts everyone in danger with her perilous sea journey? She’s one of my very favorite actresses. Just brilliant.
Oh, yes. The color is amazing! I first saw it as a little girl in a dumpy motel in Gettysburg where we had gone to take a tour of the battlefield. It was on at night and it mesmerized me. Particularly Kathleen Bryon’s frightening performance - very Kabuki!
Yes, her character really grows throughout. Kind of like Colonel Blimp, she goes back in time with music, styles, customs, etc. to discover what really counts. The character development is so rich and economical. Catriona McLain, Colonel Barnstaple, and the others seem very real. The curse (and its final rendering through the remembered nanny) is perfect. “He shall be chained to a woman, and he shall die in his chains.” Now THAT’s romance.
Powell and Pressburger were amazing filmmakers.
We watched it last night because of this thread. The title is ironic of course, because her life instantly goes off track because she doesn’t have a clue about what she wants until she meets Roger Livesey. I love Pamela Brown in the film too - she’s the country girl with the wonderful deep voice and leonine hair.
OK: I bought the DVD and watched it all the way through.
Now, why did you like it so much? I must have missed something..
OK everybody - I kept my word and found a DVD of this turkey on e-bay and watched the whole movie.
It was slow-moving, oddly paced, cartoonish in its characters and it took enormous force of will to finish it.
Why did you like it?
Yes, it was slow-moving and oddly-paced. That’s true.
I was attracted to it because Churchill tried to have it canned. The way I heard it, he didn’t want the British high command to be portrayed as a bunch of relics (like the Blimp character) who were unwilling to engage in total war against Hitler. Fortunately, our guys were warriors instead of gentlemen.
“The world might have been a better place in 1900 than it was in 1942, but we don’t have the option of responding like they did in 1900, do we?” I think that’s a question the film poses several times and tries to answer.
As a war film, it’s terrible. Like one of the doughboys says about Blimp’s experience in South Africa: “that wasn’t war.”
It’s not my favorite of the Pressburger/Powell movies but considering your post, I’d direct you to Jackass Two - you might enjoy that.
Cute.
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