moonfleet

O.K, there is the friendship between the so told "ennemies", but the main thing in this film, for me, are the love stories.....

Clive Candy and Edith Hunter are in love, no doubt, we know their growing relationship, but not the one between she and Kretschmar-Schuldorff(and I have no grandchildrens!).Not to declare he(Candy) loves her in time (adding that she sent him lots of signals !), so he lost her and she goes with the other one....
Candy didn't realize at the time, but after, it's too late. And he spends his lifetime hunting (all animals of the creation !) and mainly looking for her.
Deborah Kerr and Roger Livesey are so well matched....it's a crime !

But this is the way storie goes...

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

Keechelus

Yep -- found, lost, found-and-lost love.

BLIMP's undercurrent of human romance is nicely played across 40 years. Clive lost his first great love, Edith, to Theo - willingly, as the story tells us.

Clive's Barbara was his life's heart, a complete partner until her untimely death. When Theo and Clive meet again in 1939, Edith and Barbara are both gone. Perhaps worse for Theo, his son with Edith is also lost to the Nazi machine, leaving him without a country and a family. His memories of Edith are marred by their son's rejection of Theo's code of honour and Edith's decency.

PnP were maybe too clever in casting Kerr as Edith and Barbara, and pushing it farther in bringing her in again as the WAC driver Johnnie - but it works for me.

BLIMP is not a romance nor a war movie. It is a character study set in difficult times. A helluva success.

Steve Crook

Clive was in love with Edith, but was she in love with him?
Edith might have grown to love Clive in Berlin - but he spent too much time with Frau von Kalteneck (played by Roger Livesey's own wife, Ursula Jeans).

I think Clive's love for Edith only developed fully (into an obsession?) after they parted and Edith was already in love with Theo by then

We never get to know Barbara very well, but she obviously adores Clive

'Johnny' has a lot of love/respect/affection for Clive


And what about the other love story? The love between Clive and Theo? A love between two people doesn't have to have anything of a sexual nature. Two friends can love each other as deeply as any sexual partnership

Steve

penfold

I've changed my mind on this over the years - now, I think she was; replay that scene wher he congratulates her and gets an embrace; Edith's expression (Which Clive never sees - her head is beside his) gives her away.
She will be loyal to Theo - but I think she was in love with Clive first.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

moonfleet

I agree completely.

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

narabdela

Same here. It's a subtle but telling moment from an astonishing film.

penfold

It's just my favourite of all time - and it bears the repeated scrutiny I've given it over the years. Such complexity, worn lightly. If there is one film that can stand comparison with the classics of high art, it's this one.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

I know the scene you mean. But back then (1916) the women waited to be courted and Clive was busy with that Kalteneck woman. There's certainly regret in Edith's expression.

Steve

penfold

1901/2 .....and while you are right about the mores of the time, in many ways Edith was ahead of her time. Perhaps she didn't realise herself until that point.....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

moonfleet

Clive was not busy, he didn't realize in time !!...and when Edith said good-bye, she kissed him on the mouth !!...which made him a bit disconcerting...but he let(ted?) it goes...

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"