Freddy

Watching Blimp fully for the first time yesterday two things struck me. The first was the black motorcyle rider who carried Blimp through the battlefield. Although many thousands of Black and coloured men fought in WW1, very few had been featured in either film or newsreels.

The second and more fascinating turn up was the newspaper Blimp was reading after the end of WW1. The paper was dated 1919 and one headline read 'Murder in Liverpool' and the word 'drowned' in the article.
1919 was a time of race riots in some of the port and major cities across Britain. The background of this was that many Blacks and Asians, either resident in Britain or from the Colonies had enlisted in the Army or had found work on Merchant Navy ships, replacing the white seamen who had joined the Royal Navy. Many also found work in the docks and factories supporting the war effort. The end of WW1 caused unrest when many Blacks and Asians lost their jobs to the returning white ex-servicemen. In Liverpool the stabbing of a West Indian by 2 Scandinavians led to more violence which eventually resulted in the death of Charles Wooten, a 24 year old Caribbean sailor who was thrown into Queens Dock by a mob where he was stoned as he tried to swim to safety. He died in the water. This is what I am assuming the article is about. In Cardiff the violence led to three deaths and many more injured. The aftermath of these riots led to the government repatriating hundreds of unemployed Black and Indian workers, including I would assume soldiers and sailors, many of whom had their British Citizenship revoked.

Was the newspaper,date and article a subtle way of Pressburger's (who had entered Britain on a stateless passport) of reminding us that you needn't have been born in this country to want to fight for it. And in peacetime we should all remember that.
As Steve has mentoned in the previous post "No people in the world other than the English would have had the courage, in the midst of war, to tell the people such unvarnished truth."


regards

Freddy

Steve Crook

The black motorcycle rider is a fascinating character. Remember that that scene was in WWI and most coloured Americans were only allowed to act as drivers and other jobs behind the lines. There were a few fighting units (segregated), but only a few. It wasn't that much different in WWII.

The motorcyclist is played by Norris Smith. He didn't get an on screen credit in Blimp but a lot of people in short roles like his didn't get one either. Norris's only other known appearance on screen is in Diamond City (1949) which starred David Farrar and Niall MacGinnis (both P&P regulars) and Diana Dors.

Some people have said he over-does the "Yessir, massah" and comes over a bit too like an Uncle Tom character. We don't know if that was how he was directed, how he chose to do it or if that's how black Americans had to act at the time to survive in the American military.

As for the newspaper, I'd never read the rest of it. I only read the bit about "No more khaki for the looms" which is the part relevant to the story. But checking it on a DVD, it doesn't seem to be about the case you mention.

It's from the Bradford Daily Telegraph of Friday, June 6th 1919 (yes, it was a Friday).
The main headline of "Liverpool Murder" is followed by a few other sub-headlines which say:
Suspect Found in River
Inquest on Artilleryman Home on leave
An Open Verdict

So it was a gunner that died, not a sailor. And it was the suspect found in the river, not the victim. A bit further down there's another sub-heading that says "...Eight Days in the Water"

But that's not to say that the case you mention, and probably others like it, didn't happen. Although big ports like Liverpool, London & Cardiff were fairly well integrated and had been for years, something like the end of the war and the people that had been away fighting coming home and wanting their old jobs back would be sure to cause some problems.

Steve

Freddy

Cheers Steve,



It was frustrating that I wasn't taping it at the time so I couldn't play it back. Thanks for clearing it up.

regards
Freddy

David Brent

Welcome back to the forum Freddy, you have been missed.

Dave.

David Brent

Hi Nick,

In this part of the world it is only available to purchase through the three DVD compilation.

Dave.

Steve Crook

It's available on various DVDs.
The Carlton DVD includes a 25 minute documentary A Profile of 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'
The Criterion DVD includes the Carlton documentary plus commentary by Scorsese and Powell (made for the Criterion laserdisc)
The L'Institut Lumière DVD is a double DVD, the first contains the film with the original soundtrack (so mainly in English) with optional French subtitles plus an introduction by Bertrand Tavernier (in French with optional English subtitles) plus the original trailers for Le Narcisse Noir, Les Chaussons Rouges & 49e Parallèle
The 2nd disk contains:
Memories of Michael (Part 2) by Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell
(In English with French subtitles); 12 min;
A Daring Adventurer (Part 3) by Bertrand Tavernier
(In French with English subtitles); 20 min
A Profile of 'Colonel Blimp'
(In English with French subtitles); 26 min (Prod Carlton)
The Making of an Englishman
A documentary by Kevin Macdonald about Emeric Pressburger
(In English with French subtitles); 51 min
+ A luxurious 48 page leaflet (en Français)

penfold

Powell always prided himself in the amount of research taken to get the details right in Blimp; for instance the first interview at Military Intelligence, there's a copy of The Strand on the table, the Chief asks about Hound of the Baskervilles...at the right part in the plot for the serialisation, on the date the interview is set.
Is Norris Smith going over the top?? Perhaps, but as he was born in 1883, he would have known better than anyone now how Southern States black males would have behaved back then...

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

orpheum

when blimp is in the turkish bath is Livesey wearing a rubber suit as per Little Britain or Eddie Murphy or is it a double.Often we only see a rear shot although i think that there is a shot from the front when he falls in the bath with the army officer?

Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

penfold

A bit of both, skilfully cut together...a Wynne-Candy bodydouble, when we don't see Roger's face, and Roger wearing a 'carapace', fake chest and belly ensemble, for when we do....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

That's another case where digital film might not do them any favours. When you see it in 35mm, even on a big screen, it's very hard to see the join between Roger and his "fat suit" carapace. But on a very big screen, if you're close to the screen and looking carefully, the join is just about visible

But the way he puffs up his face to suit a gentleman carrying that much weight is amazing.

Yes, when Clive attacks Spud (James McKechnie) and pushes him into the bath, that is the body double we see from the back, although we then see a close-up of Clive's face and that's Roger again of course.

BTW if you look carefully, James McKechnie can hardly suppress a smile as he gets beaten up

Steve

Freddy

Cheers Dave,
I've been a long way away.
Good to be back.



Freddy

Freddy

Interestingly the murder of Charles Wooten occurred in the second week of June as well.
When I'm in Liverpool next will nip into the Library and see what info I can find on that incident.
Also fascinating was how after WW1 poor demobilisation schemes led to unrest and rioting not only amongst British servicemen but also those from the Commonwealth and Dominions. Could it be that the experience of the British soldier after WW1 was one of the reasons why Churchill was defeated and a Labour Govt. elected at the end of the Second World War.

regards

Freddy

penfold

I doubt the voters memories went back that far. Far more likely would be the way Churchill tried to demonise the Labour Party as rampaging communists, trying to destroy the country, despite most of the Labour cabinet having served well and loyally in key positions in the wartime coalition. Combine that with a desire to move forward and modernise....and Attlee was the moderniser, not Churchill.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

stevie boy

What an absolutely riveting thread. I must watch this beauty again.

Angerr

Here is a very interesting thing - script for Blimp with notes and revisions. Enjoy.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SUGAR CANDY retitled to THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP Script

Frantisek Kotas