Steve Crook

That looks like it's been lifted straight from
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (edited by Ian Christie)
By: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
London: Faber & Faber, June 1994. ISBN 0-571-14355-5

Who runs that site?
Who added that script?
Ian Christie might be interested in their copyright theft

Steve

Angerr

I haven't thought of that.
As of who runs the site, I haven't slightest idea - just googled it out.

Frantisek Kotas

Steve Crook

The book's quite cheap to buy and has a lot more information in it like all the memos to & from Churchill which show the measures he tried to take to ban the film

Steve

TimR

I have just finished the film for the first time. I found it absolutely shattering in its cumulative impact.

For the first two thirds, I enjoyed it thoroughly as an expertly made intimate epic, but beginning with the scene where Kretschmar-Schuldorff applies for residency in Britain, it suddenly moved to a deeper level and I realized that P&P and that superb cast were working on that level from the beginning, and that it was only at that moment that I realized the hold the film had on me.

The scene where Kretschmar-Schuldorff tells Candy that he is an honorable man living by a code that is no longer enough to defeat the enemy is one of the finest scenes I have ever seen in a film. The complex mix of deep sadness and goodness is found only in true art.

I am glad that I waited until I was well into my 40s before seeing this for the first time. I would not have appreciated it as much if I had seen it when I was a younger man.

"Home was never like this"

"Mine was"

penfold

I know what you mean; I was 18 when I first saw the film, newly restored, on British TV; I loved it then, but I can't say I fully understood it...I'm not entirely sure I fully understand it now 26 years later, but I understand more of it. It's part of the reason it's both my favourite film and my nomination for the greatest film ever made. My first reaction was to want to see it again from the beginning straight away - because I had just seen the same event (The run-up to and the capture in the Turkish baths) and yet felt entirely different about the two sequences; because of how we had got to know the character of Candy in the intervening sequences. Add to that the stunning set-pieces such as the Aliens Board speech, the other sequence soon after, when K-S realises that Candy was always in love with Edith when he sees Johnny Cannon for the first time - still makes me cry after the Lord knows how many viewings.... - this is why it has been my favourite film for a very long time and my nomination for the greatest film ever made.
People in the past have compared it to Kane, because of the elliptical structure; but this has heart, a compassion for all the characters (except the '01 Prussians perhaps) which kane lacks...I would not change a word of the script, one piece of casting, one camerashot. I think it's perfect. And you will see much more in the details on repeated viewings. Glad you enjoyed it....!!

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

Ditto, except that I think it even has compassion for those '01 Prussians. It recognises them as being caught in a strange system, but doesn't condemn them for it. Maybe laughs at them slightly like when they're arranging the duel, but it's never cruel about them.


I always think it's very interesting, given that it was made during a desperate struggle with Germany where the outcome wasn't all that certain, that it's the German who gets the best speeches. Theo's two speeches, the one in the alien's tribunal and the one after Clive's aborted broadcast. They are two great speeches.

And don't forget the ladies. Deborah not only gives a great triple performance, especially bearing in mind that it was so early in her film career. But the characters she portrays show the changing roles and positions of women through the years covered. Edith Hunter didn't have the vote. Barbara Wynne didn't have the vote when we first met her. By the time she tells Clive not to hum she probably does have it thanks to her position in society due to her father and her husband. Johnny Cannon has the vote, regardless of her "position" in society, and she dares to tell her revered boss that he must change his ways

Steve

stevie boy

Hi Tim, anyone reading your post who has not seen this film, will do so now. So congratulations as you will inspire people to discover the world of Powell & Pressburger., great post

TimR

The single most moving scene in the film for me is at the very end: the simple exchange between Candy and Johnny and Kretschmar-Schuldorff regarding the young officer who had humiliated him. Candy will not have him punished harshly and will probably invite him for dinner - just as he and Kretschmar-Schuldorff had reconciled forty years before after the duel. The difference, though, is that this time the officer is not a gentleman, and took advantage of Candy in a way that Kretschmar-Schuldorff never would. He asks Candy: you may treat him honorably but will he become the grand old man you have turned out to be? The implicit answer is no.

But it is not a sentimental scene: The point is that Candy cannot change. He belongs to a world that is dead, but he cannot leave the code of honor and courtesy and decency that he has known all his life.

The other scene that stood out to me upon a second viewing is the meeting in the POW camp, where Kretschmar-Schuldorff turns away from Candy in front of his fellow officers. It simply never occurs to Candy that four years of mutual killing between their nations would have an effect on a friendship. The Hebrides Overture begins as Kretschmar-Schuldorff walks away, leaving Candy genuinely bewildered. Marvelous.

I have been fascinated all my life with the question: What happened to the west? How did the pre-1914 world disappear so completely? This seems to me the most significant historical question in recent history. More than any other film, this provides an answer - and it is an extraordinary achievement.

"Home was never like this"

"Mine was"

TimR

Thanks Stevie. Discovering the films of Powell and Pressburger in the last six months has been a real voyage of discovery, comparable to my discovery of the great silent classics in my twenties. I found two masterpieces that I did not know existed: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Canterbury Tale , and there are still many I have not seen. If anyone is encouraged to view their films based on a comment I have been made, I would be honored.

Next on the list: A Matter of Life and Death.

"Home was never like this"

"Mine was"

Steve Crook

Candy does change, slightly. He recognises that the world about him is changing and that must lead to the "Death of Colonel Blimp" in the title. But he can still be a man of honour whenever that is possible.

But Clive, dear old Clive, is an innocent adrift in the world through most of it. It's Theo who gets all the best speeches and he is the one who has the most insight into the changing world. Not bad for a German character in a film made when Britain was in the middle of a life and death struggle with Germany

You can see why it upset some people in positions of authority

Steve

Steve Crook

I'm (almost) jealous. There's nothing quite like the first viewing. But that film does stand repeated viewings more than any other film I know.

I'd be most interested to hear what you think of it

Steve

scholes

Having just watched it myself last week for the first time it seems to convey also the difference between the honourable Prussian of pre 1914 and the evil of Nazism.
The solitude of Kretschmar-Schuldorff as a German exile appealed to me greatly.
The loss of his wife and the sad loss of his two sons to the Hitler youth is particularly moving especially when said to the desk clerk who is totally unmoved by his plight.
Candy's almost over-bearing sincerity is quite sad. He lived by a code and would never change. When he told K-S that he'd never really got over being in love with his wife was perhaps the most moving part of the film.
It is a film I need to see again, but I was very impressed . I purchased it as part of a three box set including "I know where I'm going" and "A matter of life and death".


I also learned the following
1)Blackadder the 4th. signiture tune British Grenadiers-was that a suggestion by Stephen Fry?
2)A possible role model for the mannerisms of General Melchitt. Behhhhhhhh..that's the ticket Blackadder!!
3)Penfold's signature!

The only P&P film I saw befor that was The 49th. Parallel,and it's sympathetic take on the U-boat crew, presumably conveyed a similar message that honourable Germans even existed during WWII. A very forward looking view for a 1941 film.

Steve Crook

Interesting to hear your comments, thanks.
I'd like to know what you think about the other two as well

Penfold's signature - yes, that's where it comes from.
As to the other two, Stephen Fry has come out as a definite fan of the film (did that DVD include A Profile of 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' where Stephen talks about it?
But I think that the British Grenadiers and WWI British generals being idiots might be too much of a well known generalisation to attribute it to Stephen's liking of the film.

Forward looking and quite risky, that view didn't make them many friends. And bear in mind that 49th Parallel was the only P&P film where they got any form of direct government sponsorship or support.

For Blimp, after Churchill was told about it (but not shown a script) and railed against it, the order went out that P&P shouldn't get any help from the Army. But they still managed to get those trucks, uniforms and despatch riders

Steve

scholes

Thanks Steve for a very informative response.
Didn't have a special features disc, oh mind you I'm not quite sure, but I'll check.
I'm also a big David Low fan from whose mind the character originated.
I have seen both the other two films but thought discusssion of same would be more appropriate to the relevant thread.
Needless to say they are very touching films.
Livesey gives top performances in each.

Steve Crook

The A Profile of ... documentaries are on the Carlton (Granada / ITV DVD) releases of Blimp, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. They are all very interesting documentaries. They're on the "£1 per DVD" HMV boxed set.

That's one of the big puzzles about Roger Livesey. He did quite a few other films but the only time he gave great performances on film was in the 3 he did for Powell & Pressburger, Blimp, AMOLAD & IKWIG. Was it because they were the only times he was given the lead in a film? He had 2nd male lead in a few others, like Midshipman Easy and The Drum but it's those 3 P&P films that seem to have brought out his best performances

Steve