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Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyMovies: "Blimp" Is Back! British
Gem Is Beautifully Restored
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP ***
1/2
FILM FORUM
MOMA: TO SAVE AND PROJECT 9TH MOMAINTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FILM
PRESERVATION
I suppose every great filmmaker is unique in some way -
- otherwise they wouldn't be truly great. But the British
team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is sounusual, it almost beggars belief. Many of their best
films are such odd ducks, such weird conglomerations of
genres and tone, that they almost seem to create theirown new categories film by film. A Matter Of Life And
Death aka Stairway To Heaven is a strange concoction of fancy and fantasy and World War II and
romance. It may be my favorite film of theirs and you'll simply find nothing like it before or since. TheRed Shoes is a visually erotic feast that delivers a little girl's dream of being a ballerina combined with
very adult concerns. Black Narcissus is a fairy tale crossed with sexy nuns locked in feverish desire with a
soupcon about the fading British empire. One could go on, but clearly their very best films are strikingly
different.
This is certainly true for The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp , a movie I was eager to see in its restored
state. The film opens for a two week run at Film Forum on November 18. It's a highlight of To Save And
Project, the annual film festival at MOMA celebrating movies that have been preserved and restored.
Organized by Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator of MOMA's Department of Film, it's an annual highlight of
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Posted: 11/15/11 04:07 PM ET
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MOMA's film calendar and runs through November 25, with numerous choice movies worth catching like
three programs devoted to the work of director Jack Smith.
But Blimp was a highlight, featuring an introduction by director Martin Scorsese (a huge fan and a key
figure in the preserving of their work) and the great film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who was married
to Michael Powell for the last six years of his life. But of course the movie itself was the main treat. Therestoration is just stunning: the Technicolor film looks positively dazzling, with Blimp roasting in a
Turkish bath quite like a Christmas goose. Roger Livesey is the star and he ages from a young man to a
heavy set blustery old fellow in a ham-free performance that is astonishing from beginning to end.Scorsese says Robert De Niro asked Powell how it was done (the aging) and Powell said, "It's acting." Notfair, since the makeup is exceptionally well done, especially for a color film of that era. (Aging still is hard
to do; just go see J. Edgar if you doubt me.)
I've always been a little confused about the idea of Colonel Blimp. It's shorthand in the UK for a pompous
old fool, jingoistic and silly and a figure that would be ridiculous if he didn't still wield power or peoplewith power didn't still listen to his sort. Blimp was a cartoon character that first appeared in the EveningStandard in the 1930s.
Since this film is called The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp you might reasonably expect it to be a
scathing satire of such buffoons. But you'd be wrong. Many things are remarkable about the film but
perhaps the most subtle is the fact that our Blimpian hero (called Clive Candy, VC) looks precisely like a
Blimp right down to the outrageous moustache and walrusy face and yet he is nothing of the sort. Thefilm humanizes Blimp or more precisely shows us a man who the superficial might dismiss as an old twit
stuck in his ways but is in fact a thoughtful, intelligent and humane person who is not remotely jingoistic
or ignorant of the cost of war.
Blimp/Candy is a sweetheart in fact and the vehicle by which Powell and Pressburger question the very
act of war, especially when it involves atrocities and attacks on civilians, and wonders if war is alwaysworth winning if it means losing your soul. As if that's not enough, the movie pivots around the genuine
and warm friendship between Blimp/Candy and the German he duels with (another brilliant bit of acting,
by Anton Walbrook) after the Boer war. (Nothing cements a friendship like a good sword fight.) Nowhere's the mind-blowing part of this: The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp -- a movie by the most British
of British filmmakers when resources were slim that questions war itself, warns against brutality against
the enemy, features a friendship between British and German soldiers -- was released in the UK on June
10, 1943 at the height of the war and the day before Britain launched a massive air raid on Dusseldorf,Germany with some 700 planes dropping untold numbers of bombs on the city, a site of steelworks andoil plants. No wonder Churchill hated it.
Romance is also key to Blimp , which begins in the midst of World War II and flashes back (after
Blimp/Candy is held underwater in that Turkish bath and a voice intones rather goofily "40 years
ago...40 years ago...") to the early 1900s. Candy befriends the German he dueled with while they're both
recuperating in hospital and daily visited by a lovely English woman (played by Deborah Kerr). TheGerman and Kerr announce their engagement and Candy is thoroughly delighted for about two secondsuntil he realizes with despair that he too is madly in love with the girl. Candy spends the rest of the film
looking for a woman who can match this ideal -- and in a way he succeeds, since Kerr plays two other
female roles. Her performance is also terrific, for she makes each woman subtly different from the rest;it's a marvelous film debut.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
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Several moments will stay with you for a long time, like the German's plea at the border to be allowed to
escape from Germany into England and Candy's own ruminations on the cost of war. This Blimpian
fellow is as far from Blimp as one can get and still be a war veteran of a certain age. None of what I've
said captures the delicious...tone of the film, the delightful sensibility that permeates every scene. It's
mature, intelligent, understanding, droll, humane and intoxicating; don't ask me how it creates that
mood but it does and it's key to the film's pleasure.
It's shocking but somehow not really surprising to hear that 20% or 30% or so of all movies ever made
are lost. Back in the early 1900s, who worried about film history when a bunch of lousy two-reelers wereclogging up a studio's basement or posing a fire hazard? But I am frequently stunned that classic films bymajor directors can fall into disrepair. When Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window needs restoring, when
movies by legends of British cinema like Powell-Pressburger only survive because Scorsese reaches intohis own pocket to help pay for that rescue, you realize that no film is safe. That's why film festivals likeTo Save And Project at MOMA are so imporant and why any chance to see a movie like The Life And
Death Of Colonel Blimp on a big screen should not be missed.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to screening at MOMA with the understanding that
he would be writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
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Michael Giltz
Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Movies , Film Forum , Martin Scorsese , Moma , Powell-Pressburger , Thelma-
Schoonmaker , Entertainment News
7 29 0 0React
Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyMovies: "Blimp" Is Back! British
Gem Is Beautifully Restored
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP ***
1/2
FILM FORUM
MOMA: TO SAVE AND PROJECT 9TH MOMAINTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FILM
PRESERVATION
I suppose every great filmmaker is unique in some way -
- otherwise they wouldn't be truly great. But the British
team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is sounusual, it almost beggars belief. Many of their best
films are such odd ducks, such weird conglomerations of
genres and tone, that they almost seem to create theirown new categories film by film. A Matter Of Life And
Death aka Stairway To Heaven is a strange concoction of fancy and fantasy and World War II and
romance. It may be my favorite film of theirs and you'll simply find nothing like it before or since. TheRed Shoes is a visually erotic feast that delivers a little girl's dream of being a ballerina combined with
very adult concerns. Black Narcissus is a fairy tale crossed with sexy nuns locked in feverish desire with a
soupcon about the fading British empire. One could go on, but clearly their very best films are strikingly
different.
This is certainly true for The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp , a movie I was eager to see in its restored
state. The film opens for a two week run at Film Forum on November 18. It's a highlight of To Save And
Project, the annual film festival at MOMA celebrating movies that have been preserved and restored.
Organized by Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator of MOMA's Department of Film, it's an annual highlight of
FOLLOW US
Funny
Thanksgiving
QuotesTurkey Day Parade
Michele's Makeup
MistakesObama Girls Are
Grown Up!EDITION: U.S.
November 24, 2011
Like 63
Posted: 11/15/11 04:07 PM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this storyGet Entertainment Alerts
Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIESCONNECT
FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORELike 51KRihanna Movies Television The Oscars Game Changers 2011 More Log in
MOMA's film calendar and runs through November 25, with numerous choice movies worth catching like
three programs devoted to the work of director Jack Smith.
But Blimp was a highlight, featuring an introduction by director Martin Scorsese (a huge fan and a key
figure in the preserving of their work) and the great film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who was married
to Michael Powell for the last six years of his life. But of course the movie itself was the main treat. Therestoration is just stunning: the Technicolor film looks positively dazzling, with Blimp roasting in a
Turkish bath quite like a Christmas goose. Roger Livesey is the star and he ages from a young man to a
heavy set blustery old fellow in a ham-free performance that is astonishing from beginning to end.Scorsese says Robert De Niro asked Powell how it was done (the aging) and Powell said, "It's acting." Notfair, since the makeup is exceptionally well done, especially for a color film of that era. (Aging still is hard
to do; just go see J. Edgar if you doubt me.)
I've always been a little confused about the idea of Colonel Blimp. It's shorthand in the UK for a pompous
old fool, jingoistic and silly and a figure that would be ridiculous if he didn't still wield power or peoplewith power didn't still listen to his sort. Blimp was a cartoon character that first appeared in the EveningStandard in the 1930s.
Since this film is called The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp you might reasonably expect it to be a
scathing satire of such buffoons. But you'd be wrong. Many things are remarkable about the film but
perhaps the most subtle is the fact that our Blimpian hero (called Clive Candy, VC) looks precisely like a
Blimp right down to the outrageous moustache and walrusy face and yet he is nothing of the sort. Thefilm humanizes Blimp or more precisely shows us a man who the superficial might dismiss as an old twit
stuck in his ways but is in fact a thoughtful, intelligent and humane person who is not remotely jingoistic
or ignorant of the cost of war.
Blimp/Candy is a sweetheart in fact and the vehicle by which Powell and Pressburger question the very
act of war, especially when it involves atrocities and attacks on civilians, and wonders if war is alwaysworth winning if it means losing your soul. As if that's not enough, the movie pivots around the genuine
and warm friendship between Blimp/Candy and the German he duels with (another brilliant bit of acting,
by Anton Walbrook) after the Boer war. (Nothing cements a friendship like a good sword fight.) Nowhere's the mind-blowing part of this: The Life and Death Of Colonel Blimp -- a movie by the most British
of British filmmakers when resources were slim that questions war itself, warns against brutality against
the enemy, features a friendship between British and German soldiers -- was released in the UK on June
10, 1943 at the height of the war and the day before Britain launched a massive air raid on Dusseldorf,Germany with some 700 planes dropping untold numbers of bombs on the city, a site of steelworks andoil plants. No wonder Churchill hated it.
Romance is also key to Blimp , which begins in the midst of World War II and flashes back (after
Blimp/Candy is held underwater in that Turkish bath and a voice intones rather goofily "40 years
ago...40 years ago...") to the early 1900s. Candy befriends the German he dueled with while they're both
recuperating in hospital and daily visited by a lovely English woman (played by Deborah Kerr). TheGerman and Kerr announce their engagement and Candy is thoroughly delighted for about two secondsuntil he realizes with despair that he too is madly in love with the girl. Candy spends the rest of the film
looking for a woman who can match this ideal -- and in a way he succeeds, since Kerr plays two other
female roles. Her performance is also terrific, for she makes each woman subtly different from the rest;it's a marvelous film debut.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Fox News Viewers Know Less
Than People Who Watch No
News: Study
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Declared an Emergency and
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'Give Us The Bird'
Jenny From The Block's Fiat
Commercial A Sham
Justin Takes Paternity Test,
Then Serenades Selena
Jack Wagner Confronted By
Long Lost Daughter
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Dr. Peggy Drexler
We Can Be Thankful for Each
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'G.I. Joe' Crew
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Lily Collins
Auditioned For
Katy Perry To Star
In 'My Week...
Old School Is New
Again: Hugo and...
Several moments will stay with you for a long time, like the German's plea at the border to be allowed to
escape from Germany into England and Candy's own ruminations on the cost of war. This Blimpian
fellow is as far from Blimp as one can get and still be a war veteran of a certain age. None of what I've
said captures the delicious...tone of the film, the delightful sensibility that permeates every scene. It's
mature, intelligent, understanding, droll, humane and intoxicating; don't ask me how it creates that
mood but it does and it's key to the film's pleasure.
It's shocking but somehow not really surprising to hear that 20% or 30% or so of all movies ever made
are lost. Back in the early 1900s, who worried about film history when a bunch of lousy two-reelers wereclogging up a studio's basement or posing a fire hazard? But I am frequently stunned that classic films bymajor directors can fall into disrepair. When Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window needs restoring, when
movies by legends of British cinema like Powell-Pressburger only survive because Scorsese reaches intohis own pocket to help pay for that rescue, you realize that no film is safe. That's why film festivals likeTo Save And Project at MOMA are so imporant and why any chance to see a movie like The Life And
Death Of Colonel Blimp on a big screen should not be missed.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to screening at MOMA with the understanding that
he would be writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
57-Year-Old Mom Looks 25
Her clever $6 Wrinkle Therapy Angers Botox Doctors.
www.iconsumerknowledge.com
New Trick in TENNESSEE
If you drive 25 mi/day or less you better read this...
Insurance.Comparisons.org
WeightWatchers.com
Visit the official site to learn how to lose weight & keep it off.
www.WeightWatchers.com
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Have All The Softness You Need With Charmin®. Sign Up For Coupons!
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More in Entertainment...TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 9
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW 1of 2
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3More Entertainment News at THR.com
More Celebrity News at People.comNames His 5 Favorite
Movies
Miss Piggy KeepsPaparazzi at Bay by
Tossing Cupcakes
READ MORE
Melanie Amaro Reveals Her
'True Self' on X Factor
READ MORE
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READ MORE
Latest Celebrity Gossip
Justin Bieber on 'The Late
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Ellen and Sofia's RunwayFeud
The Greatest Guitar Player
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Children,' 'One Life To
Live' Both Canceled For
Good, Won't Go Online
On-Set... Kristen Stewart's
'Snow...
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Conservative
Party
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The New "Skinny" Fruit
How This Strange 62-Cent African Fruit Is Making
Americans Skinny.
www.HLifestyles.com
New Trick in TENNESSEE
If you drive 25 mi/day or less you better read this...
Insurance.Comparisons.org
Curves: Free Week Pass
Burn 500 Calories in 30 Minutes. Sign up Today to
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ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRITY MEDIA COMEDY MUSIC TV CELEBRITY KIDS MOVIEFONE
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The Smartest Show On TV
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The Roots Greet Michele
Bachman With 'Lyin' Ass
Bitch'
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elizrael
RetweetFox News Viewers Know Less Than
People Who Don't Watch Any
News: Study http://t.co/klJgOR3q
theellenshow
RetweetI'm so thankful for @MarloThomas
and Jennifer Aniston and theincredible work they do for children.You can help them. http://t.co/8e6dE
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