More than 80 years ago, a war film was released that fans still to this day hail as “the best British war movie ever made”, and it is available to stream free of charge, but not on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a British romantic-war film written, produced and directed by the British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Released in 1943, it stars Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr and Anton Walbrook. The title derives from the satirical Colonel Blimp comic strip created by David Low, but the story is original. Although the film is strongly pro-British, it also serves as a satirical commentary on the British Army, particularly its leadership. It has been described as suggesting “Britain faced the option of following traditional notions of honourable warfare or to fight dirty in the face of such an evil enemy as Nazi Germany”.
The film’s synopsis reads: “General Candy (Livesey), who’s overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn’t have the respect of the men he’s training and is considered out-of-touch with what’s needed to win the war. But it wasn’t always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women (all played by Kerr), and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.”
One film critic has described it as “England’s greatest film ever” and it has become renowned for its sophistication and directorial brilliance alongside its script, the performances of its large cast and for its pioneering Technicolour cinematography. Among its stellar company of actors, particular praise has been reserved for Livesey, Walbrook and Kerr. The film was ranked 45th in the British Film Institute’s 1999 list of the top 100 British films and 80th in Empire magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
One fan of the film wrote on IMDb: “Quite possibly the finest film ever to emerge from our rainy shores.”
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is available to stream free of charge on ITVX.
