Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a stirring masterpiece like no other. Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history, 1902 to 1942, only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook and Deborah Kerr provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Candy’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him. Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence, shot in gorgeous Technicolor.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1943
  • 163 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #173

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New digital master from the Film Foundation’s 2012 4K restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
  • New video introduction by Scorsese
  • A Profile of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” a documentary from 2000
  • Restoration demonstration, hosted by Scorsese
  • Optimism and Sheer Will, a 2012 interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
  • Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production stills
  • Gallery tracing the history of David Low’s original Colonel Blimp cartoons
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Molly Haskell

New cover by Fred Davis

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

DVD Box Set

50 Discs

$650.00

Out Of Print

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New digital master from the Film Foundation’s 2012 4K restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
  • New video introduction by Scorsese
  • A Profile of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” a documentary from 2000
  • Restoration demonstration, hosted by Scorsese
  • Optimism and Sheer Will, a 2012 interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
  • Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production stills
  • Gallery tracing the history of David Low’s original Colonel Blimp cartoons
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Molly Haskell

New cover by Fred Davis

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Cast
Anton Walbrook
Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff
Deborah Kerr
Edith Hunter, Barbara Wynne, “Johnny” Cannon
Roger Livesey
Clive Candy
Roland Culver
Colonel Betteridge
Harry Welchman
Major Davies
Arthur Wontner
Embassy counselor
Albert Lieven
Von Ritter
John Laurie
Murdoch
James McKechnie
Spud Wilson
Ursula Jeans
Frau von Kalteneck
Credits
Director
Michael Powell
Director
Emeric Pressburger
Written and produced by
Michael Powell
Written and produced by
Emeric Pressburger
Production design
Alfred Junge
Director of photography
Georges Périnal
Editor
John Seabourne
Music composed and arranged by
Allan Gray
Conductor
Charles Williams
Sound
C. C. Stevens
Sound
Desmond Dew
Costumes designed by
Joseph Bato
Costumes executed by
Matilda Etches
Military adviser
Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Brownrigg
Period advisers
E. F. E. Schoen
Period advisers
Dr. C. Beard
Cameramen
Geoffrey Unsworth
Cameramen
Jack Cardiff
Cameramen
Harold Haysom
Process shots
W. Percy Day

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Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

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Though The Red Shoes is possibly the most popular and visually entrancing dance film of all time, the producing, directing, and writing team of the British Michael Powell and the Hungarian Emeric Pressburger created numerous other odes to the power of art and the imagination, always going against the realist strain of British cinema. Known by the name of their production company, the Archers, Powell and Pressburger forged a working alliance that lasted from the late thirties to the early seventies, and from the anti-Nazi propaganda of 49th Parallel and the astoundingly designed and edited epic The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp to the erotic, magical excesses of A Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I’m Going!, Black Narcissus, and The Tales of Hoffmann. The duo were never as successful on their own as with each other, though Powell’s controversial Peeping Tom remains one of the most subversive and disturbing films ever made.