1
00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,600
This is it.

2
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:21,920
Sir?

3
00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:25,719
Sir?!

4
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:27,999
Go away.

5
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,359
General Wynne-Candy?

6
00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,519
Released in 1943,

7
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:38,159
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
is a most peculiar epic,

8
00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:41,119
which is exactly
what makes it a masterpiece,

9
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,799
one that evades easy categories.

10
00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:47,199
It is about ageing.
It is about respect.

11
00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,119
It's about the passage of time
and the effect

12
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:54,159
on not just a single person,
but on many people,

13
00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:56,919
and in fact society and attitudes.

14
00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,559
It is about nostalgia,
it is about patriotism,

15
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,519
and that changing nature of it,

16
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,199
and it's about love.

17
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,799
It has so much to say
about the changing

18
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,839
British colonial mindset
in the 20th century.

19
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:12,919
It has so much to say about

20
00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,519
both the affection
and melancholy for the past,

21
00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,719
and the desperate need to kind of
yank that into the present.

22
00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,559
For one thing, it's a film that...
it changes for you,

23
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,999
depending on how old you are
when you watch it.

24
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,519
So the first time I watched it,
I was a lot younger and I saw

25
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,319
the film in a completely different
way to the way I see it now.

26
00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:34,159
And that I think is the marvel
of the film, is that...

27
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,959
as you go through life,
you can return to it again and again

28
00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:39,719
and see a different story
and see a different lesson,

29
00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:41,319
and see a different moral.

30
00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:43,679
It crosses half a century

31
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,319
from the Boer War to World War II,

32
00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:50,039
while remaining deeply ambivalent
about British tradition.

33
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,359
It is a war story,
but features no battle scenes.

34
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,719
An epic that lives
between historic events.

35
00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,520
A saga that searches
for moments of truth.

36
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,480
Fertig?

37
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:06,240
Ready?

38
00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,160
Los!

39
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,719
What's going on here?

40
00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,079
Invasion, sir.

41
00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,679
But, you damned young idiot,

42
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,039
war starts at midnight!

43
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,639
Haven't you been told?

44
00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:06,759
Oh, yes, sir. That's why we're here.

45
00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:10,439
But may I ask on what authority?

46
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,639
On the authority of these guns
and these men, sir.

47
00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,759
Authority?! Authority?!

48
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,559
How dare you, sir!

49
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,359
Created by
the formidable imaginations

50
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,999
of director Michael Powell
and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger,

51
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,839
it is ostensibly the life story
of the British major general,

52
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,679
Clive Wynne-Candy,
played to the full by Roger Livesey.

53
00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,039
Introduced in a Turkish bath,
a bumptious image

54
00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,839
of the newspaper cartoon character,
Colonel Blimp,

55
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,679
we travel back in time
to watch his life unfold.

56
00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,799
Candy is revealed to be far
from a caricature.

57
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,920
Indeed, his story is heartbreaking.

58
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,319
I'll punch your head for that,
young fellow!

59
00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,280
You young puppy!
Put 'em up. Take that.

60
00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,399
The title is curious.

61
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,279
The main character is named Candy,
not Blimp.

62
00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:04,399
Colonel Blimp was a parody,

63
00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:09,079
a bellicose military reactionary
invented by cartoonist, David Low,

64
00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:13,360
whose misadventures ran in the
Evening Standard during the '30s.

65
00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,119
The film,
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,

66
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,919
obviously has a very peculiar title.

67
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,639
Who exactly was Colonel Blimp?

68
00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,839
Colonel Blimp was
a cartoon character.

69
00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:28,919
He was a satirical cartoon
character, created by

70
00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,879
a left-leaning New Zealand
cartoonist called David Low

71
00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:33,759
in the Evening Standard.

72
00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,519
And he was...
just one-frame cartoons

73
00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,559
in which the Colonel
would be delivering some...

74
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,479
lunatic sort of set of...

75
00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,399
answers to a particular question,

76
00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,759
like, "I've got to tell you
the government's quite right

77
00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:48,759
to suspend liberty
so that we can ensure liberty

78
00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:51,239
so that we can suspend liberty...
Gad!"

79
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,079
And off he'd go like that, with
his big moustache and his bald head.

80
00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,039
And he was...
he symbolised this kind of concept

81
00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,279
that was around in Britain
at the time,

82
00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,759
that there's a buffoonery
to imperialism

83
00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,079
that they felt we had moved on from.

84
00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,639
Colonel Blimp was a household name
in England of the 1930s and 40s.

85
00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:10,639
And it had kind of gotten
into common parlance

86
00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,279
to refer to a certain kind
of bloated, old-fashioned,

87
00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:17,239
conservative,
imperial military order,

88
00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,159
and those sort of opinions
on politics and world events.

89
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,439
It ran for ages. He was always
depicted in a Turkish bath,

90
00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:26,879
wrapped in a towel,
spouting out opinions.

91
00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,879
He had a big walrus moustache
and a huge stomach,

92
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,919
so he was a deeply, deeply
unattractive caricature.

93
00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,359
This ran for some years
and quite often, in fact,

94
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,159
the jokes and the opinions

95
00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,479
were aimed almost...
well, certainly indirectly

96
00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,679
at Lord Beaverbrook himself,
who owned the Evening Standard.

97
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,319
So Low quite often ran into trouble

98
00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:54,239
with some of the remarks that
Beaverbrook took rather personally.

99
00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,519
But he was also the kind of officer

100
00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:02,079
who led the British forces
over the top in World War I,

101
00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,079
and slaughtered them, you know,
in their hundreds of thousands.

102
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:09,319
So he was a symbol of the...
this class of fool,

103
00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,039
who was perceived
to be leading Britain

104
00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,199
into the same old mess, in a way.

105
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,719
So why do you think Powell
and Pressburger chose that name?

106
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,079
Because it isn't a film
about Colonel Blimp at all,

107
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,319
but what use do they make
of that caricature?

108
00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,039
Well, at the time that
they were making the film,

109
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,199
Colonel Blimp was hugely popular
in the Evening Standard.

110
00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,079
I mean, this was Britain wrestling
with defeats in the war

111
00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,919
that had been brought about
by poor planning and by...

112
00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,399
And this is 1942.
1942, yes.

113
00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:41,959
So it's early in the war
and we were on the back foot,

114
00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,159
and, you know, there were some
terrible things occurring

115
00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,839
and the British were not
all-in behind the leadership.

116
00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:52,359
My grandfather signed up and there
was this kind of low-level mutiny

117
00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,079
at the beginning of the Second
World War against the officer class.

118
00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:56,999
It was very much the mood
in the country,

119
00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,079
was this quite febrile atmosphere.

120
00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,999
Puppy! Gangster!

121
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,359
You laugh at my big belly,
but you don't know how I got it.

122
00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,239
You laugh at my moustache,
but you don't know why I grew it.

123
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,559
Blimp is more of a perception.

124
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:14,999
The concern that, around 1942,

125
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,599
the British Army was still
burdened with pig-headed officers

126
00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:20,600
left over from World War I.

127
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:24,919
To London's Denham Film Studios

128
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,359
comes a group of Canadian repats
to see how big-time movies are made

129
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,399
in Great Britain's Hollywood.

130
00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,719
On Sound Stage Five,
a feature picture is in the making.

131
00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,959
Michael Powell, the co-producer
of the picture, plays host.

132
00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,039
Powell knows Canada too.

133
00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,279
He directed the picture
49th Parallel

134
00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,359
in the dominion a few years ago.

135
00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,559
The Canadian Army newsreel cameraman
shooting this story

136
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,239
worked with him on that picture.

137
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,359
Pressburger and Powell had
formed their own company,

138
00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,319
The Archers,
through the Rank Organisation

139
00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,759
and they were...
they were looking for material.

140
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,439
They had done films together,
they did the 49th Parallel,

141
00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,599
as well as
One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing,

142
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,879
and they were looking
for something that had...

143
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,759
was going to have a big impact.

144
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,399
Not necessarily a propaganda movie,

145
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,159
because there were quite a lot
of those being made at the time.

146
00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,279
Of course, this is 1942,

147
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:19,599
England and Britain
was under threat,

148
00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,999
London in particular
was being bombed.

149
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,359
So they needed to find
something that addressed

150
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,119
the current status of Britain,

151
00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,759
but in a way that was not obvious.

152
00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:33,959
We start out by seeing
the caricature,

153
00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,399
pretty much as the public would
have imagined it at that time.

154
00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,519
We see Roger Livesey
sweating in a Turkish bath

155
00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,039
with his large moustache,
and then we see him surprised

156
00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,279
by some younger officers
who are doing a sort of

157
00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,799
practice military,
tactical kind of manoeuvre.

158
00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,239
And he's very annoyed by this

159
00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:55,079
because it is not done
within the hours

160
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:56,759
that he was expecting it to be done.

161
00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,639
Set in a contemporary time
and he is describing...

162
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,799
he's having a bit of an argument
with this younger man

163
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,199
and he's describing about how this
young man could never have any idea

164
00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,519
of what it was like
for him 40 years ago.

165
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,559
That is our cue
to then go back 40 years

166
00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:14,879
into the life of this man,
Colonel Candy.

167
00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,799
And so, it sort of
undermines the caricature

168
00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:22,159
by the fact of it almost
immediately showing you him

169
00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,199
when he was young and dashing.

170
00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,559
It allows you to be a little
more sympathetic towards him

171
00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:28,759
because he's not just
a blustery old man,

172
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,199
he's actually a very young
and dashing and heroic officer,

173
00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:34,679
we see at the beginning of the film.
It takes us all the way back

174
00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:37,159
to the Boer War
when he was a hero in South Africa.

175
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,319
Made with vivacious style,

176
00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:43,359
here are two superlative filmmakers
at the height of their daring.

177
00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,399
Years after Martin Scorsese first
saw it on American television,

178
00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,439
he thought he had dreamed it up.

179
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:54,239
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
only makes sense when experienced.

180
00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,479
How do you know what
sort of a fellow I was

181
00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,520
when I was as young as you are?
40 years ago!

182
00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:08,159
40 years ago...

183
00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,239
40 years ago...

184
00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,679
Quiet! Quiet!

185
00:10:56,680 --> 00:10:59,079
People are trying to sleep!

186
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:00,719
Suggie!
Hoppy, me old horse!

187
00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,439
Since when are you in London?
Got back yesterday, sick leave!

188
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,199
- Uh-huh.
- I say, I've been searching
for you all over the city!

189
00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,400
- Yes?
- I'm terribly sorry
to hear about your leg.

190
00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:12,519
Jumping Jehoshaphat!
They're both there!

191
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:14,239
What the hell do you think
I'm standing on?

192
00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,679
I thought you had a wooden leg!
Why should I have a wooden leg?

193
00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:18,919
They told me in Bloemfontein
they cut off your left leg!

194
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:20,839
Calm down, old boy,
I'd have known about it.

195
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,440
Quiet!

196
00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:32,999
This is a biopic like no other,

197
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:36,759
consciously a counterpoint to
the realist propaganda of the times.

198
00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:39,479
It is an exploration of nationhood,

199
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,879
but also of life itself.

200
00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,639
It is a film aiming
to grasp the intangible.

201
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:47,359
Love, loss, friendship,

202
00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,919
fate, and the tyranny of time.

203
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,159
What it means to grow old.

204
00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,159
Churchill suspected
it was bad for morale,

205
00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,999
but this is a satire
that also mythologises Britain.

206
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:00,999
31 years

207
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,520
since I last landed here.

208
00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:10,320
I learned a lot in these 31 years.

209
00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,640
Many things have happened
to the world.

210
00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,199
And to both our countries.

211
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,479
But one thing that has lasted

212
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,239
and grown throughout
that long period,

213
00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,719
has been the goodwill
and good understanding

214
00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,400
between the English-speaking people.

215
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,599
That good understanding,

216
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,879
now as it was 31 years ago,

217
00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,359
is the object

218
00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:48,959
which I have at heart.

219
00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:50,839
It caused, of course...

220
00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,399
By the time that the idea was mooted

221
00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:56,519
and they were in preparation
for the film,

222
00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,319
Prime Minister,
then Winston Churchill,

223
00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,319
caught wind of this and was furious,

224
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,239
because he felt that
it might be A: unpatriotic,

225
00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:09,639
it might be lampooning the army,

226
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:14,079
and also, it may be
that it was lampooning himself

227
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,679
because there was some thought
that Colonel Blimp himself

228
00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:21,999
was a kind of caricature
of Winston Churchill.

229
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,399
So they had a lot
going against them,

230
00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,999
but I think, probably like
many real strong artists,

231
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,119
and these two have always
been strong artists,

232
00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,599
the more opposition you get,
the more you want to do it.

233
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:40,079
And they persevered in the face
of quite incredible odds

234
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:42,479
to make the film.

235
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:46,519
Inspiration actually came from an
earlier Powell and Pressburger film,

236
00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:48,559
One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing,

237
00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:52,159
when an ageing crew member
informs a youthful comrade,

238
00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,999
"You don't know
what it's like to grow old".

239
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,879
Pondering the idea,

240
00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,839
Pressburger began
an extraordinary history

241
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,119
of a man who has grown old.

242
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:05,759
With a mix of understatement
and surreal theatricality,

243
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,999
he used nostalgia to undermine
the notion of nostalgia.

244
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,879
Powell and Pressburger had
a storyline that they had cut,

245
00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,559
it was a short scene really,
a sub-story from a previous film

246
00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:19,559
called One Of Our Aircraft
Is Missing.

247
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,999
It's a conversation between
an elderly... well, elderly?

248
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,359
Older rear tail gunner,
and a young pilot

249
00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:27,359
about women and about life.

250
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,679
And at one point,
the elderly tail gunner says,

251
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,719
"Well, you remind me
of me when I was your age

252
00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:35,119
and you're going
to grow up into me."

253
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:36,959
And the pilot mocks him.

254
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,519
And then gradually,
it was a little line in the film

255
00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,639
which gradually develops
and they had to cut it out.

256
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,959
But they were fascinated
by this idea of

257
00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:46,999
age and experience
versus youth and idealism

258
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,559
and they were developing it
into a film called

259
00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,679
The Life And Death Of Sugar Candy.

260
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,399
There is a small bit of dialogue
between two characters in that film,

261
00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,319
where a younger man and an older man
are kind of at this,

262
00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,039
you know, have this moment
of strange misunderstanding,

263
00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,479
where the old man expresses
that the younger man could never

264
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,519
have any idea what it's like
to be like him.

265
00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,719
And apparently Pressburger
turned to Powell and said,

266
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,239
"I think we should make a film
based on that idea,"

267
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,599
which is that young men can never
know what it is to be an old man,

268
00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,439
and an old man can never
really express

269
00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:19,519
that experience to the younger man.

270
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,519
Almost this idea
of knowledge being gained,

271
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,719
but it's almost unable to be shared,

272
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:25,959
or it only can be shared
when it's too late.

273
00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,719
So much of Colonel Blimp
is not just about

274
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,079
the political
or military elements of it,

275
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:33,999
but about this sense
of obsolescence,

276
00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,119
about this sense of age,
about this sense of

277
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,759
kind of grasping
at dreams and ideals

278
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,319
that slowly unravel
and get away from you

279
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,119
as you grow older.

280
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,999
They got together and decided
that they could actually do that.

281
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,799
It was a very,
very interesting time for them

282
00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,679
to take not only the character
of the reactionary Colonel Blimp,

283
00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:59,679
but also the idea of respect

284
00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:02,079
and tradition for someone

285
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:05,999
who frankly sort of deserved it,
but wasn't getting it

286
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,239
because they were mired
in the old-school ways.

287
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:14,239
Pressburger himself used
a great deal of his own history

288
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,679
as an emigre of course,
from Hungary, before the war,

289
00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:21,959
he used a great deal
of his own experience in the script.

290
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:27,559
And between them, they came up
with the extraordinary film,

291
00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,959
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

292
00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:31,959
But they realised
that Blimp was a brand.

293
00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,559
Blimp was someone that everyone
really completely understood

294
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,079
about an elderly fool,
really, but...

295
00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:42,279
And the key thing about the title is
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

296
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,119
And critically, no spoilers,
but critically,

297
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,279
the character of Clive Wynne-Candy,
does not die.

298
00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:52,519
He survives the film.
What dies, is his own blimpery,

299
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,999
his own lockstep
with the idea of being Blimp.

300
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,639
So Blimp in a sense,
is a character who

301
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,479
really traps Wynne-Candy
in his life.

302
00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:05,839
And he manages,
at the very end of the film,

303
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:10,039
to shed and kill this sort of thing
that's holding him down,

304
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,639
this set of ideas.
So Blimp, he really is about

305
00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,119
sort of an imaginary set of ideas,
which is crippling our hero.

306
00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:19,759
The film essentially depicts
three eras of Candy's life.

307
00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,439
The aged man in 1942
to whom we are introduced

308
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,599
and to whom we will return,

309
00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,279
the young officer
in a sparkling Berlin of 1902,

310
00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,439
where he will meet
his dashing German counterpart,

311
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,839
in Anton Walbrook's
Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff,

312
00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,159
a lifelong friend in waiting.

313
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,999
And a weary Candy
at the close of World War I,

314
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,679
becoming unsure of the world.

315
00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:49,199
Each era is marked by his complex
relationship with a singular woman,

316
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,719
Edith, Barbara and Angela,

317
00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,479
all played by the same actress,
Deborah Kerr.

318
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,319
It's about so many things
that is very hard

319
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,559
to sort of whittle it down
to a couple of lines. I'll try.

320
00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,479
It is about an enduring friendship

321
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,279
between a German and a British man,

322
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,359
who should be enemies,
and have been enemies,

323
00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,039
or fought on opposite sides.
It is about...

324
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,959
It's a love story about the woman
who sort of comes between them.

325
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,719
But really, it's about the...

326
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:26,719
changing society
of the British character.

327
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,479
It is a thoroughly British film,

328
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,319
it is both a satire on Britain,

329
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,879
and at the same time,
a celebration

330
00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,279
of the traditional values.

331
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:39,959
It's an extraordinarily
well-poised film

332
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,679
in terms of how it can...
it gets that across.

333
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,399
A great deal of it
is incredibly funny.

334
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:50,679
And that kind of humour
set against a background

335
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,799
of three wars,
I mean, three devastating wars,

336
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,719
is very, very difficult to pull off.

337
00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,519
What's this?

338
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:00,679
VC, sir.
Where did you get it?

339
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,879
South Africa, Jordaan Siding.

340
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,839
You're Candy. Sugar Candy!

341
00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,159
Yes, sir.
Ha!

342
00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,519
Good show, Candy.
Thank you, sir.

343
00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,199
Clive Wynne-Candy,
known throughout as Candy,

344
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,039
essentially our Blimp figure, was
originally gonna be Laurence Olivier.

345
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,239
But you can't imagine it
without Roger Livesey now, can you?

346
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,959
No. Roger Livesey has...
I mean, I think,

347
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,679
you know, comparisons are odious,
but I think that the vulnerability,

348
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,639
the intrinsic vulnerability
of Wynne-Candy is something

349
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,159
Roger Livesey brings to the screen
from the opening sequences really.

350
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:40,239
He never has the kind of peacocking
that quite often some of the actors,

351
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,039
some of the stage actors of
that day, would bring onto film,

352
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,479
Laurence Olivier being one
of the stage actors of that day.

353
00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,839
And so, I think it took
a very particular kind of actor

354
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,439
to give humility to...

355
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,879
and love and vulnerability

356
00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,759
to a character who is
based on a cartoon.

357
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,239
You know, I mean to take this person

358
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,759
who makes a series
of just stupid decisions,

359
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,959
and is quite cartoonish
in his beliefs,

360
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,279
and from the very first scene,

361
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,719
show his vulnerability and show you,

362
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,799
through the use of his eyes...
He's a very filmic actor.

363
00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,119
You know, a lot of British actors
particularly of that time,

364
00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,519
a lot of all actors,
but British actors particularly,

365
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:21,399
were struggling
to adapt to the camera,

366
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:23,199
to act with their eyes
and with their faces.

367
00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,159
They were still very big
and very loud.

368
00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,359
And he understood,
you know, implicitly,

369
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,839
how the camera didn't need
anything from you.

370
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,439
All it needed was a slight move
or a change of expression.

371
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,399
All it needed was for you to feel it

372
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,159
and it would come across
on your face.

373
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,799
What good fortune it was
that Laurence Olivier

374
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,719
was mysteriously detained
in the Air Fleet Arm,

375
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,559
and Powell turned to Roger Livesey
to play Candy.

376
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,959
Livesey hilariously evokes
Candy's flaws and foibles,

377
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,399
a fog horn of British pomp.

378
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,679
But in shivers of epiphany
and vulnerability,

379
00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,039
he reveals a prisoner of tradition.

380
00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,159
And he ages convincingly,

381
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,879
even willing to shave his head
for the outraged walrus of 1942.

382
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,439
Like all the great characters
of Powell and Pressburger,

383
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,679
he comes ecstatically to life.

384
00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,319
Can I... Can I give you a lift?

385
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,199
No, thank you, sir. We've got a cab.
Right. St James's Palace!

386
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,679
Right, sir.

387
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,599
I hope you two boys
enjoy your leave.

388
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,399
You've earned it.
Thank you, sir.

389
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,840
Mind yourself in the door, sir.
Boy!

390
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,400
Another hansom.
The old horse thief.

391
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:52,360
I shall read now the protocol.

392
00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:03,280
You will start only
at the command "Los".

393
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,639
You must stop the combat
if you hear the command "halt",

394
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,919
whoever may say it.

395
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,919
The film's most daring gambit
was to portray a good German

396
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,039
in the middle of World War II.

397
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,479
Thanks to an impeccable
Anton Walbrook,

398
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,799
Theo is an astonishing creation.

399
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,479
Like Candy, he is a reflection
of a more honourable past,

400
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,159
a German appalled by the Nazis.

401
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,279
Walbrook was an Austrian Jew,
who had fled to Britain.

402
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,599
Like his character,
and like Pressburger,

403
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,239
he knew what it meant
to have lost a homeland.

404
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,079
Theo's speech to
the Enemy Alien Tribunal

405
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,879
becomes a haunting soliloquy
on the tragedy of Europe.

406
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,359
Anton Walbrook plays
the German officer called Theo,

407
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:54,999
who becomes the sort of adversary
and then friend,

408
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,919
and in many ways,
the moral force of the film,

409
00:22:57,920 --> 00:22:59,879
to Colonel Candy.

410
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,479
He himself was gay and Jewish
and had fled the Nazis,

411
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,519
so both he and Emeric Pressburger,

412
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,799
who was Hungarian
and had fled the Nazis,

413
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,879
brought a real kind of
understanding of the stakes.

414
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,039
But he also brings
this wonderful, elegant,

415
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,599
sad, articulate role to the screen

416
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,559
in such a memorable way.

417
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:26,239
He represents the dignified,
old-school, aristocratic,

418
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:31,159
fair-minded European past.

419
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,279
He represents something
which the 20th century

420
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,399
would effectively make non-existent
over the years.

421
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,919
This was an incredible gamble,
of course,

422
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,279
but he is the one who was able
to be the mouthpiece

423
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,079
for the changes that are needed.

424
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,159
He is the one
that actually goes through.

425
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,279
He is, first of all,
a Prussian officer.

426
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,839
He is then reluctantly drawn
into something, the duel.

427
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:59,239
They then form this friendship,
which across the decades,

428
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,039
and especially after
the First World War,

429
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,039
when he is a prisoner of war
and he realises that he's...

430
00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,999
his nation is vanquished,
and he takes it personally,

431
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,479
he also sees the weakness
of the British,

432
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,839
the weakness of the British
which he's...

433
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:23,479
when he's leaving his internment
to go back,

434
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,439
he tells his sort of
fellow soldiers around him,

435
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,359
his fellow prisoners,
he said, "They are children.

436
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,279
They are boys playing cricket."

437
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,799
And that is quite bitter
because, you know,

438
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:40,599
they had been defeated by children,
by boys playing cricket.

439
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,519
This merges
and it goes on and develops

440
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,759
in the most sophisticated way
so that finally,

441
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:50,119
when he does return to England,
because he says,

442
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,279
"I was homesick.
Homesick for England."

443
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,919
This is a German.
He said, "Because I wanted

444
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,959
to return to a decent country
with decent people."

445
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,599
Not Nazis, he's anti-Nazi.

446
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,759
And he tells...

447
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:11,239
Finally, he tells Clive,
his best friend,

448
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,159
how wrong he has been
and how muddle-headed he is,

449
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,319
and how he cannot
continue in this idea

450
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,999
of chivalry in war, of fair play,

451
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,039
when fair play is off the table
with the Nazis.

452
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,719
Another central theme
is that of friendship,

453
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,239
which has a kind of
meta-resonance in the fact

454
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,439
that it's a film made
by Powell and Pressburger,

455
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,359
two extraordinary friends.

456
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:39,359
Firstly, how brilliant is
Anton Walbrook as Theo?

457
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:43,359
And how crucial is it
that it's also Theo's story?

458
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:45,999
Yes, I mean,

459
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,759
this is called
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,

460
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:51,079
and it's that it would be
the story of the man

461
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,239
who goes through
this particular journey.

462
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,279
And it's also the story
of the good German,

463
00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,799
the German who is to be trusted,

464
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,519
who is honest, who is human, humane,

465
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:09,199
the German of Beethoven
and Bach and poetry,

466
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,559
but who is appalled as Nazism grows

467
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,119
and eats away what he holds dear.

468
00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:18,319
And so Theo's story, I mean,

469
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,199
perhaps slightly banal
because it's such a powerful speech,

470
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,119
it's such a well-known scene, it's
such an important theme in the film.

471
00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,639
This is the Enemy Alien Tribunal?
Enemy Alien Tribunal,

472
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,999
where he is being interrogated
by the British

473
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,159
when he arrives on British shores,
and they want to know why he's here

474
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,359
and they're suspecting him
of being a spy.

475
00:26:35,360 --> 00:26:39,319
And he, eventually at one point,
says, "Listen, I'm...

476
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:41,559
I'm an honest man, I don't lie,

477
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,639
but I haven't told you
the whole truth.

478
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,319
And he explains
what's happened to him.

479
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:50,159
And that is that he was
in love with Deborah Kerr,

480
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,879
and he believed in her.

481
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:54,919
And she kept wanting
to come back to England

482
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,479
and he kept saying,
"Later, later, later."

483
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,039
And all around him,
the Nazi menace was growing

484
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,679
and his children were, you know,

485
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,479
absorbed by the Nazi Party
and became Nazis

486
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,879
and wanted nothing to do
with their parents.

487
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,919
And just when he was
about to accept her promise

488
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,239
and they were going to move
to England together,

489
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,799
she died, and their children
didn't even come to her funeral.

490
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,279
My wife was English.

491
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,359
She would have loved
to have come back to England,

492
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,399
but it seemed to me that
I would be letting down my country

493
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,200
in its greatest need,
and so she stayed at my side.

494
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,719
When in summer '33, we found

495
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,279
that we had lost our children
to the Nazi Party,

496
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,399
and I was willing to come,

497
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:44,400
she died.

498
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,280
None of my sons came to her funeral.

499
00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:59,799
The brilliant concept of having
the three female leads

500
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,319
played by the same actress
connects them spiritually.

501
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:06,079
They had been written
with Wendy Hiller in mind,

502
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,079
but when Hiller became pregnant,

503
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,799
a gift arrived in the shape
of Deborah Kerr.

504
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,039
Kerr does something miraculous.

505
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,679
She shows us
that society dame Edith,

506
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,519
devoted nurse Barbara,

507
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,999
and quick-witted
military driver Angela

508
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,199
are so much more than Candy's ideal.

509
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,599
Deborah Kerr was only 20
when she plays this triple role.

510
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,519
She plays three different,
distinct characters

511
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:33,919
through three different
periods of time,

512
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,999
but always as the apple of
our Colonel Candy's eye.

513
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,919
And he never really gets the girl.

514
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,159
He's either in the wrong place,

515
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,879
or he's just never quite
forthcoming enough,

516
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,119
or he's too old.

517
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,639
But it's very interesting
to watch her personify

518
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,999
these three different women,
clearly the same person,

519
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,679
but just so different
in bearing and stature.

520
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,079
And yes, some of it's costume,
some of it's hair,

521
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,239
some of it's make-up,
but to begin with,

522
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,839
she plays this early
20th-century governess,

523
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,919
who is clearly
very smart and capable,

524
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,439
but is very much constricted
by her era.

525
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,119
And then as time goes on,
she's a World War I nurse,

526
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,119
and then finally she becomes
a driver for the war effort

527
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,239
in contemporary times, in the 40s.

528
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,519
And so she's always
a very smart and fiery character.

529
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,479
So what we see by her playing
all three of those roles,

530
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,799
is this idea of the ascendency
of women and women's roles

531
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,679
in the early 20th century,
especially by comparison

532
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:34,519
to the slight decline that our
protagonist has over these years.

533
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,879
The thing about Kerr is that
she responds so beautifully

534
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,999
not just to the three
different roles,

535
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,999
but to actually the camera itself,

536
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,599
she is clearly destined
to be a star from then on.

537
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,039
And she has the ability
to transform herself

538
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,879
into three different characters,

539
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,319
all of whom, of course,
share her look

540
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,919
and her idealised sense
of the woman that

541
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,999
Candy has put on a pedestal
in his head.

542
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,679
It is staggering to acknowledge
the film was made at Denham Studios,

543
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,039
with a few locations in London
and the Home Counties.

544
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,839
Berlin, World War I, and London
society are wonderful sets.

545
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,519
Powell's cinematic shorthand
is extraordinary.

546
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,239
He syncopates time,
defying the statutes of drama

547
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:29,959
by reducing major events to
a montage or a newspaper clipping.

548
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:31,999
Famously, the camera retreats

549
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,879
from Candy and Theo's
seemingly pivotal duel,

550
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,919
up through a skylight

551
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:40,719
and down to the carriage
that contains a nervous Edith,

552
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:42,999
for she is what matters.

553
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,879
One of the most remarkable shots
maybe in cinema history,

554
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:52,359
next to Orson Welles' use
of tracking shot in Citizen Kane,

555
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,399
or later in Touch of Evil,

556
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,559
is probably in The Life
and Death of Colonel Blimp,

557
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,999
where the camera moves up
and away from the duel.

558
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,199
It moves up and away
from the action, mid-action,

559
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,519
up through the ceiling
and then enters,

560
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,239
by magic, the carriage.

561
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,439
And what you really get with this,

562
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,719
is I guess a sense
of the omniscience,

563
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,159
a sense of the fact
that this is not something

564
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:18,999
which is existing
in the here and now,

565
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,479
but something which belongs
to memory and dreams,

566
00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,879
and how the memory
doesn't always linger

567
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,559
on the parts that we might
narratively find the most important,

568
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,719
but more the emotional truth.

569
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:34,159
How things wander from moment
to moment, or memory to memory,

570
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,639
and how the connective tissue
of those things doesn't always

571
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,759
make pure logical sense.

572
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,399
It is a showy camera movement,

573
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,639
but it expresses something.
It's meaningful too.

574
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,759
It was an open secret
that the project

575
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,839
incurred the wrath
of Winston Churchill.

576
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:51,919
Goaded by the Ministry
of Information,

577
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,799
Churchill actively sought
to suppress the film,

578
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,039
certain it was unpatriotic,

579
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,319
even suspicious
he was the Blimp in question.

580
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,639
Maybe there was something in that.

581
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,639
Powell was unsubtly informed that
if he went ahead with the film,

582
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,279
he would never get a knighthood,
but he went ahead all the same.

583
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:12,679
And 1942, as we've mentioned,

584
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,559
is a complicated time
in which to release a film.

585
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,959
But it's a film that spoke very
directly to its era as well,

586
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,839
and it incurred the wrath of one
Winston Churchill in doing that.

587
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,639
Yes, I mean,
there is an argument, of course,

588
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,079
that Winston Churchill,
who fought in the Boer War

589
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,439
and all the way through,
may have felt

590
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,799
that there was a slightly
personal attack going on

591
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,719
in that script on him.
It's open to interpretation.

592
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,439
What he certainly did think
was that this was not

593
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,719
the kind of patriotic film
he wanted showing.

594
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:43,999
It was not a sort of
"get up and into the trenches

595
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,199
and defeat the Hun" kind of film.

596
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,679
So he initially wanted it banned,

597
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,279
and this, I think in a way,
the story of what happened next

598
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,319
is also the story
of the film itself.

599
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:56,399
And there's a debate
where they say to him,

600
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,839
"Well, we don't really think
that we can because...

601
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,999
surely what we're fighting for

602
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,599
is we're fighting for the liberty
to make films like this.

603
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,919
That's the difference between us
and the people we're fighting,

604
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:10,279
is that we will have films
that mock ourselves."

605
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,399
And that's the...
I think that's the critical part

606
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:14,559
in a way of what the film
itself is saying.

607
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,679
How important it is
to hold on to the ability

608
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,879
to mock yourself
and to have the confidence

609
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:22,839
to put out a film that says,

610
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,399
"We may be at war,
but we're not perfect."

611
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,239
What is this strange,
beautiful film really about?

612
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,159
Well, it is a warning against
misty-eyed devotion to the past,

613
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,199
yet it is about loss.

614
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:39,399
Lost love, lost youth,
Pressburger's lost Berlin

615
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:43,159
and a sense of honour
lost to a cruel world.

616
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:45,399
It is said that the power of cinema

617
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,239
lies in the change of emotion
on the human face.

618
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,839
Perhaps then the essence
of this vivid,

619
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:53,839
ironic, passionate epic

620
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,599
is in the heartbreak in Edith's eyes

621
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,159
when she realises Candy
is letting her go,

622
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,599
a secret only we can see.

623
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,640
Goodbye, Clive.
Goodbye, Edith old girl.

624
00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:16,719
I hope we'll meet again some time.

625
00:34:16,720 --> 00:34:18,840
I'm sure we shall.

626
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,760
Ah, you've worn well, old chap.

627
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,639
You've still got my mark, I see.
You still need a moustache.

628
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,759
When were you captured?
July 16th.

629
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,679
You were lucky
you missed the worst of it.

630
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,199
I would prefer to have been unlucky.
That's what you think.

631
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:42,439
Have you heard from home?
Have you got any children?

632
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,279
How about Edith?
What shall I answer first?

633
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,279
Edith is alright as far as I know,

634
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,719
and yes, we have two children.

635
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:50,559
Boys, eh?

636
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:52,719
Now, that one's exactly like Edith.

637
00:34:52,720 --> 00:34:54,360
Karl. Yes, he is, isn't he?

638
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,599
At the centre of the story is one of
the director's most cherished themes.

639
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,839
The friendship that endures
between two very different men:

640
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,919
the stalwart Candy
and the formal Theo.

641
00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,319
In this central bond,

642
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,159
we see the connection
between the great dreamer Powell

643
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,399
and his partner Pressburger,
who had fled Berlin

644
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,519
and taken shelter in a country
he had come to love.

645
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,999
Theirs is an art carried
aloft by friendship.

646
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,719
There is an international friendship

647
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:30,679
and relationship
at the heart of the collaboration

648
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,999
between Emeric Pressburger,
who was Hungarian,

649
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,959
and Michael Powell, who was English,

650
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,439
and our characters in the film.
Theo of course is German,

651
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:40,999
but what they all have in common,
in the looser sense,

652
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,319
is that they all felt like,
or feel like outsiders.

653
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,319
For our protagonist, Colonel Candy,

654
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:52,999
it's because he feels
outmoded, antiquated.

655
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:57,119
He feels a man apart
from the way things are moving.

656
00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:59,839
And for Theo,
for the Anton Walbrook character,

657
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:03,759
it's very much because times
have marched on without him

658
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:06,399
and the fascist regime has,

659
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,759
you know, the spectre has risen

660
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,399
and you either kind of became
a part of that or were cast aside.

661
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,959
So that's, you know,
within the world of the film.

662
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,799
When you talk about
the creative side of things,

663
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,359
you have these two people who,
one had fled from the Nazis,

664
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:25,639
and the other, whilst, you know,
belonging to the English...

665
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,959
ruling class, I guess you would say,

666
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,159
he had a sensibility,

667
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,999
which was always a maverick,
outsider, artistic sensibility.

668
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,839
He was, for lack of a better way
of putting it, a bit of a weirdo

669
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,599
by the parlance
or the thinking of the time.

670
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:44,679
And so, these two gravitated towards
each other and saw a connection.

671
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,320
And I think there is a little
bit of that in the film.

672
00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:51,639
Theo, my dear chap.

673
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:53,599
Let's have a good look at you.

674
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,119
By God, you've kept your figure
better than I have.

675
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,079
I'm a bit of a bay window.

676
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,159
You see, sir,
I wouldn't be surprised

677
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:03,039
if this fellow really disliked us.
He comes to England twice

678
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,399
in his life,
the first time he's a prisoner,

679
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,639
and the second time,
he's just about to be one.

680
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:12,639
Do you sense that, you know,
amongst its numerous themes,

681
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,239
there's a sort of...
that Michael Powell is saying

682
00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:17,639
to the British people, you know,

683
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,919
"We've got to lose our innocence,
we cannot be children anymore."

684
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,679
And Candy throughout,
he's named Candy,

685
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:25,919
is something of a child.

686
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,279
And it's sort of a message
from Powell to grow up.

687
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:31,799
We've got to realise,
and these are Theo's words almost,

688
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,119
that this enemy, you know,

689
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,839
is not someone
we can be honourable with.

690
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,999
I agree. I agree
it's about the loss of innocence,

691
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,799
but I also think that it values
innocence enormously.

692
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,999
I think this film thinks
there is something precious

693
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,439
about those moments of innocence.

694
00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:52,239
There is something precious about
Candy at the beginning of the film

695
00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:55,159
when he doesn't really understand
what's going on and blunders around.

696
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,799
And this is, in a way,
what he's trying to get back.

697
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:03,799
He has to give up the rigid
sets of beliefs that he has,

698
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:05,999
which have just been
ingrained into him,

699
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,519
and rediscover his curiosity
and his innocence.

700
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,839
But also, to understand

701
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,759
that to do this,
to keep that innocence safe,

702
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,839
to keep the innocence safe,

703
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,279
you have to do absolutely everything
by all means necessary,

704
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:24,999
because this is precious,
you've lost it,

705
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,999
you've got to get it back,
and the way you have to get it back

706
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,879
is to do anything you can
to keep the innocence safe.

707
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:36,439
Misunderstood on release
and disastrously cut in America,

708
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,599
for years,
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

709
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,639
only existed in abridged form.

710
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:43,479
Missing its masterful
flashback structure

711
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:47,199
and much of its ironic detail,
its majesty was lost.

712
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,599
Championed by Martin Scorsese,

713
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,759
the original 163-minute version

714
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:57,039
was restored to its full glory
as late as 1985.

715
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,839
It's now revered
as the virtuoso work

716
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:01,639
of Powell and Pressburger.

717
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:07,519
It is certainly the pinnacle
of Powell and Pressburger's

718
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:11,719
extraordinary output of films, extraordinary.

719
00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:14,439
And the fact is,
it's their first one in Technicolor.

720
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:16,719
But I think that they poured
everything into it,

721
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:18,799
it's not just the techniques,

722
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,119
it's not just
the wonderful filmmaking,

723
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:23,839
but it's something personal.

724
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,399
There's something personal
from both of them.

725
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,839
Clive Candy, was without doubt,

726
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,279
based on Michael Powell.

727
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:37,079
His sort of sense of optimism,
his sort of wonderful love of life,

728
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,759
his sort of...
You know, there is a great deal

729
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:44,119
of Powell himself in that character.

730
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:47,559
Pressburger, of course,
put a tremendous amount

731
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:52,440
of his own experience as a refugee
in an emigre into it as well.

732
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,799
Now, when it came out,
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,

733
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,439
it's fair to say
it was pretty misunderstood,

734
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,679
and certainly
on its American release,

735
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,639
it was the victim
of some drastic cuts.

736
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:07,839
It was something of a lost film
for many years, wasn't it?

737
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,479
Well, yes.
The cuts included, for instance,

738
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,799
taking away the flashback
element of the film,

739
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,879
so that it was seen as purely
a time's arrow narrative arc,

740
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,319
which loses, I think, the point.

741
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:22,799
Because the point of the film
is that he's looking back.

742
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:25,599
If you lose that, it's not really...

743
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,839
you don't really get
the sense of what it's about,

744
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,559
it's just a story of some bloke
wandering through the 20th century.

745
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:32,479
It really undermines it.

746
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,039
What emerged from the past was
a film that feels incredibly modern.

747
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:38,639
It is almost impossible to pin down,

748
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:42,399
taking the medium along
wildly unconventional paths.

749
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,799
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
shows us what film can aspire to,

750
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,959
visually, structurally,
and thematically.

751
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,919
Not for nothing is it considered
to be the British Citizen Kane.

752
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:57,679
It was also a huge influence
on Scorsese's Raging Bull.

753
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,279
Martin Scorsese was a lifelong
Powell and Pressburger fan.

754
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:05,119
He loved them from childhood,
he was enchanted by The Red Shoes,

755
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,319
but Colonel Blimp was always one
which was more difficult to access

756
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,439
and to see in its proper condition.

757
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,039
He actually ended up
befriending Michael Powell

758
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,079
later in Powell's life,

759
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,919
and so they often spoke

760
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,319
about Powell's films
and the intentions he had for them.

761
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,519
Finally Colonel Blimp was restored
and re-released in the 1980s,

762
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,639
which was when it really
got its proper due,

763
00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:31,919
and it was sort of
internationally recognised

764
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,719
as one of their greatest,
if not their greatest, films.

765
00:41:35,720 --> 00:41:39,199
Michael Powell would actually marry
Martin Scorsese's long-time

766
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:41,799
creative collaborator and editor,
Thelma Schoonmaker.

767
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,439
And so, between
Schoonmaker and Scorsese,

768
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:47,079
the pair of them spearheaded
the campaign to fund

769
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,719
the restoration of
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

770
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:52,879
And they have worked
tirelessly to restore

771
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,440
and celebrate the films
of Powell and Pressburger.

772
00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:01,999
Although it's about a national
and the history of that character,

773
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,719
the passion, the nostalgia,

774
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:07,119
the tradition
and so on and so forth,

775
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,719
it is actually universal.
These themes are universal.

776
00:42:09,720 --> 00:42:13,239
And I think that is also reflected
in the people who made it,

777
00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:15,439
because Michael Powell
of course, is British,

778
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:19,399
but he was surrounded
by a crew and cast

779
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:23,080
and designers
of international status.

780
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,279
In a way,
the truth of the film is...

781
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:32,679
in your life, there will be
the most important moments

782
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,279
of your entire existence,
which you may miss.

783
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,599
And if you're not careful,

784
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,759
if you don't keep a very close eye
on what's going on around you,

785
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,479
if you fall into just
assumptions and patterns,

786
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,559
if you just roll along blithely

787
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,239
without thinking and being alive,

788
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,359
you will miss the most
important moment of your life.

789
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:55,599
And once that's gone,
you'll never get it back,

790
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:57,239
no matter how hard you try.

791
00:42:57,240 --> 00:42:59,719
And you may try
all these different things,

792
00:42:59,720 --> 00:43:02,239
but there are certain things
that will happen

793
00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:04,439
that you will lose it
if you're not careful,

794
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,879
and you will never get it back.
And that's the lesson

795
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,999
it teaches you each time,
is just... just be present,

796
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,759
be awake, be alive,
because it's all there for you now.

797
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,999
And if you did lose it, don't worry,

798
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,119
because life will always
give you something else.

799
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:22,159
Just make sure
that you're prepared to shed

800
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,599
all of your preconceptions
when necessary

801
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,399
and embrace the beautiful thing
that life has for you.

802
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,759
Ultimately, the power of
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

803
00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:32,959
lies in how it makes us feel.

804
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:37,199
We are both uplifted
and haunted by this creation.

805
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:42,439
This is a story about the difference
between imagination and reality,

806
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:46,119
which is exactly where the world
of film is to be found.

807
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:07,560
Subtitles by Sky Access Services
www.skyaccessibility.sky