Stars: Anton Walbrook, Deborah Kerr, Roger Livesey, John Laurie, A.E. Matthews, Roland Culver, Valentine Dyall, Albert Lieven, Ursula Jeans, Felix Aylmer

Director: Michael Powell

Summary: A British soldier survives three wars and falls in love with three women. His past life is revealed in flashbacks. Includes a documentary.

Colonel Blimp, an old, befuddled British military officer, reminisces about his past glories in this witty war satire. Deborah Kerr plays three different women in the Colonel's long, but not particularly well-spent life. A.K.A. "Colonel Blimp."

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Two masterpieces of British cinema are paired here--Powell and Pressburger's first Technicolor triumph, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp(1943) and their even more ambitious A Matter of Life and Death(1946). Both pictures are transcendent examples of the filmmakers' craft, and remain models of great cinema long after their original wartime propaganda brief has expired.

Based on a famously satirical cartoon strip that mocked outmoded attitudes of fair play at a time of "total war", Blimpsubsequently became notorious as the film Churchill tried to have banned. Because the War Office objected to the screenplay, they refused to allow P&P's first choice for the role, Laurence Olivier, and the duo cast unknown stage actor Roger Livesey in his place. It is Livesey's sympathetic performance that transforms Clive "Sugar" Candy from an object of satire to one of warm affection, effectively reversing the film's intended message about old-fashioned decency versus wartime pragmatism. Anton Walbrook is a profound presence in a role that mirrored the actor's own plight as a German in Britain, while Deborah Kerr is a living leitmotif in the film, playing no fewer than three distinct but deliberately related roles.

Briefed by the Ministry of Information to make a film that would foster Anglo-American relations in the post-war period, the duo, known as "the Archers", came up with A Matter of Life and Death, an extravagant and extraordinary fantasy in which David Niven's downed pilot must justify his continuing existence to a heavenly panel because he has made the mistake of falling in love with an American girl (Kim Hunter) when he really should have been dead. National stereotypes are lampooned as the angelic judges squabble over his fate. In a neat reversal of expectations, the heaven sequences are black and white, while earth is seen in Technicolor. Daring cinematography mixes monochrome and colour, incorporates time-lapse images, and even toys with background "time freezes" 50 years before The Matrix. Roger Livesey and Raymond Massey lead the fine supporting cast.

On the DVD:The Life and Death of Colonel Blimpand A Matter of Life and Deathare presented in reasonably sharp 4:3 ratio with good mono sound. Blimpcomes with a 25-minute documentary feature that tells us nothing revelatory about making the film, but has good new interviews with cinematographer Jack Cardiff (then an apprentice) and eloquent admirer Stephen Fry. Text biographies and stills are also included. Life and Deathhas no extras. --Mark Walker

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Stills Gallery, Biographies
Year:	1943
Release Date:	May 13, 2002
Runtime:	182 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 03143
Keywords:	Special, Death, Life, General, Edition, Colonel, Blimp, Drama
Genre:	Drama