The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

1943
Approved
2h 43m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

17K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer3:01

Epic Drama Romance War

From the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.From the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.From the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.

Directors
- Michael Powell
- Emeric Pressburger
Writers
- Michael Powell
- Emeric Pressburger
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

17K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,797

5,018

Directors
- Michael Powell
- Emeric Pressburger
Writers
- Michael Powell
- Emeric Pressburger
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations

Videos1

Trailer 3:01

Official Trailer

Photos25

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Colonel Blimp was a British cartoon character in a then well-known strip. The producers decided to use the name for the movie.

Goofs
When the two dogs are let into the London house, one can be seen at the top of the stairs answering a call of nature.

Quotes
Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff: You know that, after the war, we had very bad years in Germany. We got poorer and poorer. Every day retired officers or schoolteachers were caught shoplifting. Money lost its value, the price of everything rose except of human beings. We read in the newspapers that the after-war years were bad everywhere, that crime was increasing and that honest citizens were having a hard job to put the gangsters in jail. Well in Germany, the gangsters finally succeeded in putting the honest citizens in jail.

Crazy credits
The lead actors' names are sewn onto a tapestry-like picture, written on scrolls. This opening credits' "needlework tapestry" was completed by the Royal College of Needlework.

Alternate versions
The original version (the one restored to Criterion Collection DVD and laserdisc) runs 163 minutes. When Winston Churchill expressed his vehement dislike for the film, the British distributor, Rank Films, cut it to 140 minutes. The film was chopped to pieces when it was imported to the United States in 1945, running around 120 minutes (in which the film's vital flashback structure is eliminated and the story is told from beginning to end). The film was further cut to 90 minutes and ran on public television often in the 1970s; for years, it was thought that this was the only extant version. In 1983, with the cooperation of the Archers, the film was restored to the full 163-minute length. The restored film retains the original flashback structure and many World War I scenes, including the appearance of a black soldier.

Connections
Featured in Arena: A Pretty British Affair (1981)

Soundtracks
Je suis Titania
(uncredited)
from "Mignon"
Music by Ambroise Thomas

User reviews136

Review

Featured review

Churchill was most definitely wrong

Forget what another reviewer said here about being "shallow and lacking in emotional content" and full of "stock characters", as nothing could be further from the truth. This is one of the finest British films ever made.

It may mock the old reactionary Blimp (who pretty much is Churchill) but it does so with deep sympathy for his passing age of fair play. And its message that Britain must fight a realistic war was a great bit of intelligent and patriotic propaganda. By opposing it Churchill underestimated the intelligence of the British people.

Roger Livesey's and Anton Walbrook's performances are both fantastic, and the film contains two drop-dead emotional moments: Walbrook's single shot speech about leaving Germany, and Livesey's final lines as the film ends.

And any film which has a character called Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff MUST be good.