Gad, Sir! The Incurable Condition of Being English!

 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) – The adventures of a loyal, if naïve officer in His Majesty’s service.  Beginning as a bright, young officer during the Boer War, the world changes around Clive “Sugar” Candy, challenging him to do likewise.

Directed by Michael Powell

Starring Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook

Why I Liked It – This is a heartwarming story of friendship, love and growing old.

I knew nothing about this movie and, if I’m honest, had very low expectations going in.  “Colonel Blimp“ is an English cartoon character created by David Low in 1934.  The character is pompous, opinionated and certain that England is always correct, and that being English is the only proper way to approach (or rule) the world.  There is no character with that name in the movie, but the audience would recognize the reference.  Clive Candy is the perfect example of the type.

It is easy to dismiss the character at the beginning of the movie (guilty as charged).  He’s a relic, a dinosaur defending tradition and history despite the changes in the world.  Doing so is a mistake.  Livesey is brilliant in peeling the layers of the character.  The Boer Wars (between England and the descendants of Dutch immigrants to South Africa) was a bloody series of conflicts between the professional military of the English Empire and the irregular forces of the Transvaal and Orange Republic.  Candy finds himself there, first as an idealistic young officer with dreams of glory that leads to a duel in Germany.  Neither he nor his opponent die on the field of honor, and while in the hospital, become friends.  They also meet what is the first of three important women in Sugar’s life.

From there, Candy rises through the ranks, falls in love, fights in the first World War and then the Second.  His view of honor, and the right way to fight a war changes, as does the man himself.  While the cartoon character is a satire, Clive Candy is a human being.  His flaws, growth, and understanding make the movie a fascinating one.  It’s not short (around three hours long), but the quality of the storytelling here made the time fly for me.

The movie was not universally popular when released at the height of the Second World War.  Winston Churchill, who had a large portion of Colonel Blimp in his worldview, loathed the movie.  He did everything he could to stop its production and, failing that, it’s distribution.  The movie overall is a satire of the British Army and certain aspects of the Empire’s point of view of the rest of the world.  “The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp” is also a loving tribute to the best of the average Englishman.  History is a long story, and every civilization makes mistakes.  Neither Candy nor his beloved Empire are perfect.  In fact, both are deeply flawed (just as the modern American “empire” is today).  What the movie offers is, as New Yorker reviewer Anthony Lane said, what “… may be the greatest English film ever made, not least because it looks so closely at the incurable condition of being English”.

At the end, I was stunned.  By the filmmaking prowess, the acting, the storytelling, and the humanity of one Clive “Sugar” Candy.

Rating – ***** Highest Recommendation 

I can’t find a proper trailer for this movie, but here is the heart of the movie.  Churchill should have been shouting this movie from the tops of England’s mountains green.