Capital Celluloid 2012 - Day 136: Tue May 15

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Powell & Pressburger, 1943):
Soho Curzon, 6.45pm
A special screening of the restored classic. Here's the introduction:
Curzon Cinemas is proud to bring you a special screening of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1943 epic masterpiece, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. After the screening, we will welcome filmmakers, and Emeric Pressburger’s grandsons, director Kevin (The Last King of Scotland) and producer Andrew Macdonald (Trainspotting) for a post-screening discussion. 


Chicago Reader review:
'It's almost impossible to define this 1943 masterpiece by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was ostensibly based on a cartoon series that satirized the British military class, yet its attitude toward the main character is one of affection, respect, and sometimes awe; it was intended as a propaganda film, yet Churchill wanted to suppress it; it has the romantic sweep of a grand love story, yet none of the romantic relationships it presents is truly fulfilled, and the film's most lasting bond is one between the British colonel (Roger Livesey) and his Prussian counterpart (Anton Walbrook). Pressburger's screenplay covers 40 years in the colonel's life through a series of brilliantly constructed flashbacks, compressions, and ellipses; Powell's camera renders the winding plot through boldly deployed Technicolor hues and camera movements of exquisite design and expressivity. It stands as very possibly the finest film ever made in Britain.'
Dave Kehr
Here is the trailer.

No comments: