This film is part of Rentals

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Powell and Pressburger’s masterpiece follows the rise and fall of a career soldier, from dashing and brave young officer in the Boer War to a pompous and old-fashioned Colonel by the time of World War Two.
War 1943 164 mins
Director: Michael Powell
Overview
Powell and Pressburger’s wondrous war-time classic follows the rise and fall of a career soldier, from dashing and brave young officer in the Boer War to a pompous and old-fashioned Colonel by the time of World War Two. While the film’s central idea concerns the changing nature of warfare and the end of ‘gentlemen’s rules’ in the face of Nazi barbarity, the course of the film is side-tracked by various eccentric asides and elusive diversions, in a manner typical of the directors.
The themes of love and friendship are examined, as is the notion of an evolving 20th-century Europe, in which the rise of ideology seems set to supplant the social glue of nationalism. Despite the complexity of these ideas, Powell and Pressburger manage to retain a lightness of touch that makes the film highly enjoyable and spritely, despite its length, contributing to its reputation as one of the best of all British films.

Accessibility
Related
War

The Painted Bird The Painted Bird
Drama 2019 169 mins Director: Vaclav Marhoul
Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel and a long time in the making, Václav Marhoul’s extraordinary The Painted Bird finds a lone Jewish boy on a dark odyssey towards home during wartime.

Summerland Summerland
Drama 2019 100 mins Director: Jessica Swale
Gemma Arterton stars in acclaimed theatre director Jessica Swale’s moving Second World War drama, as a woman rediscovering her ability to love.

Kanarie Kanarie
Drama 2018 124 mins Director: Christiaan Olwagen
A Boy George-obsessed smalltown boy joins the South African Defence Force army choir, in this quirky Apartheid-era musical drama.

Casablanca Casablanca
Romance 1942 103 mins Director: Michael Curtiz
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman star in the eternal story of love, loss and redemption; the ultimate testament to the brilliance of Golden Age Hollywood.

Full Metal Jacket Full Metal Jacket
War 1987 117 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick
Recruits move from the brutal US Marine training bootcamp – into the nightmare of war.

Journey's End Journey's End
Drama 2017 108 mins Director: Saul Dibb
Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany and Asa Butterfield bring R C Sherriff’s acclaimed First World War play to the screen, in this new adaptation from director Saul Dibb.
Geoff Andrew's Player+ playlist

A Cottage on Dartmoor A Cottage on Dartmoor
Drama 1930 88 mins Silent Director: Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith (Underground) directs this embroiled melodrama, a tale of love and revenge, shot on location on the bleak landscape of Dartmoor.

The 39 Steps The 39 Steps
Thriller 1935 83 mins Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Sublime and suspenseful version of the popular John Buchan spy thriller from the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

Partie de campagne Partie de campagne
Period drama 1936 39 mins Director: Jean Renoir
On a country picnic, a young girl leaves her family for a while and succumbs to an all-too-brief romance in Jean Renoir's sensuous tribute to the countryside.

Journey to Italy Journey to Italy
Drama 1954 86 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini's acerbic but finally very moving masterpiece about marital crisis boasts great performances from Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders

Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.

Land of Silence and Darkness Land of Silence and Darkness
Documentary 1971 85 mins Director: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog’s profound and deeply moving documentary about the experiences of a community of deaf-blind people.
Directed by Michael Powell

Peeping Tom Peeping Tom
Drama 1960 101 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s dark, disturbing, once controversial tale of a shy camera technician who films women as he kills them is now rightly deemed a classic

Red Ensign Red Ensign
Drama 1934 69 mins Director: Michael Powell
Passionate shipbuilding tale from an on-the-up Michael Powell.

The Phantom Light The Phantom Light
Comedy 1935 72 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s gothic mystery of a haunted lighthouse where insanity thrives.

A Canterbury Tale A Canterbury Tale
War 1944 125 mins Director: Michael Powell
Powell and Pressburger's most personal film combines a Chaucer-inspired pilgrimage with a war-time celebration of English landscape and values to create a gem of British cinema.

The Boy Who Turned Yellow The Boy Who Turned Yellow
Children's 1972 54 mins Director: Michael Powell
A London schoolboy’s surprise transformation marks the final collaboration of great British director Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
New

Sisters with Transistors Sisters with Transistors
Documentary 2020 86 mins Director: Lisa Rovner
The remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to transform how we produce and listen to music today.

Henry Glassie: Field Work Henry Glassie: Field Work
Documentary 2019 105 mins Director: Pat Collins
Director Pat Collins’ sublime portrait of the renowned American folklorist and ethnologist, Henry Glassie, who has spent a half century documenting the artistic processes of traditional craftspeople.

A Common Crime [Un crimen común] A Common Crime [Un crimen común]
Drama 2020 96 mins Director: Francisco Márquez
There are echoes of Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman in this gripping tale of class divisions and ethical responsibility in contemporary Argentina.

Sequin in a Blue Room Sequin in a Blue Room
Drama 2019 80 mins Director: Samuel Van Grinsven
Sexual obsessions spiral dangerously out of control in this altogether different coming-of-age tale.

T11 Incomplete T11 Incomplete
Drama 2020 104 mins Director: Suzanne Guacci
Past mistakes haunt the present and threaten a new love affair between an older woman and her patient in this compelling melodrama.

Minari Minari
Drama 2020 116 mins Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Lee Isaac Chung's sweeping story of a Korean-American family in search of the American Dream, winner of two Sundance prizes and now nominated for six Academy Awards.