Occasionally things just add up and bring a piece of art to mind that combines all the separate strands.  Lately, I’ve been spending far too much time engrossed in Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast, particularly the current Blueprint for Armageddon series on World War I and the Logical Insanity episode about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  There’s also the CIA torture report and subsequent declarations for and against etc, plus I’m reading Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)… so it goes… in a weird way this all points me towards The Life and Death or Colonel Blimp.  Well, the crux of it anyway and the scene where Theo explains to Candy what is needed to beat the Nazis.  It’s one of the best scenes in cinema history but, to be honest, that could describe pretty much any scene in this film.

As with all of the films made by Powell and Pressburger, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a delight from start to finish.  It’s both a grand tale and personal story, it’s vibrant, kinetic and stately, funny, heart warming, heartbreaking and deadly serious.  If ever cinema stands accused, this will be the defence.

Highly Recommended.

Very much.