The Second World war and Boer war veteran Major Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey) finds himself in charge of a home guard unit under attack from a young ambitious lieutenant.Wynne-Candy,now a rotund and seemingly blustery old duffer is outraged when the Lieutenant and his troops invade his London Club breaking all the rules of fair warfare.
The two men argue then wrestle each other and end up falling into a swimming pool. As Wynne Candy emerges from the pool he has now become a young man and his life in the military is told in a series of flashbacks.
Audacious and simply brilliant, Blimp is years ahead of its time in its structure and sentiments.
Although this is far from been an anti-war movie, it certainly isn't a drum beating, flag waving slice of propaganda.
Made at the height of the Second World War, Colonel Blimp is more of an attack on the British military system and its rather staid institutionalism's. Winston Churchill disliked the movie and made moves to get it banned because of the appearance of a sympathetic German although many historians note the resemblance between Blimp and Churchill himself.
Made in 1943, Blimp is now rightly considered a masterpiece of British Cinema, the acting is exemplary, Roger Livesey gives the performance of his life and Deborah Kerr is simply mesmerising.
A considerable legacy of Powell and Pressburger films, the colour cinematography leaves the viewer in awe and introduced the legendary Jack Cardiff as one of the camera operators.Blimp is a lovely, sad romantic (and at times, very funny) movie that leaves more questions than answers, its complex and bold narrative is startling and is a triumph of deft editing. 
The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp is one of the finest war movies ever, one of the best British movies of all time and quite possibly a contender for one of the best movies of all time.
