Academy Film Archive plans special screening of ‘Colonel Blimp’ at Folino Theater

This Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m., there will be a free screening of the newly-restored 1943 British film classic “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.”  The public is invited to join Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Film Archive Director Michael Pogorzelski and film preservationist Heather Linville for the screening of this classic film by Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger, which stars Deborah Kerr, Roger Livesey and Anton Walbrook.

It’s a witty war satire, renowned for its Technicolor cinematography, that follows the reminiscences of an old British Army colonel about his past adventures.  Directors Powell and Pressburger were two of the 20th century’s most accomplished British filmmakers.  Martin Scorsese has said of this movie, “The powerful story, the richness of the color affected me very much.  I was taken with the archness of their approach – they took enormous care with every detail.”

The film was controversial at the time of its release and for years afterward because of its sympathetic portrayal of a German officer, and for the fact that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill disliked the movie and even called for its production to be halted (he may have thought the British officer character was a parody of himself).  This will be only the second screening of the new restoration in California.   It will take place in Knott Studios’ Folino Theater.