Parents' Guide to The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

This classic British wartime drama may be 2 hours 45 minutes long, but it more than holds its own for the full runtime. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger—here writing and directing together for only the second time—take David Lowe's titular blustering blowhard satirical cartoon character and make him complex, honorable, and even lovable in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Livesey moves with ease through his character's development over a 40-year period, which is helped in no small part by impressive make-up effects, transforming the actor to such an extent that newcomers to his work might think his various incarnations are played by different leads. The other standout casting decision here is to have Kerr play three different women over the course of four decades. It's an ingenious way of portraying the haunting nature of love and loss, when Clive looks for his first love in the faces of future women and, here, actually finds her. The structure, too, not only keeps audiences on their toes, but comes full circle naturally and skillfully in a way that feels satisfying after a not insignificant time commitment. Prime Minister Winston Churchill tried to ban it, and it was cut by nearly an hour for its original U.S. release. But this full version, restored in 1983, is widely considered one of the greatest British films of all time.