Quick takes on 5 Archers films

One of the most famous writer and director teams in the history of cinema, or at least, 2 names synonymous with each other, is that of the British duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (together known as the Archers). Together, they made 20+ films from 1939 until 1957, and a couple more in the 60’s. Today I’ll look at a few films they did during and just after World War II.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp may well be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. It details the long life of Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesy), but begins near the end. Clive is an old man and is training the Home Guard in London during World War II. He is to run a training exercise the next day, but a brash young lieutenant gets a jump start on him and takes him “capture” the day before “war” is to break out. Clive is incensed, saying kids these days don’t follow rules or respect their elders. We then get the story of what made Clive the man he is, going back to his days as a lieutenant himself in the English Boer War in Africa in 1902. Clive has made a name for himself for heroics in battle, but when he travels to Germany to squash some propaganda, he is challenged to a duel by a young German officer. For his sword fight, he gets a lifelong scar on his lip (covered by a mustache as an old man) and a lifelong friend in the German, whom he calls Theo. (This was a daring film to make in 1942, at the height of war, when the only German who gets a lot of screen time is shown as a good man.) Theo ends up falling in love with and marrying Clive’s friend Edith, and Clive realized only afterwards that he loved Edith too. The movie then jumps ahead to the end of World War I, and Clive (now a brigadier general) is marrying a girl half his age who looks just like a young Edith (in fact played by the same actress, Deborah Kerr). Theo is a prisoner of war with the English army, but Clive looks him up and treats him well, attempting to cheer him up. Theo isn’t having much of it though, worrying about what will happen to his home of Germany now that they’ve lost. The next scene gets us close to the beginning of the movie, in 1939. Theo is trying to immigrate to England but is held up in customs. He admits his sons are in the Nazi party, but that he wanted nothing to do with Hitler and hasn’t been a soldier since 1920. Clive arrives and vouches for him. They catch up, admitting that both wives have died, and Clive fesses up that he once loved Edith himself. Clive is about to give a speech regarding Dunkirk where he is going to argue that English soldiers fight with honor and not resort to tactics that Germany is using. The powers that be will not allow Clive to give that speech, and Theo agrees, saying that having seen what losing a war will do to your country and home, that it is better to win at any cost. Clive finds retirement in training the Home Guard, but sees that he has been passed by. He laments the lifetime of experience he has that no one seems to want, but also sees a parallel in the brash young lieutenant that captured him, and his own rush off to Germany when he himself was a brash young man. A beautiful film, full of love and longing, loss, grief, and, quite literally, a “passing of the guard.” One to watch again and again.

The one word that came to mind upon finishing A Canterbury Tale is lovely. It’s a fairly simple movie, really not much of a plot, but it exudes a feeling of calm and serenity, making it impossible to not become swept up in it. The film follows an unlikely trio who disembark a train in a small village in Kent, on the way to Canterbury, in 1943 (the film was released in 1944). Peter is a British soldier stationed nearby, Bob is an American soldier who mistakenly got off too early, and Alison is a young woman who is to begin working at a farm nearby. On their first night there, Alison is attacked by an unknown assailant, someone locally who has been pouring glue in women’s hairs. The trio set out to solve the mystery of the attacker, but in the meantime, learn about the quiet nearby villages and the history of the Canterbury pilgrimages. Some really picturesque cinematography featured throughout, and the land really becomes as important as the actors. Nice little film.

I Know Where I’m Going! is about a young woman, Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller), who seems to have had her whole life planned from an early age. She knows what she wants, and more often than not, she gets it. From a middle class background, she is on the eve of her marriage to a very wealthy factory owner, Robert Bellinger. He is bringing her out to the northern, Scottish isle of Kiloran, which can only be reached by boat from the nearby isle of Mull. On Mull, she is stranded when storms prevent the final leg of the trip, and she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a Naval officer and everyman who wants to visit his childhood home on Kiloran. While Joan waits on Mull for the weather to clear, she grows closer to MacNeil and the other middle, working-class inhabitants. She is shaken when she learns MacNeil is also laird (lord) of Kiloran, and it was from him that Bellinger leased the land. Though MacNeil does own the land from inheritance, he isn’t a wealthy man. For Joan, who always thought money was everything that would give her happiness in life, she sees a people who are quite content with what little they have. A fantastic romantic drama with lots of comedy too, a film like this would play just as well today as it did in 1945.

A Matter of Life and Death is just what it sounds like. Peter is an English airman returning home after a bombing mission in Germany, but his plane is crippled, he doesn’t have a parachute, and he knows his end is near. He radios down and gets an American servicewoman named June, he takes down his last words. Remarkably though, Peter awakes on a beach the next day, and realizes quickly he’s in England, not Heaven. He hunts down June immediately and they quickly develop a relationship. However, in Heaven, they realize their mistake and that Peter was to die that night, and send down a man to bring him up. Peter asks for an appeal, on the grounds that his life has changed now that he has a love in his life, and is granted a case by jury in 3 days. Peter selects his counsel, and the case plays out, both about Peter, as well as a referendum on relationships between England and America, which were strained in the aftermath of the world war. A fine film, not as spectacular as the preceding ones, but who can hate a story about love?

For today’s lineup, the Archers end on a high note with Black Narcissus. Incredible drama about a group of nuns sent to a remote complex in the Himalayas to set up a hospital and school for the locals. Leading them is a young but driven Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr). The sisters get a good start there; the school is well attended and they have the support of the local “general,” a young man who inherited the land from his wealthy uncle, now a holy man. The only real point of contention is a strapping Englishman named Mr Dean (David Farrar), who flaunts his robust sexuality to the nuns and drops sexual innuendos to make Sister Clodagh uncomfortable. It isn’t long that other problems begin to creep up. The high altitude and wide open spaces seem to affect each of the nuns differently. Sister Ruth, already a bit unstable but sent up there in hopes to find peace, becomes mentally unhinged and begins to yearn for Mr Dean, but becomes jealous when he talks to Clodagh. Sister Honey is supposed to overlook the gardens for their food, but starts planting flowers instead, remembering happier moments from her youth when she was surrounded by flowers. Even Sister Clodagh herself begins remembering a romance she had as a teenager before taking her vows, memories probably brought on by Mr Dean’s flirtations. Ultimately, the nuns’ safety is put at risk when a baby they are treating in the hospital dies, and the local population begins to think they are trading in black magic. The kids stop coming to the school, and Ruth’s mental acuity unravels, leading to a horrendous moment between her and Clodagh. I’ve only previously seen a few of Powell and Pressburger’s films before this set, and they were good, but this lineup has pushed them to one of my favorites. Time to go hunt down some more!