Special Subject - The Archers in Technicolor – THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COL. BLIMP (1943), BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) and THE RED SHOES (1948)

In this episode we revisit three Technicolor melodramas made by British cinema's great auteur duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, bursting with vibrant emotions and sensuality that exercise a dangerous allure over their protagonists: Clive Candy, the upper-class colonialist twerp played by Roger Livesey in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) who discovers the poetry in his soul thanks to the influence of three in-Kerr-nations of Deborah Kerr and the friendship of Anton Walbrook; Sister Clodagh (Kerr again) in Black Narcissus (1947), futilely pitting the Protestant work ethic against the infinite; and Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) in The Red Shoes (1948), torn between the demands of art and mere humanity. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, more Naruse: Flowing (1956), a study of a declining geisha house through the perspective of Kinuyo Tanaka's kindly but powerless servant, and The Stranger Within a Woman (1966), a film noir about being consumed by guilt while the world just wants you to move on. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Brief Intro - Powell and Pressburger 0h 07m 11s: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943) [dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger] 0h 29m 14s: BLACK NARCISSSUS (1947) [dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger] 0h 46m 41s: THE RED SHOES (1948) [dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger] 1h 06m 35s: Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto – Mikio Naruse's Flowing (1956) and The Stranger Within a Woman (1966) at TIFF Lightbox +++ * Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring * Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s * Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive ) * Read Elise's piece on Gangs of New York – "Making America Strange Again" * Check out Dave's Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

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Special Subject - The Archers in Technicolor – THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COL. BLIMP (1943), BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) and THE RED SHOES (1948) is an episode from Another Kind of Distance: A Time Travel, Twin Peaks, Film, Doom Patrol and Nostalgia Podcast by Dave.

This episode is 01:12:59 long.

This episode was published on Jan 23, 2026.

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