Thanks. While we're here (since we're talking about other brands, I guess it's on-topic, more or less), can anyone who's seen "Colonel Blimp" or knows British Army equipment in general inform us what those bikes were in this sequence? (Because the film was made in 1943-44, I'd guarantee they aren't beemers.
) Perhaps some of our members in UK could enlighten us regarding early WWII standard=issue motorcycles there.
The film is unbelievably rich Technicolor. The gods only know how Michael Powell was able to get his hands on so much (163 minutes in its final cut) high-quality color film stock during the war, particularly in light of the hostility of the British government toward "Blimp."
Of interest to riders: The script refers to a WWI sidecar bike as a "bathtub," and the scenes involving it illustrate why. That's a British Army slang term I hadn't encountered previously.
For those who love films in general (with or without bikes), the cinematography, including the courier bike sequence, is ingenious. The bike sequence is the very opening of the movie, just after a brief shot of a teletype message being received in code; it establishes context more concisely, without a word of dialogue or narration, than any that I can remember.
BTW, "Colonel Blimp" is a film about humanity during and between wars, not a "war movie."
I recommend it. See it if you can. JT
