A Matter of Life and Death

Plot synopsis:
On 2 May 1945, Squadron leader Peter Carter is a Royal Air Force pilot trying to fly a badly damaged and burning Lancaster bomber back to his base in England after a mission over Germany. He has ordered his crew to bail out, without revealing that his own parachute has been shot up. He manages to contact June, an American radio operator based in England and talks with her for a few minutes before jumping without a parachute.
Peter should have died at that point, but Conductor 71, the guide sent to escort him to the Other World, misses him in the thick fog over the English Channel. The airman wakes up on a beach near June's base. At first, he assumes he is in the afterlife but, when a de Havilland Mosquito flies low overhead, discovers, to his bewilderment, that he is still alive.
Peter meets June cycling back to her quarters after her night shift; and they fall in love. Conductor 71 (a French aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution) stops time to explain the situation, urging Peter to accept his death and accompany him to the Other World; but Peter demands an appeal. While Conductor 71 consults his superiors, Peter continues to live his life. Conductor 71 returns and informs him that he has been granted his appeal and has three days to prepare his case. He can choose a defence counsel from among all the people who have ever died, but he has difficulty picking one.
Peter's visions are diagnosed by June's fascinated friend Doctor Reeves as a symptom of a brain injury—chronic adhesive arachnoiditis from a slight concussion two years earlier—and he is scheduled for surgery. Reeves is killed in a motorcycle accident while trying to find the ambulance that is to take Peter to the hospital, which allows him to act as Peter's counsel.
Reeves argues that, through no fault of his own, his client was given additional time on Earth and that, during that time, he has fallen in love and now has an earthly commitment that should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him. The matter comes to a head—in parallel with Peter's brain surgery—before a celestial court; the camera zooms out from an amphitheatre to reveal that it is as large as a spiral galaxy. The prosecutor is American Abraham Farlan, who hates the British for making him the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War. Reeves challenges the composition of the jury, which is made up of representatives who are prejudiced against the British. In fairness, the jury is replaced by a multicultural mixture of modern Americans whose origins are as varied as those they replace.
Reeves and Farlan both cite examples from British and world history to support their positions. In the end, Reeves has June take the stand (Conductor 71 makes her fall asleep in the "real" world by so she can testify) and proves that she genuinely loves Peter by telling her that the only way to save his life is to take his place. She steps onto the stairway to the Other World without hesitation and is carried away, leaving Peter behind. Then the stairway comes to an abrupt halt and June rushes back to Peter's open arms. As Reeves triumphantly explains, "... nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."
The jury rules in Peter's favour. The Judge shows Reeves and Farlan the new lifespan granted to the defendant; Reeves calls it "very generous", and Farlan jokingly complains, then agrees to it. The two then engage in supportive banter with one another, and against the stern Chief Recorder, who protests against the breach of law. The scene then shifts to the operating room, where the surgery is declared a success by the surgeon.

Tags: psychedelic, romantic

Review:
And Jack Cardiff's cinematography is reason enough to watch the film alone, the way he lights Kim Hunter's face makes her all the more beautiful, what a genius, he can make a simple things such as a game of table tennis look exciting.
The black and white sequence that involves the long staircase where Peter and the Conductor are chatting has to be one of the most amazing things on any film.Much has been said in this forum about the film, so our comment will be about the great acting Powell and Pressberger got out of the large, distinguished cast, who responded magnificently to the directors' guidance.David Niven, is Peter, whose aircraft is hit and his best friend dies as a result of it.
I've seen this movie for the first time a week ago, since then every day I see the opening and every time I feel as thrilled as I felt the first time I heard David Niven uttering the immortal words from Sir Walter Raleigh's The Pilgrimage:Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope's true gage; And thus I'll take my pilgrimage ()Do you know why it would be a truism to say Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressuburger's lives are thoroughly justified for having crafted such a wonderful opening?
it's obvious Nazis don't go to heaven The plot itself where dashing young pilot Peter Carter arguing for his life in front of a celestial court wouldn't have had much appeal to me if it wasn't for the subtext , you see A MATTER OR LIFE AND DEATH is a highly political and visionary film that laments the end of the British empire as it's replaced by American ambitions .
The Technicolor photography, somewhat subdued and not garish at all, is excellent and the way it shifts into B&W for the heavenly sequences is done with great imagination and effectiveness.The opening scene is the sort that really draws a viewer into the fantasy aspects of the story--and Niven's tense talk with radio operator Hunter while his plane is crashing toward earth, unexpectedly leads to a memorable romantic encounter.
-than I make no apologies: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH is one of my desert island films, and I could hug it until it chokes.In a film where every scene is a hymn to excess, Romanticism, daring, yet imbued with irony and a very English eccentricity, where bursting composition, overripe colour, playful music (now swelling and romantic, now mockingly cheerful, now chilling and foreboding) and drunken editing cohere to create not formal perfection, but rapturous rupture - and this IS a film that posits love as  either a demented hallucination or a bond stronger than heaven itself - how can one choose a favourite?Is it the opening credits, with its splashes of blue paint, always with a light tugging at the top, until the black clouds over our writers'-producers'-directors' names?
Is it the incredible opening narration, with the reassuringly BBC voiceover which can explain even the universe, before we're hurled into war, that bloody mockery of celestial harmony, and begetter of the subsequent narrative's ambiguity - is what follows the febrile imaginings of a shell-shocked airman, or can we truly believe in chilly heaven, dapper French conductors, stairways, roses, tears?Is it that narrative's opening sequence, beginning where most films would end, with unutterably brave, slightly silly, tear-choking English fatalism, a scene bursting with death and love, the twin motors of a film about a romance engendered without either lover ever setting eyes on one another: this vies with Scottie and Judy's kiss in VERTIGO as the greatest, most nerve-wracking, sweat-inducing, pulse-quickening, dread-creeping scene in all cinema?Is it that awesome vision of heaven, a geometric conception of insane order, a dream-like METROPOLIS which I find quite appealing - it's not enough to suggest that monochrome heaven competes with Technicolour Earth - the crazed logic of heaven becomes increasingly apparent, culminating in the extraordinary courtroom sequence which has all the pedantic logic of an insane asylum, while Earth, full of good sense - and who would give up love for death?
I'd love to be able to disengage myself, and watch it 'intellectually' - talk about the link between godlike viewpoints, seeing (constantly distorted throughout) and the cinema (Frank's disturbing camera obscura, where the doctor-god-director observes his minions, making diagnoses, mirrored in the light looking down on Peter as he is being operated on, closing his eyes; or relate the film's  surprisingly cutting satire, about how war truly affected its agents, how the perfect Englishman is a mentally fragile timebomb waiting to explode, how nationality is discussed in the Courtromm sequence with astonishing, critical directness (literally a lot of air spouted by dead men) - this celebration of Englishness is also its keenest critique; I could talk about how the film carefully modulates between the possibilities of madness, Expressionism or 'plausibility'.
While Peter is submitted to a surgery, Heaven agrees to open a case in court and judge his fate."A Matter of Life and Death" is an extraordinary film that combines drama, fantasy and romance in a wonderful ambiguous story.
I watched the film tonight for the nth time known to us in the U.K. as, "A Matter of Life & Death" and in the U.S.A as, "Stairway to Heaven".I feel I must add my eulogy to the litany of praise that has gone before by my esteemed colleagues and as my own tribute to the late Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger who produced this the Archers' greatest film.I had previously read MP's autobiography, "A Life in Movies" (1986) to understand more about this imaginative producer and director.Conceived as a film during WWII to help improve Anglo-American relations, it poses many philosophical questions to the viewer.The very justification of Britain's colonial past is examined during the celestial trial but it's central tenet is that whereas love is the most powerful force on Earth, in the heavens it is the law of the Universe which governs all things.How can the viewer not fall a bit in love with our beautiful American WAC controller, June (Kim Hunter), as she instinctivly feels the power of love for Sqn. Ldr.
Peter Carter (David Niven) from the time she first hears his hopeless speech on air from the burning cockpit of his Lancaster before he falls to Earth without a parachute, to her absolute willingness to prove her love for him (and to the jury), by stepping onto the "Stairway to Heaven" during the trial.She will provide the Hereafter with an acceptable substitute to make up for Peter's missing soul which should have been delivered by the French conducter, (Marius Goring) into the celestial account book, but due to English fog, could not be traced for 20 hours by which time his life had radically changed.This seems to indicate that throughout our lives, our destiny is being constantly changed by our relationships with the people we meet here on Earth and by circumstance.I was a bit surprised that colour was not used in the Hereafter scenes and B&W on Earth rather than vice-versa.However since most of the action takes place on Earth, we would have missed out on the lush "Technicolor" sequences.As a strong amateur chess player, I do own Dr. Alexander Alekhine's, "My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937" borrowed by the French conductor.Alekhine who was Russian by birth, became world champion in 1927 in Buenos Aires when he defeated the previously invincible Cuban, Jose Raoul Capablanca y Graupera in a titanic struggle.Alekhine died undefeated in Lisbon, Portugal in 1946 and this was the same year the film was produced.Incidentally Andre Danican Philidor, French by birth (1726-1795) and mentioned by the French conductor, was probably the strongest player of his day.This film was produced before computer cloning was invented for large crowd scenes (e.g.
"Gladiator") and the number of extras used in the trial scene takes your breath away as they are revealed rank upon rank as the camera recedes back into a wide angle shot.Indeed the scope of the film embraces Astronomy, Politics, Philosophy, Theology, Medical Science and Poetry amongst other disciplines.The staircase scene should  have taken the Oscar for "Most Imaginative Set" as it transports the viewer to a place where time stands still in space.This unique film was written, directed and produced by Powell & Pressburger.You will want to see some of their other collaberations after this offering.I can recommend "Gone To Earth" and "The Red Shoes" both from this era.I rated it 8/10..
These were all highly patriotic films produced during and in the aftermath of WWII; which probably accounts for the initial impressions I had; but my admiration for them has increased not decreased in the succeeding years.Probably one reason for my impressionable nature at the time was that I was growing up during WWII and lived in Blackpool which was one of the training areas for RAF personnel and was familiar with all the uniforms and ranks both of RAF and American personnel as one of the biggest US air bases in the UK was at Warton less than 20 miles along the coast from Blackpool and the 'Yanks' flooded into Blackpool ( a holiday resort) at the weekends for R&R.It is of course possible to 'pick holes' in various features of the film, I could for instance 'Nit-Pick' about the cockpit layout of the stricken 'Lancaster' but these do not detract from the overall quality of the production and the 'Staircase to Heaven' has never been surpassed as an 'Effect'I have lost count of the number of time I have seen 'A Matter of Life and Death' but it must be in excess of 30 - I am probably 'Word Perfect' on the dialogue!
Powell/Pressburger was a remarkable directorial duo -- and five of their films are among my top 10, but my all-time favorite movie is A Matter of Life And Death -- known in the US as Stairway to Heaven.
The attention to detail is impeccable.Powell and Pressburger employ an ingenuous use of dye-transfer three-strip Technicolor and monochrome photography realized to perfection by the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff that compliments the story perfectly - as does the excellent musical score by Allan Gray.David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring and Raymond Massey head a fine cast and are quite excellent.
How wonderful!This is one of most beautiful movies ever done.It even surpasses,in Mickael Powell filmography the thriller "peeping tom"(1960) Words lack to describe such a witty and clever plot -which encompasses metaphysical meditation and schoolboys jokes-,such an inventive cinematography -which uses blazing color for the earth and black and white for the beyond-.This unique masterpiece recalls sometimes the second parts of Hathaway's "Peter Ibbetson"(1935)and Fritz Lang's "der müde Tod"(1921),and it literally dwarves such works as"les visiteurs du soir" (1942)" les jeux sont faits "(1947) "the sixth sense" (1999) Jacob's ladder (1990) wings of desire (1988) and its inferior remake "city of angels" (1998).I do not exaggerate:emotionally and technically "a matter of death" wins hands down.A fighter pilot (Niven) has to make a jump without a parachute.Before,he leaves a radio message to a woman at the air base(Hunter)Their conversation will make you cry if you listen with your heart.He should have died,but,because of the British fog,he 's caught between our earth and the other world.Then begins an extraordinary story,original to a fault,which would make blush a lot of scenarists of today.A French messenger from the beyond comes to take him where he should be but the pilot meets again the woman and they fall in love.Powell films now our brave old earth,now the beyond with a peerless virtuosity.His innovations are so powerful they will leave you on the edge of your seat:for instance ,our world often seems out of touch with reality:the desert beach,with this plane ,suddenly disturbing the strange quietness of the place(doesn't it remind you of an Hitchcock famous scene?);the beautiful -and almost magical - garden where the messenger meets his "customer" ;the doctor's observatory,where he watches his compatriots as if he were a deity himself;the "a midsummer's night dream" rehearsals which would seem completely irrelevant in another context:no connection with the plot at all,and however,it adds to the dreamlike atmosphere.The beyond,far from the grand guignol of today with its monsters and ridiculous paraphernalia ,is masterfully dreamed up:borrowing from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis",it features a huge stair with imposing statues ,and gigantic rooms with a cast of thousands.But in the prologue,Powell did show us the whole universe,and he ironically pointed out:"this is our earth;it's part of it all;reassuring isn't it?"Even the human beyond is a dust in the infinite space .What can the English/American rivalities mean when even the whole history will disappear someday.One should bear in mind that "A matter of death" was made first as a work of propaganda on request of the British government to sweeten the American /British relationship that were paradoxically tense at the time.Love ,like in "Peter Ibbetson" ,triumphs over human pettiness,and what can Boston Tea Party memories do against the girl's tears,collected on a rose?A movie to cherish,a movie to treasure,one of the very few which will still improve with time.See it at any cost..
I don't think I could ever expect such a bold approach from a 1946 film, its only 'dating' aspect being the context of the life-and-death situation.But the beginning doesn't leave you much time to digest the metaphysical material, as soon as we get to David Niven and Kim Hunter, we're literally hooked.
These guys were really ahead of their time.And I didn't reveal tenth of what makes the film so great, I should just say that there's a fourth major played by Roger Livesy (he was the romantic lead in "I Know Where I'm Going") as the Doctor who'll help Carter to plead his cause, you just don't live Heaven like a tavern and you've got to prove that even in the great scheme of things, the love between two people doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
At the end of the Second World War, relations between the Americans and the British were a little strained as, in the run-up to D-Day, the yanks won local hearts while they were "overpaid, oversexed and over here" and a British Government department suggested the idea of a locally-made film to improve perceptions.Written, produced and directed by the quintessentially British Michael Powell and the Hungarian-born Emeric Pressburger, the work may not have fully met its contemporary brief: British critics of the time thought the film was too pro-American and the Americans renamed the work "Stairway To Heaven" because they thought the word 'death' would kill its prospects.
But the movie played well with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and it was so visually inventive and verbally clever that it has become a classic.At the heart of the story is an inversion of the usual 'yank gets the girl' narrative, as RAF bomber pilot Squadron Leader Peter Carter (David Niven) wins the affection of American radio operator June (Kim Hunter) in record time and audacious circumstances as he is about to bale out without a parachute.
The tribunal in the other world, pitting American prosecuter (Raymond Massey) against the British defender (Roger Livesey), features critiques and characteriisations of both nations, not least in the choice of the members of the two juries.The set designs - by German-born Alfred Junge - are simple but striking, especially the staircase to the other world and the scenes of that world, while there are a whole range of clever visual techniques, starting with the representation of earth in colour and the heavenly world in black & white and including the 'freezing' of 'real life' when Conductor 71 makes his earthly appearances and an amzing shot from an eyeball point of view.Even the statutes on the stairway are carefully chosen (all of the 17 famous personages named in Pressburger's copy of the script were believed to be sufferers of epilepsy).
Although Rashomon's plot and Kurosawa's style was gritty and serious while Powell's direction and Pressburger's script is enveloped in fantasy and charm, but the message in both the films in the end was to make the viewer believe in the salient aspects of humanity and especially in case of 'A Matter of Life and Death' Pressburger advocates the power of love to survive and forget the past in times of great distress after the war.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wrote and directed "A Matter of Life and Death," or "Stairway to Heaven," a fantasy in 1946 and starring David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Robert Coote, Richard Attenborough, Raymond Massey, and Roger Livesey.During and after the war, there were many films about angels, heaven, and spirits after death: "It's a Wonderful Life," "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," "The Bishop's Wife," "Heaven Can Wait" -- the loss of loved ones was part of the collective unconscious.
But Niven cheats death and stymies the well-ordered engineering of souls after death, provoking a trial in heaven as Niven seeks to stay with his love.Powell and Pressburger were one of cinema's most unique and visionary teams, and this film can be seen as a meditation on cinema as well as love (the afterlife scenes are in black and white; one character remarks "one is starved for Technicolor up here", and Powell and Pressburger regular Roger Livesey plays a village doctor who acts as omnipotent narrator to the village scenes he sees through his camera obscura) But most of all, "A Matter of Life and Death " is one of the great hand-holdingly romantic movies of all time..
Watching this movie, I kept thinking that the films, "Heaven Can Wait" and "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" got a lot of their stories from here.David Niven is adorable, and you never quite know what's really happening.