A Matter of Life and Death (1946) PART 14

★★★★★ (All Movie Guide):

Also known as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death is the remarkable British fantasy film that became the surprise hit of 1946. David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. A celestial court argues over whether or not to claim Carter's life or to let him survive to wed his American sweetheart (Kim Hunter). During an operation, in which Carter hovers between life and death, he dreams that his spirit is on trial, with God (Abraham Sofaer) as judge and Carter's recently deceased best friend (Roger Livesey) as defense counsel. The film tries to have it both ways by suggesting that the heavenly scenes are all a product of Carter's imagination, but the audience knows better. Among the curious but effective artistic choices in A Matter of Life and Death was the decision to film the earthbound scenes in Technicolor and the Heaven sequences in black-and-white. The film was a product of the adventuresome team known as "The Archers": Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• matter
• of
• life
• and
• death
• david
• niven
• kim
• hunter
• powell
• pressburger
• raymond
• massey
• 1946
• technicolor

[CardNinja808]

Good Film :)

[applejax19562]

Thanks for the posts "littleiceage". First and only time that I had a chance to see this movie, we had a b/w set, so I never saw this in color. This is one of those movies on my "A list" from my youth that I will never get tired of watching. A few others on that list include "I'll Never Forget You", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Roman Scandals", "The Bishop's Wife" (also stars Niven) and "Here Comes Mr. Jordan".

[mochawitch]

ahhhhh that ending always gives me goosebumps ♥♥♥♥ thanks :-)

[TheFunkadelicFan]

I must have got something in my eye.

[TheTheoldgit]

Thank you for such a great film. I haven´t seen this since i was a kid1 Many years ago.

[TheTheoldgit]

@SlideRulePirate hear Hear!

[SlideRulePirate]

They don't make'em like that anymore. Always has me filling up.

The first time I saw this flick was one afternoon as a kid faking a day sick off school. Time well spent I think.

[baltoman24]

One of a trio of great masterpieces by The Archers, this, followed by Black Narcissus and then The Red Shoes. Breathtaking work of Genius!

[mart77scole]

@nostromoau You are welcome, if you go to Wikipedia there is a couple of interesting stories of airmen who have had amazing escapes, an American ball turret gunner Alan Magee for one and a Russian bomber crew member Ivan Chisov who fell from higher altitudes.

[nostromoau]

@mart77scole Outstanding job! Thanks very much for that.