A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Heaven scene

Flying Officer Trubshaw (Bob Coote) is waiting in the ante room of heaven for his skipper Peter Carter (David Niven), who is supposed to have died when he bailed out of his burning Lancaster without a parachute. But the heavenly WAAF "angel" (Kathleen Byron) has no record of him ["There hasn't been a mistake here for over a thousand years ...') Has he been missed? Great visual design in this scene (spot a young Dickie Attenborough), and the portals looking down from the heavens inspired the design of a Midlands bus station!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• david
• niven
• kathleen
• byron
• powell
• pressburger
• matter
• of
• life
• and
• death
• stairway
• to
• heaven
• 1946
• RAF
• richard
• attenborough

[freddage91]

Fuck me richard attenborough can't have been a day older than 25 in this

[mutikonka]

You obviously haven't seen "In Which We Serve", made two years earlier, where he plays the panicky naval rating.

[mutikonka]

Trubshawe was the name of Niven's closets friend in his early years, a chap who served with him in the highland Light Infantry. They shared a house together in Hollywood along with Errol Flynn. Trubshawe went on to play many minor roles in films in the fifties and sixties.

[lkofron]

Is there anything you don't know about this fantastic movie??!

[mutikonka]

It's all revealed in great detail at the Powell and Pressburger movie website (Google it).

[Floridawop]

I love this movie and I own a copy, but look at the American bomber crew and look at the officer's hat. Is that an enlisted man's hat with an officer's insignia on it?

[mutikonka]

Dunno - I'm not a uniform expert. Look OK to me.

[Chiggs58th]

This ain't no film. It's actual magic. Pure magic. Whenever I watch it I just get the strangest feeling. I believe this film has some kind of real magical or supernatural power. I'm not joking.

[justneedcandy]

"It's heaven, isn't it?"

Is there a better British film than this?

[quidseeker]

@Chiggs58th adjust your meds mate.

[quidseeker]

@pvtpstr saucy saucy.......simmer down sassanach

[quidseeker]

God that was cheesy......the dialogue was horrible. Like a bad episode of the Twilight Zone......

[r0dster01]

Fave line in the first few minutes, "oh, ahhh...do you have USO shows here?" "No, we don't"

"OK, we'll stay..." LOL!

[pvtpstr]

yanks in heaven? bloody hell!

[blackwingy]

@bantermelon Now men, take 'er easy there! Funny: this film was made specifically to smooth over the exact "Brit vs. Yank" attitudes you're bringing up-and that existed as the war wound down. If you watch the entire film you'll see the whole thing played out and presented very wittily and I think very fairly, considering Michael Powell was as english as it gets, and it's his(and Pressburger's)film.

Me? I think it's a masterpiece. Coca-cola and all.

[Eedgit]

I just love this movie

Seems like god does negotiate after all :)

[JubalCalif]

@freddage91

Well, I'll pass on fucking you (appreciate the offer though) but I do agree that Richard Attenborough looks incredibly young in this mid 40's classic. And this was BEFORE he played the sadistic teenaged gang leader Pinkie in "Brighton Rock"!