After miraculously surviving a jump from his burning plane, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) encounters the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) to whom heâs just delivered his dying wishes and, face-to-face on a tranquil English beach, the pair fall in love. When a messenger from the afterlife arrives to correct the clerical error that spared his life, Peter must mount a fierce defense for his right to stay on earthâpainted by production designer Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff as a rich Technicolor Edenâclimbing a wide staircase to stand trial in a starkly beautiful, black-and-white modernist heaven. Peppered by humorous jabs intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburgerâs richly humanistic
A Matter of Life and Death traverses time and space to make a case for the transcendent value of love.
Supplements
- Audio commentary from 2009 featuring film scholar Ian Christie
- New interview with editor Thelma Schonmaker Powell, director Michael Powellâs widow
- New interview with film historian Craig Barron on the filmâs visual effects and production design
- Interview from 2009 with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
- The Colour Merchant, a 1998 short film by Craig McCall featuring cinematographer Jack Cardiff
- An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek
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