Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
A Matter of Life and Death
After miraculously surviving a jump from his burning plane, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) encounters the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) to whom he has just delivered his dying wishes, and, face-to-face on a tranquil English beach, the pair fall in love. When a messenger from the hereafter arrives to correct the bureaucratic error that spared his life, Peter must mount a fierce defense for his right to stay on earth—painted by production designer Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff as a rich Technicolor Eden—climbing a wide staircase to stand trial in a starkly beautiful, black-and-white modernist afterlife. Intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s richly humanistic A Matter of Life and Death traverses time and space to make a case for the transcendent value of love.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Interview from 2008 with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
- Audio commentary from 2009 featuring film scholar Ian Christie
- New interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker, director Michael Powell’s widow
- New short documentary on the film’s special effects featuring film historian Craig Barron and visual-effects artist Harrison Ellenshaw
- The Colour Merchant, a 1998 short film featuring cinematographer Jack Cardiff
- The South Bank Show: “Michael Powell,” a 1986 television program featuring Powell
- Restoration demonstration
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek
New cover by Laura Smith
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Interview from 2008 with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
- Audio commentary from 2009 featuring film scholar Ian Christie
- New interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker, director Michael Powell’s widow
- New short documentary on the film’s special effects featuring film historian Craig Barron and visual-effects artist Harrison Ellenshaw
- The Colour Merchant, a 1998 short film featuring cinematographer Jack Cardiff
- The South Bank Show: “Michael Powell,” a 1986 television program featuring Powell
- Restoration demonstration
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek
New cover by Laura Smith
Cast
- David Niven
- Peter Carter
- Roger Livesey
- Dr. Reeves
- Raymond Massey
- Abraham Farlan
- Kim Hunter
- June
- Marius Goring
- Conductor 71
- Abraham Sofaer
- The judge
- Robert Coote
- Bob
- Joan Maude
- Chief recorder
- Kathleen Byron
- An angel
- Bonor Colleano
- An American pilot
- Richard Attenborough
- An English pilot
- Robert Atkins
- The vicar
- Bob Roberts
- Dr. Gaertler
- Edwin Max
- Dr. McEwen
- Betty Potter
- Mrs. Tucker
Credits
- Director
- Michael Powell
- Director
- Emeric Pressburger
- Written and produced by
- Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
- Production designed by
- Alfred Junge
- Assistant producer
- George Busby
- Photographed by
- Jack Cardiff
- Music composed by
- Allan Gray
- Conducted by
- Walter Goehr
- Editor
- Reginald Mills
- Costumes
- Hein Heckroth
A scene from A Matter of Life and Death
