A Matter of Life and Death

Blurring the lines between reality, insanity and the hope that there is something after life for us all, "A Matter of Life and Death" is one of those feel-good films that you'd heard of, or seen references to, but never seen, a classic British film that touches on the carnage of war (in particular WW2) and the afterlife. It's an old one, but a good one.

Carter (Niven) is a British WW2 airman who, having survived his death in improbable circumstances, is notified that he is wrongfully alive due to a mix-up ‘upstairs’. Whilst he challenges this seemingly internally, presenting it as delusions to others, his new love June (Hunter) tries to find out what is wrong with the help of her doctor friend Frank Reeves (Livesey). Is what Carter seeing the real story, or are his hallucinations all down to a brain problem that could soon kill him in the real world?

David Niven has to portray a man who at once is existing in the material world and also being implored to go to the afterlife, as he should have, and expertly conveys his character as a conflicted but happy man, and it really helps you to become completely sympathetic to his cause. Roger Livesey was one of the actors who collaborated much with Powell and Pressburger (the two directors and producers), and I didn't know of him before this movie, but his understated performance was impressive, playing the doctor Frank Reeves, a man who will do what he can for another in need, even if this continues beyond life itself.

Kim Hunter, who played Stella Kowalski memorably in the film adaptation of "A Streetcar Named Desire", is June, the American army girl who falls for Carter, whom she has thought died after their communication whilst he was onboard his crashing plane. Their whirlwind romance is threatened by his health issues (to her, anyway), and Hunter conveys the character as a woman who has finally got what she wanted, but could see it just as easily fall away from her. She appeared to have been an actress who enjoyed playing defeated or imperiled women, and she plays this role well here. There were many co-starring women here, but none get more than a scene (and most are in the afterlife scenes). They do convey a sense of authority and power however, and it was interesting to see that when the soldiers were entering their 'heaven', the women there are in control, not them.

Marius Goring, as the 'conductor' who misses Carter and begins the whole situation, is the film's comic relief as a French revolution-era fool trying to convince Carter to continue his destined path, but who eventually sides with the airman and helps him in his case against the greatest of authorities. Raymond Massey portrays the first American killed in the War of Independence, and his anti-British sentiments are used to prosecute against the British man in his trial in 'heaven'. These scenes were in part so gripping because of his commanding presence, and again he is an actor that I would be interested to watch in many other films of the period having seen him here.

For a 1946 film, this really does look good. Powell and Pressburger's utilisation of Technicolour and black and white gives the film a really unique look, and particularly in the colour scenes it appears to be more recently made than the date suggests. There are so many good things about the direction here though; the use of locations, the filming of transit in vehicles actually in the vehicles (which even some films today still eschew in favour of bluescreen) and the set designs. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, a two man team who directed, produced and wrote a series of British films around this time, are at their best with this, the film they are most remembered for. Their direction is brilliant, with the actors conveying seriousness and a sense of truth in the ever-so-slightly fantastical setting. This is perhaps an indication of how two people can be so in-tune with regards to film-making, something that is not likely to be seen today (except perhaps in the mad collaborations of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino).

The time and setting mean that much of the British characters' conversations are a bit "Hoo-ray Henry" but this is grounded by the presence of many Americans within the film. P&P had said that they wanted to improve Anglo-American relations, and the sheer number of Americans, as well as their importance to the plot, helped to do as such. The dialogues between Massey and Livesey in the court scenes suggest that the two directors wanted to present stereotypes and outdated attitudes and shoot them all down, and this scene was the most powerful to watch, and the most engaging. The music was, like with many older films, forgettable and largely in the background, only swelling to symbolise an important dramatic moment. This is a problem I've found with older films, especially in comparison to the soundtracks of the modern day, which almost act as an extra element in the plot.

Apart from the shoddy appearance of the black and white (and that seems to be down to the film stock, or the quality of the version I watched), colour for the real world and B&W for the afterlife was a novel idea here, and it really adds to the fantasy of the film. The vision of the afterlife presented here is clinical and yet welcoming, and the sets (including the fantastic courtroom setting) are immense. In particular, the stairway to heaven (as it were) is an amazing feat of set-building to see today! There are not many points in which the limitations of technology are laid bare, which is another strength of the film; it doesn't seek to present its shortcomings, instead it does what it can to be innovative and this in turn doesn't pull the modern viewer out of the film.

An old film that deserves a look “A Matter...” is great, old-fashioned British filmmaking at its best. Some may tire of it, and others may ignore it completely, but its standing as a popular film at the time has given it longevity that today affords it a second glance.

8/10