1946 Directed by Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
When a young airman miraculously survives bailing out of his aeroplane without a parachute, he falls in love with an American radio operator. But the officials in the other world realise their mistake, and despatch an angel to collect him.
Stairway to Heaven, Neste Mundo e No Outro, A vida o muerte, Irrtum im Jenseits, Une question de vie ou de mort, Een Zaak van Leven en Dood, Een zaak op leven en dood, Въпрос на живот и смърт, Pitanje života i smrti, Otázka zivota a smrti, En sag om liv eller død, Kysymys elämästä ja kuolemasta, Ζήτημα ζωής και θανάτου, Diadalmas szerelem, Scala al paradiso, 天国への階段, Escalera al cielo, En sak om liv og død, Sprawa życia i śmierci, Caso de Vida ou Morte, Лестница в небо, Störst är kärleken, 太虛幻境, Aşk ve ölüm, 삶과 죽음의 문제, A vida o mort, Otázka života a smrti, Ζήτημα Ζωής και Θανάτου, 천국으로 가는 계단, Neste Mundo e no Outro, O chestiune de viață și de moarte, Aşk ve Ölüm, 平步青云
"Tell me, do you believe in the survival of human personality after death?"
"I don't know, I'd never thought about it, do you?"
"I don't know, I've thought about it too much."
The decision to make all of the fantasy sequences black and white while the "real life" sequences are technicolor speaks so much to the unorthodox philosophy of this movie. The afterlife may not be such a bad place, but there's something more appealing, more romantic about the fleeting, the evanescent, the malleable. Eternity is static (everyone dead is wearing the uniform in which they died, clinging to the beliefs with which they died), while on earth there is love, sadness, hope, grief, learning, growing, drama, etc. The afterlife isn't necessarily heaven. Heaven is love, so choose life.
There's no way to approach this movie that doesn't find it an unmitigated success. It's wonderfully romantic. It's hilarious and entertaining. It's a fantasy spectacle with jaw dropping analog effects. It's a post-war curative that inspires patriotism and a spirit of cooperation. This is one of the best movies.
One of the greatest moments in all of cinema is when Marius Goring looks at the camera and says “one is starved for technicolor up there.”
David Niven’s so perfect and so is the use of color and lighting here (obviously!) A super impressive movie in its scope; so many of these shots look downright modern. Was not expecting the third act to become that “why is America the greatest country in the world” scene from the Newsroom pilot
Absolutely charming and extremely British romance about a love so powerful it defies the laws of the universe. Lots to treasure here, but to me, nothing beats the opening scene, which establishes a deep connection between a pilot and a dispatcher as the former's plane is going down. Talk about a meet-cute!
I find it hard to write about this without gushing. It was so emotionally satisfying. And what I really appreciated was that it tempered that patriotism with subtle critiques of both Britain and America (much more low key with the American ones, mostly in the form of how strident the prosecutor was). The courtroom scenes were a marvel for a lot of reasons, including how diverse they were for a film made in the 1940s. That diversity seemed part of the point was also heartening, even if it doesn't exactly delve deeply into the concept.
It also has a lot of fun with the effects. Time freezing, spectral visions of the afterlife, shifts from black-and-white to color, and the famous staircase scene are all wonderfully portrayed without a lot of flash. It's heartening to see after experiencing the shallow spectacle of The Hobbit: the Desolation of Your Childhood.
And, of course, it's a beautiful love story.
December count: 84/100.
I LOVED this!
With a wonderful opening that's eerily reminiscent of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life from the same year, but far superior in both execution and elocution, and a central conceit that may have been influenced by Alexander Hall’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but turned on its head, A Matter of Life and Death is simply charming.
There’s something about that particular time where it’s ok for true love to blossom in the space of minutes over the wireless. We believe it. Completely. When by chance, and I’m so glad that chance always works for the better in these types of films, our soon to be lovers meet, against all odds on heaven and earth, you know this…
Watched it for the first time last year (caught it on 35mm, and you bet I cried in front of strangers) and haven't really stopped thinking about it since. Maybe my favorite use of black and white vs. technicolor, also maybe my favorite Archers film. Mind-blowing in terms of technical invention (the Heaven stuff is crazy) and also in terms of the scope of its sentiment. Profoundly dig it.
It would be funny if someone remade this for the umpteenth time but threw out all the love story stuff and made it ENTIRELY about an American ghost lawyer who hates British people.
The fresh pain and grief of the war transmuted into a passionate, metaphysical argument for the idea of love conquering all, where the realm of the hallowed dead for all its splendor cannot hold a candle to a single rosebush pulsing with color in the land of the living. Its sentimentality is so exposed and confident that it becomes an act of defiance, a refusal to give in to the night. And just when you think it will not, cannot, get any better, the Archers bring the climactic trial to a brief halt to absolutely fucking dunk on the British for being history's greatest monsters even as the country was still celebrating beating back the damn Nazis.
77/100
Second viewing, last seen 25 years ago, and boy did I not remember that the trial takes a lengthy, impassioned detour into Anglo-U.S. relations. Which isn't without interest, to be sure, but feels clumsily imposed upon this particular narrative, cross-pond romance notwithstanding. (Apparently, it was imposed...or, rather, the project was initially commissioned as a means of improving said relations. While that worked beautifully in A Canterbury Tale—my very favorite Archers production—it feels more like an afterthought here.) Also not keen on Goring's arch, twinkly performance, which stands in stark contrast to the Other World's bureaucratic vibe. Everything else, from Niven and Hunter's instant long-distance rapport in the extraordinary opening sequence (one of very few "love at first sight" encounters…
