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A Matter of Life and Death
"This is a story of two worlds; the one we know, and another which exists only in the mind of a young airman whose life and imagination have been violently shaped by war"
So begins A Matter of Life and Death, a fanciful allegory which explores many themes relevant today, but which must have had a special resonance when released in 1946, a year after the end of the Second World War. It embodies the mood of optimism which was prevalent in Britain between the election of the first majority Labour Government and the onset of the Cold War. It also reflects the cosy but slightly hesitant relationship between Britain and America in the squabbling and largely irrelevant (to the plot) debate on the merits of the two countries. Indeed, Powell and Pressburger were specifically requested by British authorities to make a film which would reaffirm the close relationship between Britain and America.
The British political establishment so approved of the film that is was chosen by a special reviewing committee as the first film ever to be shown as a Royal Command Performance. However, A Matter of Life and Death is far more than political propaganda.
British bomber pilot, Peter Carter (David Niven) leaps from his stricken plane to certain death, Miraculously, he survives and is washed up on a beach a short walk from the base of American WAC, June (Kim Hunter) with whom he had his last radio contact. They continue a love affair begun over the airwaves despite his suffering a brain injury which causes him to suffer spells of altered consciousness. During these, a hallucinatory emissary (Marius Goring) who missed him in the fog over the channel attempts to pressure him into accepting his place in heaven. Carter pleads that because his circumstances have changed (he is now in love) he should be granted an opportunity to appeal. His case is presented before a tribunal in which Carter's side is argued by his recently deceased neurologist Dr Frank Reeves (Roger Livesey). Arguing the case for the prosecution is Arch anti-Brit, and the first Boston patriot killed in the War of Independence, Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey) but Reeves triumphs when June declares that she will sacrifice her own life (‘take Peter’s place on the balance sheet’) in order to spare Carter. While in Carter’s mind the trial takes place, on Earth he has undergone successful brain surgery.
Within this complex plot are many ideas about the places of Britain and America in the post-war world. Goring’s ludicrous parody of a aristocratic victim of the French revolution (whose appearance is prophesised by the smell of fried onions) is indicative of general anti-French feeling after the war, and the cosmopolitan jury of Americans selected at Dr Reeves request, reflects every possible walk of life in a country expanding at a rate which even then caused concern to many. The film also seeks to comfort those who have lost loved ones in the conflict. The slightly awkward touches of humour, almost all of which [next page]