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Wow! Have wanted to see this film for well over a decade, and our local video store finally got it in so we watched it last night. I'd heard it was at least equal to Powell and Pressburger's best, but was careful to not let my expectation be too high. It was beyond my expectations!
Among other things, great use of B&W/color combo, great special effects, and great story.
Highly recommended for anyone who loves their other films and hasn't seen this one.
Rod
Follow Ups:
I know I've posted this before, but what an incrdeible run of great British films from Michael Powell, alone and with his artistic partner Emeric Pressburger.
Powell alone: 49th Parallel and Thief Of Baghdad, pre-Archers, and Peeping Tom post Archers, which nearly ended his career, plus the underrated The Queen's Guards.
With Pressburger:
One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing
The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp
A Canterbury Tale
I Know Where I'm Going
A Matter Of Life And Death
Black Narcissus
The Red Shoes
The Small Back Room
Gone To Earth
The Tales Of Hoffman
At least 7 of the Archers are masterpieces...quite a record in any day by any standards.
Donīt forget that one!
kind of.I remember as a kid in the early 60s seeing a few films that began with "The Archers" at the beginning, but little else about them. In the 80s I was channel surfing and ended up on PBS in the middle of an old color film that at first looked a little hokey. After a few minutes I realized it was a work of genius! (It was Colonel Blimp)
The local video store is owned by friends, and they have been getting in P&P films fairly regularly as they become available on Criterion. I haven't checked lately on Colonel Blimp, but I expect they will be getting it soon if it's available!
Rod
Edits: 01/25/09
all the charm of Scotland and more...
....seeing this as a child of maybe 5 or 6 years old when it came to my hometown theater. My grandmother loved movies and would take me to see them weekly.
In our small town of maybe 20,000 people there were three downtown theaters where first run Hollywood films would change weekly, sometimes more frequently, with double-feature westerns on weekends. The Dalton, the Wink and the Crescent.
Now, 60 years later, I retain vivid impressions of the visual power and beauty of this film. I was literally transported to that world of make believe by some of the scenes. The stairway to heaven scene was the most magical thing imaginable to my child's mind. I was absolutely enthralled, literally in a state of ecstasy.
I must see it again. Thanks for the reminder.
The stairway was other-worldly, especially in B&W, in contrast with the other parts of the film!
.
British title: A Matter Of Life & Death (Much preferred by director Michael Powell).
US title: Stairway To Heaven
During wartime, US distributors did not want "death" in the title. Hence the rather silly change.
AMOLAD is one of my favorite Powell/Pressburgers. The newest release of it, with the intro by fan Martin Scorsese, is part of a two DVD set called "the Films Of Micahel Powell and includes the restored director's cut of Age Of Consent, a 1969 film directed by Powell (sans Pressburger) starring a twenty-something Helen Mirren au naturale. It concerns the life of bohemian Aussie artist Norman Lindsey, who was also the subject of the 1990s movie "Sirens". I have never seen this film and await it eagerly.
d
And Mirren is on the commentary track.
We saw "Age of Consent" for the first time a little over a week ago. Definitely worth the time for a P&P fan, but don't let your expectations get too high.Rod
Edits: 01/25/09
d
Powell and Pressberger at their peak, which ought to tell you all you need to know about one of the most cinematic duos in movie history.
From Amazon.com's Robert Horton:
"A Matter of Life and Death is one of the best films by the storied English filmmaking team known as the Archers: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Among other felicities, this 1946 fantasy has one of the most crackling opening ten minutes of any movie you'll ever see: after a deceptively dreamy prologue, we are thrown into the conversation between an airman (David Niven) whose torched plane is about to crash in the English Channel, and an American military radio operator (Kim Hunter) operating the radio on the ground. Their touching exchange, made urgent by his imminent death, is breathtakingly visualized (you have never seen a WWII plane interior quite as vividly as this). What follows is glorious: Niven's death has been missed by an otherworldly collector (Marius Goring)--all that thick English fog, you know--and so he gets to argue his case for life before a heavenly tribunal. The heaven sequences are in pearly black-and-white, the earthly material in stunning Technicolor (the color is the cause of a particularly good in-joke). The Powell-Pressburger brief on behalf of humanity is both romantic and witty, and the wonderful cast is especially enriched by Roger Livesey (the star of Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), as a doctor with a camera obscura and an enormous heart."
This is a wonderful and inventive film. I love it, although I probably haven't seen in in 15 years - an ommission I plan to remedy very soon, with joy. Niven is excellent in it, while the supporting cast is purely marvelous.
I think the best way to prepare for it is NOT to prepare or read reviews but to watch it and enjoy it with as clean an eye as possible. Like all great movies, it speaks for itself.
Was reading this thread with curiosity but didn't recognise the film, until seeing the Amazon review.
Yes, have seen it a few times on terestrial TV; a classic.
Interesting fellow was David Niven and I gather he was quite a ruthless guy during the war..the real war that is.
Best Regards,
Chris redmond.
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