18 September 1980 was the day my grandmother died. This film was on BBC2 that night and I remember my mum saying “I’ve had enough of death today” but after a few minutes we all settled down and watched it through in silence. It had the most wonderful calming effect and I have always imagined it had a similar impact on the families of those killed in the war. An incredible, beautiful film.
It's from a gentler age - chivalry wasn't yet on its deathbed and patriotism wasn't a sin. Niven returned from Hollywood to take part in the war, and he made a number of films to support the home front - this being one of them.
Powell and Pressburger were insanely ambitious for the time on what they wanted to put on the screen and more often than not it worked. Audiences found themselves looking at a kind of filmmaking they hadn't seen before and A Matter Of Life And Death is a prime example of that. They sneakily made ordinary people like art.
the cinematography, the shot of the eye closing over the lamp, the music, technicolour v black and white, the man against the system - all made this a good film
Honestly, watching A Matter of Life and Death in 2023 still feels as if it's from the future. It's completely mind-boggling that it was released in 1946.
I watched this when I was unable to sleep & bored late one night by pure accident as a 12/13 year old. I really loved it...always the best way to find a great movie!
I just finished watching this a few hours ago, after also seeing The Red Shoes for the first time last night. Both were absolutely transforming. I can safely say with the greatest assurance that A Matter of Life and Death is my all time favorite film. I've never seen anything like it. Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell had extremely beautiful minds and I'm so excited to check out The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Black Narcissus.
6:40 - Maybe one of the most moving endings to a film I've ever seen, all the film craft elements combining in perfect harmony. The way Kim Hunter is lit and framed in close-up is positively angelic. You believe she was the cause of a cosmos-shaking struggle over the laws of life and death. I also cry thinking about the dual significance of the line "we won," which would have hit a 1946 London crowd very differently. Yes, it refers literally to Peter's trial, but it also refers to the notion that all the sacrifices made in WWII were right and good, when not everyone believed consistently that the war effort was worth it. In the face of a staggering loss of life, love perseveres. It's the most light and colorful film, and yet it implicitly still suggests the hellish nature of war via the negative example of love at first listen. The romance between Niven and Hunter is as powerful as the darkness over which it triumphs.
Beautiful comment, though I am curious about the specificity of a London crowd in your comment. It was slightly grating to hear Scorsese us England throughout, as though England was the only UK country involved in WWII but as those from the US often seem to do this, it’s familiar (though neither correct nor understood). So I am curious as to why you mentioned the ‘London crowd’ and how their reaction might have been. Was it just to make the comment somehow more personal almost or are you under the impression that London was more affected than the rest of the UK? I promise you that I am not trying to be nasty, I am just curious about the choice of words. I know that London is the famous recipient of The Blitz but the likes of Plymouth was so bombed during the war that at its end you could walk from one side of the city to the other in a straight line and never bump into a standing building (as was told to me by an old work colleague, who had been an older child/teenager at the end of the war). I know that the shipyards on the Clyde (and the Torpedo factory there) were targets of the bombing raids and that my own Grandma witnessed a German bomber so low that she could look into the pilot’s face as she walked down the street of her Scottish hometown. The whole of the UK sent their men (and almost men) off to war with my Granda signing up as a nineteen year old in the push to increase the size of the TA during the build up to the war in the spring/summer of ‘39. The whole of the UK had to deal with rationing, their iron railings being melted down and public areas being turned into vegetable plots. Where I grew up was full of shipyards and it’s connected industries (like rope works, fabricators and engineering works), so there were many like my other Granda, who were in reserved occupations but as soon as VE Day happened many (including my Granda) were called up for National Service to aid with the post war clear ups. It can often seem to those of us from a non London or even non England part of the UK, that the rest of the world (and sometimes that can include England too) either don’t realise, have forgotten or don’t care that everything that happened in London and the rest of England was happening throughout the whole of the UK but then I suppose too many think that the UK and GB are just synonyms for England when they are not. It also doesn’t help that the vast majority of wartime films are in England with very English accents, with just a handful (if that many) being in Scotland and I don’t think any are in either Wales or Northern Ireland. Anyhoo, I’ve gone on rather longer than I should have, please forgive me I have caused any offence as that genuinely wasn’t my intention. I am honestly just curious.
I just used a poor choice of words and I think any city in the uk with a crowded movie house post war would be an incredibly emotional place to have seen this film.
@@flyingneedle fair enough and perfectly understandable that mentioning a specific place can bring it home for many. Take care and I do honestly hope I didn’t offend because that was not my intention.
I love this interview - one genius of his art lauding another genius from a different era - and becoming friends. Although they are such different filmmakers you can see the light touch and humour common to both - and always a great story and fantastic backdrop.
Finally saw this last night. Like many Powell/Pressburger films, it’s a miracle of vision and ambition. It’s a hopeful movie, anchored by superb work from David Niven, Kim Hunter, and especially Roger Livesey, magnificent in every moment as the doctor/advocate.
A truly great film that warrants being seen over and over again. I still well up at the 'You're Peter' line. AMOLAD is up there with Colonel Blimp as my favourite P & P movies
I had the pleasure of meeting Marius Going in Paris about 30 years ago. I was having a drink on the terrace of the Brasserie Lipp, when he arrived with his wife for his birthday lunch. We had a couple of drinks,and talked of this wonderful film. I even got his wife to take a picture of us. A lovely,chance meeting. Won't forget it.
My father could have been Peter except he was from Seattle. He was a bombardier and after one mission, they made it back to England in their B-17 and got lost in the fog, round and round, until the plane finally ran out of gas and...pilot finally said "Abandon ship!" or whatever he would say. They all started jumping but one guy froze in fear, and my Pops and another guy threw him out of the plane. All survived. It made the local papers. Official Air Corps report: "PLANE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION."
Lovely! It's amazing how many of my favorite films are Michael Powell films. A Matter of Life and Death, 49th Parallel, I Know Where I'm going, Black Narcissus, The Elusive Pimpernel. I just re-watched 49th Parallel and A Matter of Life and Death earlier today. And finding out that those films are all Powell and Pressburger films. I mean, I always thought of them as Michael Powell films.
Last night I watched "The Battle of Britain". Now I feel compelled to watch "A matter of life and death" again. It's like a dream, after the reality. Hope does exist.
I am so chuffed Martin Scorsese enjoys this movie. One of my earliest favourites. The scene on the beach is captivating, shattered by the low flying DH Mosquito. Such a marvellous movie, still with a positive message for all time.
It was like finding a treasure chest - Powell movies - Powell and Pressburger movies - American movies seem so shallow next to these guys - like The Red Shoes - A Matter of Life and Death - etc - etc - etc - this is real entertainment and a real love of what they did .
Martin Scorsese, I❤️you, man. Powell & Pressburger, the greatest film makers, befitting of The Greatest Generation. The World will never see their like again.
Amazing and wonderful film, my eternal favourite. "I Know where I'm Going" is a pinnale of romantic storytelling. and "Blimp" is just excellence. Criminal samen than, how Powell was cut dead after making the un-nerving "Peeping Tom" (same year Hitchcock released "Psycho"), a film far ahead of its time which would have been a classic a decade down the line.
Pity about all the references to ‘England.’ My grandfather served in the same uniform. Walter Scott quoted. Nice the Scottish Govt. etc contributing to the ‘Made in England’ film on P & P featuring Mr Scorsese.
18 September 1980 was the day my grandmother died. This film was on BBC2 that night and I remember my mum saying “I’ve had enough of death today” but after a few minutes we all settled down and watched it through in silence. It had the most wonderful calming effect and I have always imagined it had a similar impact on the families of those killed in the war. An incredible, beautiful film.
Among my ten most favorite. Great special effects. Solid story. I wish more people would discover this film.
Hello Avron. I agree with you. I discovered that marvelous film 22 years ago and I still considered it among the best films ever.
It's from a gentler age - chivalry wasn't yet on its deathbed and patriotism wasn't a sin. Niven returned from Hollywood to take part in the war, and he made a number of films to support the home front - this being one of them.
Powell and Pressburger were insanely ambitious for the time on what they wanted to put on the screen and more often than not it worked. Audiences found themselves looking at a kind of filmmaking they hadn't seen before and A Matter Of Life And Death is a prime example of that. They sneakily made ordinary people like art.
the cinematography, the shot of the eye closing over the lamp, the music, technicolour v black and white, the man against the system - all made this a good film
Honestly, watching A Matter of Life and Death in 2023 still feels as if it's from the future. It's completely mind-boggling that it was released in 1946.
One of the best British films ever made
I watched this when I was unable to sleep & bored late one night by pure accident as a 12/13 year old. I really loved it...always the best way to find a great movie!
Martin Scorsese’s devoted love of Michael Powell is one of my favourite things
I agree. But I also like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.
I just finished watching this a few hours ago, after also seeing The Red Shoes for the first time last night. Both were absolutely transforming. I can safely say with the greatest assurance that A Matter of Life and Death is my all time favorite film. I've never seen anything like it.
Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell had extremely beautiful minds and I'm so excited to check out The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Black Narcissus.
A Canterbury Tale is another magical P&P film. Probably my favourite.
Yes, it’s amazing
The kids kicking the football at the end is magical.
6:40 - Maybe one of the most moving endings to a film I've ever seen, all the film craft elements combining in perfect harmony. The way Kim Hunter is lit and framed in close-up is positively angelic. You believe she was the cause of a cosmos-shaking struggle over the laws of life and death. I also cry thinking about the dual significance of the line "we won," which would have hit a 1946 London crowd very differently. Yes, it refers literally to Peter's trial, but it also refers to the notion that all the sacrifices made in WWII were right and good, when not everyone believed consistently that the war effort was worth it. In the face of a staggering loss of life, love perseveres. It's the most light and colorful film, and yet it implicitly still suggests the hellish nature of war via the negative example of love at first listen. The romance between Niven and Hunter is as powerful as the darkness over which it triumphs.
Beautiful comment, though I am curious about the specificity of a London crowd in your comment. It was slightly grating to hear Scorsese us England throughout, as though England was the only UK country involved in WWII but as those from the US often seem to do this, it’s familiar (though neither correct nor understood). So I am curious as to why you mentioned the ‘London crowd’ and how their reaction might have been. Was it just to make the comment somehow more personal almost or are you under the impression that London was more affected than the rest of the UK?
I promise you that I am not trying to be nasty, I am just curious about the choice of words. I know that London is the famous recipient of The Blitz but the likes of Plymouth was so bombed during the war that at its end you could walk from one side of the city to the other in a straight line and never bump into a standing building (as was told to me by an old work colleague, who had been an older child/teenager at the end of the war). I know that the shipyards on the Clyde (and the Torpedo factory there) were targets of the bombing raids and that my own Grandma witnessed a German bomber so low that she could look into the pilot’s face as she walked down the street of her Scottish hometown. The whole of the UK sent their men (and almost men) off to war with my Granda signing up as a nineteen year old in the push to increase the size of the TA during the build up to the war in the spring/summer of ‘39. The whole of the UK had to deal with rationing, their iron railings being melted down and public areas being turned into vegetable plots. Where I grew up was full of shipyards and it’s connected industries (like rope works, fabricators and engineering works), so there were many like my other Granda, who were in reserved occupations but as soon as VE Day happened many (including my Granda) were called up for National Service to aid with the post war clear ups.
It can often seem to those of us from a non London or even non England part of the UK, that the rest of the world (and sometimes that can include England too) either don’t realise, have forgotten or don’t care that everything that happened in London and the rest of England was happening throughout the whole of the UK but then I suppose too many think that the UK and GB are just synonyms for England when they are not. It also doesn’t help that the vast majority of wartime films are in England with very English accents, with just a handful (if that many) being in Scotland and I don’t think any are in either Wales or Northern Ireland.
Anyhoo, I’ve gone on rather longer than I should have, please forgive me I have caused any offence as that genuinely wasn’t my intention. I am honestly just curious.
I just used a poor choice of words and I think any city in the uk with a crowded movie house post war would be an incredibly emotional place to have seen this film.
@@flyingneedle fair enough and perfectly understandable that mentioning a specific place can bring it home for many. Take care and I do honestly hope I didn’t offend because that was not my intention.
One of my favourite films. Love it.
I love this interview - one genius of his art lauding another genius from a different era - and becoming friends. Although they are such different filmmakers you can see the light touch and humour common to both - and always a great story and fantastic backdrop.
The best film of all time.
Finally saw this last night. Like many Powell/Pressburger films, it’s a miracle of vision and ambition.
It’s a hopeful movie, anchored by superb work from David Niven, Kim Hunter, and especially Roger Livesey, magnificent in every moment as the doctor/advocate.
A truly great film that warrants being seen over and over again. I still well up at the 'You're Peter' line. AMOLAD is up there with Colonel Blimp as my favourite P & P movies
A masterpiece.
I had the pleasure of meeting Marius Going in Paris about 30 years ago. I was having a drink on the terrace of the Brasserie Lipp, when he arrived with his wife for his birthday lunch. We had a couple of drinks,and talked of this wonderful film. I even got his wife to take a picture of us. A lovely,chance meeting. Won't forget it.
My father could have been Peter except he was from Seattle. He was a bombardier and after one mission, they made it back to England in their B-17 and got lost in the fog, round and round, until the plane finally ran out of gas and...pilot finally said "Abandon ship!" or whatever he would say. They all started jumping but one guy froze in fear, and my Pops and another guy threw him out of the plane. All survived. It made the local papers. Official Air Corps report: "PLANE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION."
Spectacular film
Brilliant film
My favourite film ever
Lovely! It's amazing how many of my favorite films are Michael Powell films. A Matter of Life and Death, 49th Parallel, I Know Where I'm going, Black Narcissus, The Elusive Pimpernel. I just re-watched 49th Parallel and A Matter of Life and Death earlier today. And finding out that those films are all Powell and Pressburger films. I mean, I always thought of them as Michael Powell films.
Last night I watched "The Battle of Britain". Now I feel compelled to watch "A matter of life and death" again. It's like a dream, after the reality. Hope does exist.
I am so chuffed Martin Scorsese enjoys this movie. One of my earliest favourites. The scene on the beach is captivating, shattered by the low flying DH Mosquito. Such a marvellous movie, still with a positive message for all time.
🥰 one of my favourite films. And I love Martin. Great video thanks 💖😁
I just saw it recently, the only part that I have is… The British Accents on “American Characters.” But, I loved it…Thanks.
What a classic :) I have it on DVD.....prized possession
It was like finding a treasure chest - Powell movies - Powell and Pressburger movies - American movies seem so shallow next to these guys - like The Red Shoes - A Matter of Life and Death - etc - etc - etc - this is real entertainment and a real love of what they did .
Those 2 made great films. So did Martin.
I love Scorses’s admiration n passion for Powel n Pressburgers work . An admiration I share myself
Martin Scorsese, I❤️you, man. Powell & Pressburger, the greatest film makers, befitting of The Greatest Generation. The World will never see their like again.
I hope Scorcese has no plans to remake this, but with US actors
I love A Matter of Life and Death.
My favorite film by this duo.
SUPERB! = A Life In Movies, Michael Powell [1905-1990]; Alfred A. Knopf [William Heinemann Ltd London 1986]) (1986 hardcover)
Totally awesome!
Amazing and wonderful film, my eternal favourite. "I Know where I'm Going" is a pinnale of romantic storytelling. and "Blimp" is just excellence. Criminal samen than, how Powell was cut dead after making the un-nerving "Peeping Tom" (same year Hitchcock released "Psycho"), a film far ahead of its time which would have been a classic a decade down the line.
Just watched A Matter of Life and Death; I really liked it.
What do you think of the Boultings ?
venturing into more unexpected territory proved to be his nemesis which is a great shame as 'Peeping Tom' is now critically acclaimed.
Black and white was chosen because it was thought we all dream in black and white (rightly or wrongly).
Due to wartime shortages, monochrome was the only choice. America produced a little colour stock, which was used sparingly to produce magic
@@Belaugh Sparingly but consistently - only the ''dream'' sequences were B&W. And this was not the only British colour film of 1946.
Great film, I always liked david Niven in a film
Check out 'The Small Back Room', in which a semi-alcoholic and very cynical government scientist finds redemption in wartime London (and Dorset).
I am ashamed of what my country has become
Sio Scotland, Wales and N Ireland were immune from the war? You-d expect sonwone like Scorsese at least to get it right.
I mistook him for Eugene levy for a second 😅
Hello
Stylish nonsense. Not one of my favourites.
I feel sorry for you but it is your opinion.
Your comment is nonsense. Not one of my favorites.
Pity about all the references to ‘England.’ My grandfather served in the same uniform.
Walter Scott quoted.
Nice the Scottish Govt. etc contributing to the ‘Made in England’ film on P & P featuring Mr Scorsese.