A Matter of Life and Death: Criterion Collection ( Blu-ray ) 07/24/18

After miraculously surviving a jump from his burning plane, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) encounters the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) to whom he’s just delivered his dying wishes and, face-to-face on a tranquil English beach, the pair fall in love. When a messenger from the afterlife arrives to correct the clerical error that spared his life, Peter must mount a fierce defense for his right to stay on earth—painted by production designer Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff as a rich Technicolor Eden—climbing a wide staircase to stand trial in a starkly beautiful, black-and-white modernist heaven. Peppered by humorous jabs intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s richly humanistic A Matter of Life and Death traverses time and space to make a case for the transcendent value of love.

CONDITION: NEW

Actors: Kim Hunter;David Niven
Directors: Michael Powell;Emeric Pressburger
Format: NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Rated:
PG
Parental Guidance Suggested
Studio: Criterion Collection
DVD Release Date: July 24, 2018
Run Time: 104 minutes

Cast & Crew

David Niven Peter Carter
Kim Hunter June
Marius Goring Conductor 71
Roger Livesey Dr. Frank Reeves
Raymond Massey Abraham Farlan
Richard Attenborough English Pilot
Robert Atkins The Vicar
Kathleen Byron Angel
Bonar Colleano American Pilot
Joan Maude Chief Recorder
Edwin Max Dr. McEwen
Robert Coote Bob Trubshawe
Betty Potter Mrs. Tucker
Bob Roberts Dr. Gaertler
Abraham Sofaer Judge
Robert Arden GI
Wally Patch ARP Warden
Tom Duggan American Policeman

Technical Credits

Emeric Pressburger Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Michael Powell Director,Producer,Screenwriter
George Blackler Makeup
George Blackwell Special Effects
George R. Busby Producer
Jack Cardiff Cinematographer
Christopher G. Challis Camera Operator
W. Percy Day Special Effects
Allan Gray Score Composer
Henry Harris Special Effects
Hein Heckroth Costumes/Costume Designer
Alfred Junge Production Designer
Arthur Lawson Art Director
Reginald Mills Editor
Phil Moore Songwriter
C.C. Stevens Sound/Sound Designer
Geoffrey Unsworth Camera Operator
Douglas Woolsey Special Effects