A Matter of Life and Death (1946) centres on RAF Squadron Leader Peter David Carter (David Niven), who miraculously survives after parachuting out of his damaged Lancaster bomber over the English Channel. As it turns out, Peter was supposed to die, but survived when his guide to the afterlife, Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) failed to find him in the dense fog. By the time Conductor 71 does make contact with Peter, he has already met and is in the process of falling in love with June (Kim Hunter), a United States Army Air Forces radio operator stationed in England. Fortunately, Conductor 71 tells Peter than he had been granted an appeal. If he can prove his case before a Heavenly court, he will be allowed to return to life.
The origins of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) emerged from World War II. After being united for much of the war, friction began to reemerge between the United Kingdom and the United States late in the war. Jack Beddington, head of the British Ministry of Information’s film commission, then approached The Archers about making a film that would address this friction. Fortunately, for movie lovers everywhere, the Archers agreed to do so. To a degree, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) had some basis in a true story. On March 24, 1944, RAF tail gunner Nicholas Alkemade bailed out of his failing Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute and miraculously survived. Another source of inspiration was the 1938 book Journey Around My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy, which chronicled his experience with a non-cancerous brain tumour and the surgery to remove it. To this mix, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger added a plot involving a romance between a British serviceman and an American, and the plot involving the Heavenly court.
From the beginning, The Archers wanted David Niven to play Peter. This would not set well with actor Marius Goring. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger offered him the role of Conductor 71, but he wanted to play Peter instead. Messrs. Powell and Pressburger solved the problem by telling Mr. Goring that if he turned down the role of Conductor 71, it would go to Peter Ustinov instead. For the role of June, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger had no particular actress in mind, beyond the fact that they wanted an American. They went to Hollywood with the goal of casting the role of June, and even considered Betty Field, who turned out to be in a play on Broadway. It was Alfred Hitchcock who suggested Kim Hunter. Mr. Hitchcock had used Miss Hunter to read lines off-camera for Ingrid Bergman's screen test for Spellbound (1945).
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) was filmed at D&P Studios and Denham Studios in Denham, Buckinghamshire.The scene on the beach in which Peter meets June after he bailed out of his plane was filmed at Saunton Sands in Devon. The village seen through the camera obscura belonging to Dr. Reeves (Roger Livesey) was Middle Street in Shere, Surrey. The film was shot from September 2, 1945, to December 2, 1945.
Pre-production on A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be both long and complicated. Much of this was due to the construction of the escalator (nicknamed "Ethel") that connects Earth to Heaven above. The escalator was built under the supervision of the London Passenger Transport Board. It took three months to build £3,000 to build (that's £116,226.85 today). Ethel was massive. It had 106 steps, each of which was 20 feet wide. To power Ethel, it took a 12 horsepower engine. Over the years, film trivia sites and accounts of the production have claimed that Ethel was so noisy that all dialogue had to be dubbed in post-production. This seems unlikely given cinematographer Jack Cardiff has said that the escalator was completely silent.
With regards to the photography in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), it can be considered the reverse of The Wizard of Oz (1939). The scenes in Heaven were in black-and-white, while the scenes on Earth were in colour. One might think the scenes in Heaven were shot in black-and-white, but in truth they were shot in three-strip Technicolor. When the scenes were printed, color simply was not added. As a result, the scenes in Heaven look different from most black-and-white movies of the time. In the credits, the process is referred to as ""Colour and Dye-Monochrome Processed in Technicolor."
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) would be historic as the first film chosen for the Royal Film Performance. This occurred on November 1, 1946, at the Empire Theatre in London. It went into wide release in the United Kingdom on December 15, 1946. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) opened under the title Stairway to Heaven in New York City on Christmas Day, December 25, 1946. The title was changed for American audiences because of Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, who were marketing the movie in the US. They argued that films with "death" in the title had never done well at the American box office. Emeric Pressburger pointed out the obvious example of Death Takes a Holiday (1934), but Messrs. Krim and Benjamin argued it only did well because Death was on holiday and hence there would be no death in the movie. A Matter of Life and Death (1946) did very well at the box office in the United Kingdom. In North America, it made $1.75 million, a respectable amount for the era.
While the public clearly loved A Matter of Life and Death (1946), critics in 1946 did not quite know what to make of the movie. E.W. and M.M. Robson thought with A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Archers intended to "bash the British in the sight of our Allies." A critic in The Observer was puzzled by the film's tone, writing that it "leaves us in grave doubts whether it is intended to be serious or gay." American critics were much more receptive of the movie. Surprisingly, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave A Matter of Life and Death (or Stairway of Heaven, as it was called in the United States) a positive review. He wrote in his review, "And if you will listen now to this reviewer you will hear that the delicate charm, the adult humor and visual virtuosity of this Michael Powell—Emeric Pressburger film render it indisputably the best of a batch of Christmas shows."
Of course, now A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is not only regarded as one of the best supernatural fantasies of the 1940s on both sides of the Atlantic, but one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's best films. Indeed, A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is an extraordinarily sophisticated film. The "other world" in the film is never referred to as Heaven, although there are several clues that it could be, including a brief scene of individuals being measured for angel wings. It is also unclear whether Carter's visit to a another world and the celestial court are real or simply hallucinations produced by his damaged brain. There are things in the plot of the film that can support both ideas. This sets A Matter of Life and Death (1946) apart from other films of the era, such as It's a Wonderful Life (1946), in which the events in the movie are undeniably real.
While the movie has an impeccable script, in addition to the direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and the cinematography of Jack Cardiff, it would not have succeeded without David Niven, Kim Hunter, and the rest of the cast. There isn't one bad performance in the entire film.
British critics were a bit baffled and even offended by A Matter of Life and Death (1946) upon its release, although it proved to be a favourite with audiences on both sides of the Pond. If there is a reason for its success, beyond the fact that it is a very sophisticated movie, it's that it is a film that insists, to paraphrase Song of Solomon 8:6, love is stronger than death. For those who have lost someone or very nearly lost someone, this is a powerful message and one that is full of hope. While there I have no doubt it had an impact on those who had lost loved ones during World War II, it still has an impact to this day.
