A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) -- M. Powell & E. Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger's late wartime fantasy about a downed pilot (David Niven) who finds himself having to bail out of his plane without a parachute.  His last conversation is with Kim Hunter, an American WAAC, who offers him consolation.  But then, mysteriously, he doesn't die -- it seems his "conductor" to heaven (filmed in black and white, whereas the real world is technicolor) missed him in the fog. Niven and Hunter immediately embark on a love affair during the "borrowed" time and when the mistake is caught and he is asked to surrender himself to the other world, he refuses.   On Earth, a neuroscientist (Roger Livesly) attempts to diagnosis Niven's hallucinations, recommending brain surgery; in the other world, an appeals court is set up to determine whether he should live or die.  Both events converge and, in fact, the whole movie hinges on whether British and American values and character can be reconciled. Defending the Allied romance of Niven and Hunter is therefore a metaphor for larger issues on the international scene.  Beautifully eccentric.