Buzzing comedies such as The Spy Who Dumped Me await you in our Summer Movie Guide. Check in for all the info you need.
Related News
-
18 Fun Facts about Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
02 August 2018 | GeekTyrant -
A Matter of Life and Death
07 July 2018 | Trailers from Hell -
Restored Version of Charles Burnett’s ‘To Sleep With Anger’ to Screen at Venice Film Festival in September
21 July 2015 | ShadowAndAct
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Share this Rating
Title: A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
1 win & 2 nominations.
See more awards »
Learn more
People who liked this also liked...
Drama
|
Romance
|
War
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
Roger Livesey,
Deborah Kerr,
Anton Walbrook
Black Narcissus
(1947)
Drama
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
Deborah Kerr,
David Farrar,
Flora Robson
The Red Shoes
(1948)
Drama
|
Music
|
Romance
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
Anton Walbrook,
Marius Goring,
Moira Shearer
'I Know Where I'm Going!'
(1945)
Drama
|
Romance
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
Wendy Hiller,
Roger Livesey,
George Carney
A Canterbury Tale
(1944)
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Mystery
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
Eric Portman,
Sheila Sim,
Dennis Price
Peeping Tom
(1960)
Drama
|
Horror
|
Thriller
Director:
Michael Powell
Stars:
Karlheinz Böhm,
Anna Massey,
Moira Shearer
Brief Encounter
(1945)
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
David Lean
Stars:
Celia Johnson,
Trevor Howard,
Stanley Holloway
Hour of Glory
(1949)
Drama
|
Romance
|
Thriller
Directors:
Michael Powell,
Emeric Pressburger
Stars:
David Farrar,
Jack Hawkins,
Kathleen Byron
Edit
Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| David Niven | ... | Peter D. Carter | |
| Kim Hunter | ... | June | |
| Robert Coote | ... | Bob Trubshaw | |
| Kathleen Byron | ... | An Angel | |
| Richard Attenborough | ... | An English Pilot | |
 |
Bonar Colleano | ... | An American Pilot (as Bonor Colleano) |
|
|
Joan Maude | ... | Chief Recorder |
| Marius Goring | ... | Conductor 71 | |
| Roger Livesey | ... | Doctor Frank Reeves | |
|
|
Robert Atkins | ... | The Vicar |
|
|
Bob Roberts | ... | Dr. Gaertler |
| Edwin Max | ... | Dr. Mc.Ewen | |
|
|
Betty Potter | ... | Mrs Tucker |
| Abraham Sofaer | ... | The Judge / The Surgeon | |
| Raymond Massey | ... | Abraham Farlan | |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
Storyline
Returning to England from a bombing run in May 1945, flyer Peter Carter's plane is damaged and his parachute ripped to shreds. He has his crew bail out safely, but figures it is curtains for himself. He gets on the radio, and talks to June, a young American woman working for the USAAF, and they are quite moved by each other's voices. Then he jumps, preferring this to burning up with his plane. He wakes up in the surf. It was his time to die, but there was a mixup in heaven. They couldn't find him in all that fog. By the time his "Conductor" catches up with him 20 hours later, Peter and June have met and fallen in love. This changes everything, and since it happened through no fault of his own, Peter figures that heaven owes him a second chance. Heaven agrees to a trial to decide his fate. Written by John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Taglines:
The Most Wonderfully Romantic Fantasy on Earth ... or Anywhere Else See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
Edit
Edit
See more on IMDbPro »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
UKRelease Date:
March 1947 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
A Matter of Life and Death See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
£320,000 (estimated)Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
(1842) (uncredited)
from "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op.61"
Written by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Played on a record at the Shakespeare rehearsal
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Robert Coote's character was given the last name "Trubshawe", after Niven's friend Michael Trubshawe, the source of numerous references and/or character names in Niven's films. See more »Goofs
In the scene where time stands still and the other main characters examine June who is 'frozen in time', her hands can be clearly seen to move, several times. See more »Crazy Credits
Foreword (Scrolled up the screen at the start of the film): This is a story of two Worlds the one we know and another which exists only in the mind of a young airman whose life & imagination have been violently shaped by war [Pauses, then scrolls up to reveal] Any resemblance to any other world known or unknown is purely coincidental. See more »Soundtracks
Scherzo(1842) (uncredited)
from "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op.61"
Written by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Played on a record at the Shakespeare rehearsal
See more »
Contribute to This Page
Explore popular horror and thriller movies available to stream with Prime Video.
To me A Matter of Life and Death is just that- simply the best film ever made.
From beginning to end it oozes class. It is stimulating, thought provoking, a mirror to the post war world and the relations between peoples.
The cinematography is simply stunning and the effect of mixing monochrome and Technicolour to accent the different worlds works seamlessly. The characters and plot development are near perfect and the attention to detail promotes a thoroughly believable fantasy.
No matter how many times I watch the film - and I have watched it a lot - it never fails to touch me. It makes me smile, it makes me laugh, it makes me think, it makes me cry. It is as fresh today as it was in 1946.
If I were allowed just one film to keep and watch again A Matter of Life and Death would be that film.