Jack.C. Warner

Recently, RTE1 Irelands BBC1 showed AMOLAD. Fergus McCormack wrote a piece about it. I thought you would like to read it:

It's a delightfully fantastic tale that examines various British and American stereotypes while also managing to be a moving love story along the way. The chemistry between the two leads, David Niven and Kim Hunter, is excellent and the supporting cast, with the exception of a over-hammy Raymond Massey, is convincing, particularly P&P regular Roger Livesey. Probably the most striking aspect of the film is Alfred Junge's production design, notably the staircase which leads from technicolour Earth to near-monochrome Heaven. The beauty of the photography is there for all to see in this restored version of the film, which was set in train by Martin Scorsese, a longtime Michael Powell fan who used the skills of Powell's widow, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, to great effect in many of his own films." He gives the film a Five star's must not be missed.

All of which I agree with though I think he was to Raymond Massey the complete HAM. I would have posted this in the P&P pages but I didn't want it lost in all the crud. Cheers.

DB7

Tavernier on A Matter of Life and Death.

Bertrand Tavernier on Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Interview by John Whitley


At the age of 61, after gaining a galaxy of international awards for his 19 feature films and twice that number of documentaries, French director Bertrand Tavernier is planning a new "political" documentary while travelling the globe for premieres of his latest feature, Laissez-passer. Set in occupied France, it got two Silver Bears in Berlin and it's going to the New York film festival, before being released at the London Film Festival in November.

Tavernier has always stood out from the crowd. While most of his fellow rookie directors of the Nouvelle Vague spent the Fifties discovering the delights of American murder mysteries, he was a solitary admirer of the British school. Now the eminence grise of French cinema, he is confident that he had chosen the right model for his talents.

"I've always admired British cinema of the Thirties and Forties, in particular the work of Michael Powell," he says. "And I'm absolutely certain that Powell was one of my very greatest influences - I still feel totally linked to his work. He gave me a lot of courage when I was beginning, just by watching his films because they were incredibly daring. He was always experimenting, never hiding behind one style or one subject.

"Powell and his partner, Emeric Pressburger, had an ideal way of working which, for a long time, gave them complete freedom in their choice of subject or style of production, and I try to imitate them. I have my own production company and take very little money from my films, but I keep a share of the rights to the negative and put any profits to the next project. That's how one keeps free."

For Tavernier, the key film is Powell and Pressburger's 1946 epic A Matter of Life and Death, starring David Niven. He is hugely engaging as Peter Carter, a British Second World War bomber pilot who, as his burning plane plummets towards the ground, falls for the comforting, American, female voice on the other end of his radio. Although his time was supposed to be up, a celestial oversight (a la Heaven Can Wait) causes him to cheat death, and he and the radio operator (Kim Hunter) soon meet. Love instantly blossoms between them - but heaven wants its due, and Peter is forced to try to persuade a pearly court to let him live.

"Every time I have a moment of doubt," says Tavernier, "it's one of the films I look at to give me confidence. In fact, I must have seen it at least 15 times and I also have it at home on DVD. It's full of ideas - sometimes too many ideas - and with some superb love scenes. But it was also an experimental film - quite extraordinary for that time.

"It goes from reality to fantasy, from black and white to colour, from the real world to the world above. At the same time, it is totally rooted in the reality of the period. It was made, I think, on the suggestion of the Foreign Office. They invited Powell to do a film about the relationship between the British and Americans, which was deteriorating at that time, and instead of doing a dull documentary he made this flamboyant drama with an angel where the hero dies during the first scene - or rather, his airplane crashes and yet he doesn't die.

"Before that, it has one of the most daring opening sequences. It starts by a tracking shot in the universe, among the stars with a voice which says, 'This is the universe - big, isn't it?' That's a wonderful line!

"And the shot travels through the entire solar system," he continues, "before coming down to the earth and then the coast of England and Europe with burning cities during a bombing raid. And this tracking shot goes on and down into a typical British fog - from the entire solar system into a British fog! And finally it comes to a plane in flames where everyone is dead.

"The film has the quality of the best British writers - Kipling, Chesterton, Stevenson - and at the same time a feeling of Europe. It's an incredibly stimulating piece of work."

Tavernier's admiration extended even to bringing Powell into his own life. "I first met him after I was helping a friend arrange the French showing of his Peeping Tom," he says. "I also used him as an actor in my second film - but I had to cut that scene in the end. And I published his marvellous autobiography in France - in two volumes. He writes at the end that he would like to put on his gravestone 'Amateur' and 'Our hobby was making films'. I would like to have that on my grave - that my joy, my passion was to make films. It's not a job, it's not a craft, it's a passion."

Nettles

This is my all time favourite - it's the film that got me into films, and Powell/Pressburger films in particular.

I first saw it as a child when it was on TV in the 70's and I haven't been able to get enough of it ever since.

Every time I watch it I find there's something new to move me or thrill me, especially in Roger Livesey's performance.

It saddens me that Michael Powell fell out of favour so completely after he made "Peeping Tom" - a victim of his own innovative film making.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability

Steve Crook

For those that don't alrady know (I'm not shy about announcing it) it's my favourite as well.

See also the many reviews, articles and other information and also lots of pictures

Steve Crook

PaPAS

Donald Smith

AMOLAD - ah, what a film! I first saw it on a small black and white TV in a dismal bedsit while I was a student in the 1980s. Even though I did not get the colour-monochrome contrast it had such a powerful effect on me. I was mouth agape at the end in astonishment at the shere invention, wit and courage of it all. I had to rush out and walk the streets for an hour to calm down! Until then I had believed the critical hype about realism being the proper business of British films - what rubbish! AMOLAD made me realise that romance and fantasy can make the world a beautiful place. i began a long love affair with the films of the Archers. Thanks you AMOLAD.

Don Henson

theuofc

Hello, All,

Your reviews of this film are amazing. Does anyone know where I can buy a copy of this film?

Thanks very much for the excellent comments,

Barbara

Steve Crook

It's available to those in the UK at places like BlackStar or Amazon UK but hasn't been available in the States for some time. Shame.

The best way to get a copy is to have a look at eBay as people on there sell tapes of it quite regularly.

If you look for it under its American title of Stairway to Heaven you'll get lots of items about Led Zeppelin (or other heavy metal acts that have covered the song). Looking under the title A Matter of Life and Death can produce equally odd results.

But if you select the category to be Home > All Categories > Entertainment > DVDs & Movies > VHS that narrows it down quite a lot.

Or you can buy a used copy through Amazon.com although they are more expensive than those offered on eBay.

Steve Crook

PaPAS

theuofc

Hi, Steve,

Thanks so much for the detailed answer. With that information, I'm sure I'll find a copy.

Do you have another favorite David Niven film?
I always liked watching him. I stumbled on his books one day and really enjoyed those. He writes well and in a most interesting way about his early experiences getting into show business and then later about the famous people, like Princess Grace, etc. who were his friends.

All the best,

Barbara

Steve Crook

Do I have another favourite David Niven film?

There isn't any other film that hits all the right buttons for me like AMOLAD does.

Yes, his books are wonderful. But don't take them as gospel truth. He spent much of his life (on and off set) playing the role of a character called David Niven. Read The Other Side of the Moon by Sheridan Morley (son of actor Robert Morley) for another (still favourable) view.

Steve Crook

PaPAS

theuofc

David Niven played David Niven...oh, that is so funny, Steve. I suspect you are right given Niven's wit and attitude toward Life.

First off, spurred on by the terrific review of the film by BT, and the member comments in here, I pursued AMOLAD, and found a copy of it in...my local library! the last place I would have thought would have it here in the States. It's a wonderful film. I keep going back and reviewing another scene, it's that intriguing. First, I was taken aback at the introduction to the heavens! then I laughed at the creativity, fastened my seat belt, and sat back and let this innovative miracle of a film envelope me.

Thanks for introducing me to it. How ever did I miss it.

Barbara

Steve Crook

Glad to have introduced you to it Barbara thumbs_u

What can I say, I've probably seen it more than any other film (& I've seen a LOT), I know it very well, I know what's going to happen next, I know how all the tricks were done - but it STILL has the power to make me laugh and make me cry.

It just pushes all the right buttons for me. But I'm still amazed that a film made 55+ years ago can still have that effect on me.

Steve Crook

PaPAS

DB7

Must-have movies: A Matter of Life and Death

Philip Horne reviews a classic that every film-lover will want to own

Powell and Pressburger's quite indescribable 1946 romantic fantasy-cum-propaganda fable must be the most experimental film that has ever been chosen for the Royal Command Film Performance. It is also one of the greatest British films ever made.

The Archers - the production company formed by Michael Powell, the patriotic man of Kent whose artistic ambitions made him a citizen of the world, and his Hungarian émigré genius of a collaborator Emeric Pressburger - were at the peak of their artistic powers and their film industry clout. The war had just finished and AMOLAD, as lovers of "P&P" call it, ends with the heroine declaring: "We've won", as if the action concludes on VE Day itself.

But, while it celebrates the post-war world to come, it equally presents a witty but tragic vision of the assembled hosts of the uniformed war dead in the court of heaven. As ever brilliantly reversing the expected, P&P render this bureaucratic, regimented, rather fallible heaven in pearly, chilling black and white. It's the day-to-day England below, in which hero and heroine battle courageously to live and love, that glows in rich, deeply affecting Technicolor.

The emotionally wrenching yet ingeniously wrought plot lures one into passionate involvement through jokes and twists, constructing a bizarrely consistent fantasy world. About to bale out of his flaming bomber, doomed RAF pilot and poet Peter Carter (David Niven) speaks on the radio to American wireless operator June (Kim Hunter). Their poignant conversation leaves her, and us, in tears. When Peter miraculously survives and meets June in person, they fall in love; it seems he has escaped Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), the messenger of death sent to fetch him.

But something's wrong: in surreal visitations, our hero is summoned to defend himself in the upper court - a crisis which is both a medically accredited hallucination (he needs brain surgery) and a spiritual reality for him.

AMOLAD is visionary, magnificent, deeply touching - and very good fun.

s_only_me

brilliant

you're nude in the telegraph, dear. can you pass the bacon?

Steve Crook

I agree, good review. Although it's partly to flog the CDs they're selling with Play.com.

But although I've seen the film loads of times, it always makes me laugh and makes me cry.

They're showing it in the open air in the courtyard of Somerset House (by Waterloo Bridge in London) on Aug 17th. That should be interesting.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

aaron

The Telegraph's DVD promo with Play.com isn't the best value anyway.
You can get the '3 Powell & Pressburger films' DVD for £11.96 delivered from Bensons world which covers 'Blimp' & AMOLAD + I know where im going.

I'm attending a gig at Somerset House on Aug 07th - I'm quite tempted to go to the open -air viewing of AMOLAD too!

'He who is not one up...Is one down'