A Matter of Life and Death
Encyclopedia
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) is a romantic fantasy film set in World War II
by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
. It was originally released in U.S. under the title Stairway to Heaven, which derived from the film's most prominent special effect: a broad escalator
linking the Other World
and Earth. Reversing the effect in The Wizard of Oz
, the supernatural scenes are in black-and-white
, while the ones on Earth are in Technicolor
.
In 2004, A Matter of Life and Death was named the second greatest British film ever made by the magazine Total Film
in a poll of 25 film critics, behind only Get Carter
.
Peter Carter (David Niven
) is a British Royal Air Force
pilot trying to nurse a badly damaged and burning Lancaster bomber
home after a mission in May 1945. His crew has already bailed out, but Carter's parachute has been shot up. He manages to get in touch with June (Kim Hunter
), an American radio operator based in England, and talks with her in the few minutes before he is forced to jump without a parachute.
Peter should have died at that time, but does not because of a mistake on the part of Conductor 71 (Marius Goring
), the guide sent from the "Other World" to collect him. The thick fog over the English Channel
causes him to miss Peter. Instead, the airman wakes up the next day on a beach near June's base, completely bewildered to still be alive.
Peter meets June, who is cycling back from her night shift, and the pair fall in love. Conductor 71 (an aristocrat executed in the French Revolution
) stops time to explain the situation to Peter and urge him to accept his death and proceed to the Other World. Peter refuses and demands that the matter be appealed. While Conductor 71 goes to consult his superiors, Peter continues to live his life. His visitor returns to inform him that he has been granted appeal and has three days to prepare his case and appoint a counsel, which he can pick among all the people who have ever lived but are now dead. The two spend that time discussing possible appointees, but Peter fails to choose one.
On Earth, Peter's visions of Conductor 71 are diagnosed by June's fascinated friend Doctor Reeves (Roger Livesey
) as a symptom of a brain injury – chronic adhesive arachnoiditis
from a concussion two years earlier – and he is scheduled for surgery. Reeves is killed in a traffic accident while trying to find the ambulance that was supposed to take Peter to the hospital, which allows him to act as counsel. He argues that, through no fault of his own, his "client" was given additional time on Earth and during that time he has fallen in love and now has an earthly commitment that should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him.
The matter comes to a head – in parallel with Peter's brain surgery – before a celestial court of the whole population of the afterlife – the camera zooms out from an amphitheatre
to reveal that it is as large as a spiral galaxy
. The prosecutor is American Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey
), who hates the British for causing his death in the American Revolutionary War
. Reeves challenges the composition of the jury, which is made up of representatives who are prejudiced against the British. In fairness, the jury is replaced by a cosmopolitan mixture of modern Americans whose origins mirror those they replace.
Reeves and Farlan both cite examples from British and world history to support their positions. In the end, Reeves has June take the stand (she is made to fall asleep in the "real" world by Conductor 71 so she can testify) and proves that she genuinely loves Peter by telling her that the only way to save his life is to take his place. She steps onto the stairway to the Other World without hesitation and is carried away, leaving Peter behind. Then the stairway comes to an abrupt halt and June rushes back to Peter's open arms. As Dr. Reeves triumphantly explains, "...nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."
The jury rules in Peter's favour. The Judge (Abraham Sofaer
) shows Reeves and Farlan the new lifespan granted to the defendant; Reeves calls it "very generous", and Farlan reluctantly agrees to it. The scene then shifts to the operating room, where the surgery is declared a success by the surgeon (played by Sofaer).
in Denham, Buckinghamshire
, England, and on locations in Devon and Surrey. The beach scene was shot at Saunton Sands
in Devon
, and the village seen in the camera obscura
was Shere in Surrey
. Production took place from 2 September to 2 December 1945, used twenty-nine sets, and cost an estimated £320,000.
The film had an extensive pre-production period due to the complexity of the production:
The huge escalator linking this world with the other, called "Operation Ethel" by the firm of engineers who constructed it under the aegis of the London Passenger Transport Board
, took three months to make and cost £3,000 (in 1946). "Ethel" had 106 steps, each 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, and was driven by a 12 h.p. engine. The full shot was completed by hanging miniature
s. The noise of the machinery prevented recording the soundtrack live - all scenes with the escalator were dubbed post-production.
There was a nine-month wait for film stock and Technicolor
cameras because they were being used by the US Army to make training films.
The decision to film the scenes of the "other world" in black and white added to the complications. Where they merge from black and white to colour, they were filmed in Technicolor, but the colour was not fully developed, giving a pearly hue to the black and white shots.
Other sequences also presented challenges, such as the stopped-action table-tennis game (for which Kim Hunter and Roger Livesey were trained by champions Alan Brooke and Viktor Barna
), the scene where David Niven washes up on the beach, the first scene filmed, where cinematographer Jack Cardiff fogged up the camera lens with his breath to create the look he wanted, and the long, 25-minute trial sequence, which required a set with a 350 feet (106.7 m) long by 40 feet (12.2 m) high backcloth.
on 1 November 1946 in aid of the Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund. It then went into general release in the UK on 30 December 1946. It premiered in New York City
on 25 December 1946 and in Los Angeles
on 23 January 1947. (The American release changed the title - see below - and, in the initial release, cut the scenes showing a naked young goatherd following pressure from the National Legion of Decency
. The scene is included in most versions available today, even those still titled Stairway to Heaven.)
In 1986 the film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival
.
Powell and Pressburger objected to the American distributor's renaming the film Stairway to Heaven, but had to put up with it. The distributor believed that American audiences would not want to see a film with the word "Death" in the title, especially just after World War II. When Powell pointed out that the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday
was released without any problems, he was told that the title was acceptable because death was holidaying.
The architecture of the other world is noticeably modernist, a vast and open plan, with huge circular observation holes, beneath which the clouds of Earth can be seen. This vision was later the inspiration for the design of a bus station in Walsall
, England, by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and the film's amphitheatre court scene was rendered by BT in a TV advertisement in about 2002 as a metaphor for communication technology, especially the Internet
.
two years earlier
, though neither film received any government funding nor input on plot or production. There was a degree of hostility against the American servicemen stationed in the UK for the invasion of Europe. They were viewed in some quarters as latecomers to the war and as "overpaid, oversexed and over here" by a public that had suffered three years of bombing and rationing, with many of their own men fighting abroad. The premise of the film is a simple inversion: The English pilot gets the pretty American woman rather than the other way round, and the only national bigotry is voiced by the first American casualty of the Revolutionary War against the British. Raymond Massey, portraying an American, was a Canadian national at the time the film was made, but became a naturalised
American citizen afterward.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
. It was originally released in U.S. under the title Stairway to Heaven, which derived from the film's most prominent special effect: a broad escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
linking the Other World
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
and Earth. Reversing the effect in The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, the supernatural scenes are in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, while the ones on Earth are in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
.
In 2004, A Matter of Life and Death was named the second greatest British film ever made by the magazine Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
in a poll of 25 film critics, behind only Get Carter
Get Carter
Get Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...
.
Plot
Squadron LeaderSquadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Peter Carter (David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
) is a British Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
pilot trying to nurse a badly damaged and burning Lancaster bomber
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
home after a mission in May 1945. His crew has already bailed out, but Carter's parachute has been shot up. He manages to get in touch with June (Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter
Kim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
), an American radio operator based in England, and talks with her in the few minutes before he is forced to jump without a parachute.
Peter should have died at that time, but does not because of a mistake on the part of Conductor 71 (Marius Goring
Marius Goring
Marius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
), the guide sent from the "Other World" to collect him. The thick fog over the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
causes him to miss Peter. Instead, the airman wakes up the next day on a beach near June's base, completely bewildered to still be alive.
Peter meets June, who is cycling back from her night shift, and the pair fall in love. Conductor 71 (an aristocrat executed in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
) stops time to explain the situation to Peter and urge him to accept his death and proceed to the Other World. Peter refuses and demands that the matter be appealed. While Conductor 71 goes to consult his superiors, Peter continues to live his life. His visitor returns to inform him that he has been granted appeal and has three days to prepare his case and appoint a counsel, which he can pick among all the people who have ever lived but are now dead. The two spend that time discussing possible appointees, but Peter fails to choose one.
On Earth, Peter's visions of Conductor 71 are diagnosed by June's fascinated friend Doctor Reeves (Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going! and A Matter of Life and Death...
) as a symptom of a brain injury – chronic adhesive arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis
Arachnoiditis is a neuropathic disease caused by the inflammation of the arachnoid, one of the membranes that surround and protect the nerves of the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord...
from a concussion two years earlier – and he is scheduled for surgery. Reeves is killed in a traffic accident while trying to find the ambulance that was supposed to take Peter to the hospital, which allows him to act as counsel. He argues that, through no fault of his own, his "client" was given additional time on Earth and during that time he has fallen in love and now has an earthly commitment that should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him.
The matter comes to a head – in parallel with Peter's brain surgery – before a celestial court of the whole population of the afterlife – the camera zooms out from an amphitheatre
Amphitheatre
An amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
to reveal that it is as large as a spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxy
A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...
. The prosecutor is American Abraham Farlan (Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
), who hates the British for causing his death in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. Reeves challenges the composition of the jury, which is made up of representatives who are prejudiced against the British. In fairness, the jury is replaced by a cosmopolitan mixture of modern Americans whose origins mirror those they replace.
Reeves and Farlan both cite examples from British and world history to support their positions. In the end, Reeves has June take the stand (she is made to fall asleep in the "real" world by Conductor 71 so she can testify) and proves that she genuinely loves Peter by telling her that the only way to save his life is to take his place. She steps onto the stairway to the Other World without hesitation and is carried away, leaving Peter behind. Then the stairway comes to an abrupt halt and June rushes back to Peter's open arms. As Dr. Reeves triumphantly explains, "...nothing is stronger than the law in the universe, but on Earth, nothing is stronger than love."
The jury rules in Peter's favour. The Judge (Abraham Sofaer
Abraham Sofaer
Abraham Sofaer was a stage actor of Burmese-Jewish descent who became a familiar supporting player on film and television in his later years. He was born in Rangoon, Burma...
) shows Reeves and Farlan the new lifespan granted to the defendant; Reeves calls it "very generous", and Farlan reluctantly agrees to it. The scene then shifts to the operating room, where the surgery is declared a success by the surgeon (played by Sofaer).
Cast
- David NivenDavid NivenJames David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
as Squadron Leader Peter David Carter - Kim HunterKim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
as June - Roger LiveseyRoger LiveseyRoger Livesey was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going! and A Matter of Life and Death...
as Doctor Frank Reeves - Marius GoringMarius GoringMarius Goring CBE was an English stage and cinema actor. He is most often remembered for the four films he did with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes...
as Conductor 71 - Raymond MasseyRaymond MasseyRaymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
as Abraham Farlan - Abraham SofaerAbraham SofaerAbraham Sofaer was a stage actor of Burmese-Jewish descent who became a familiar supporting player on film and television in his later years. He was born in Rangoon, Burma...
as the Judge/Surgeon - Joan MaudeJoan MaudeJoan Maude was an English actress, active from the 1920s to the 1950s...
as the Chief Recorder - Kathleen ByronKathleen ByronKathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
as an Angel - Richard AttenboroughRichard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
as an English Pilot - Bonar ColleanoBonar ColleanoBonar Colleano was an American-born British stage and motion-picture performer.-Early life:Colleano was born Bonar Sullivan in New York City. Following childhood experiences with the Ringling Brothers Circus and in his family's famous circus, he entered films in 1944...
as an American Pilot - Robert CooteRobert CooteRobert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...
as Flying Officer Bob Trubshawe
Production
A Matter of Life and Death was filmed at D&P Studios and Denham StudiosDenham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood...
in Denham, Buckinghamshire
Denham, Buckinghamshire
Denham is a village and civil parish in the South Buckinghamshire district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is north west of Uxbridge and north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. Denham contains the Buckinghamshire Golf Club.-Origin:...
, England, and on locations in Devon and Surrey. The beach scene was shot at Saunton Sands
Saunton Sands
Saunton Sands on a wet and windy day|right|thumbSaunton Sands is a beach in the English village of Saunton on the North Devon coast near Braunton, popular as a longboard surfing location. Its southern end, 'Crow Point', lies at mouth of the River Taw estuary...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, and the village seen in the camera obscura
Camera obscura
The camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side...
was Shere in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Production took place from 2 September to 2 December 1945, used twenty-nine sets, and cost an estimated £320,000.
The film had an extensive pre-production period due to the complexity of the production:
The huge escalator linking this world with the other, called "Operation Ethel" by the firm of engineers who constructed it under the aegis of the London Passenger Transport Board
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
, took three months to make and cost £3,000 (in 1946). "Ethel" had 106 steps, each 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, and was driven by a 12 h.p. engine. The full shot was completed by hanging miniature
Hanging miniature
Hanging miniature is an in-camera special effect similar to a matte shot where a model, rather than a painting, is placed in foreground and the action takes place in the background. It is thus a specific form of forced perspective.-Description:...
s. The noise of the machinery prevented recording the soundtrack live - all scenes with the escalator were dubbed post-production.
There was a nine-month wait for film stock and Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
cameras because they were being used by the US Army to make training films.
The decision to film the scenes of the "other world" in black and white added to the complications. Where they merge from black and white to colour, they were filmed in Technicolor, but the colour was not fully developed, giving a pearly hue to the black and white shots.
Other sequences also presented challenges, such as the stopped-action table-tennis game (for which Kim Hunter and Roger Livesey were trained by champions Alan Brooke and Viktor Barna
Viktor Barna
Viktor Győző Barna was a Hungarian and British champion table tennis player.-Personal life:...
), the scene where David Niven washes up on the beach, the first scene filmed, where cinematographer Jack Cardiff fogged up the camera lens with his breath to create the look he wanted, and the long, 25-minute trial sequence, which required a set with a 350 feet (106.7 m) long by 40 feet (12.2 m) high backcloth.
Release
The film was chosen for the first ever Royal Film PerformanceRoyal Film Performance
The Royal Film Performance is a charity performance of a British film which is attended by members of the British Royal Family. The proceeds from the evening's entertainment are donated to the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, a charity which offers financial support to people from the film,...
on 1 November 1946 in aid of the Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund. It then went into general release in the UK on 30 December 1946. It premiered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 25 December 1946 and in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on 23 January 1947. (The American release changed the title - see below - and, in the initial release, cut the scenes showing a naked young goatherd following pressure from the National Legion of Decency
National Legion of Decency
The National Legion of Decency was an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, in motion pictures...
. The scene is included in most versions available today, even those still titled Stairway to Heaven.)
In 1986 the film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival
1986 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Sydney Pollack*Alexandre Mnouchkine*Alexandre Trauner*Charles Aznavour*Danièle Thompson*István Szabó*Lino Brocka*Philip French*Sonia Braga*Tonino Delli Colli-Feature film competition:* After Hours by Martin Scorsese...
.
Are the visions real?
While the film never specifically states whether Peter's visions are real, the actor playing the judge also plays the brain surgeon. As is shown in the paper, "A Matter of Fried Onions" and subsequent work by Diane Broadbent Friedman, there was a large amount of medical research carried out to ensure that the symptoms shown agreed with a correct medical diagnosis of Peter Carter's condition.Heaven?
The producers took pains never to refer to "the other world" as heaven, as they felt that was too restrictive and limiting. An introductory title screen (repeated as the Foreword to the 1946 novelization by Eric Warman) contains an explicit statement: "This is the story of two worlds, the one we know and another which exists only in the mind of a young airman whose life and imagination have been violently shaped by war", adding "Any resemblance to any other world known or unknown is purely coincidental". But it does not say if the other world portrayed is part of the world we know or part of Peter's hallucinations.Powell and Pressburger objected to the American distributor's renaming the film Stairway to Heaven, but had to put up with it. The distributor believed that American audiences would not want to see a film with the word "Death" in the title, especially just after World War II. When Powell pointed out that the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday
Death Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on the Italian play La Morte in Vacanze by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
was released without any problems, he was told that the title was acceptable because death was holidaying.
The architecture of the other world is noticeably modernist, a vast and open plan, with huge circular observation holes, beneath which the clouds of Earth can be seen. This vision was later the inspiration for the design of a bus station in Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
, England, by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and the film's amphitheatre court scene was rendered by BT in a TV advertisement in about 2002 as a metaphor for communication technology, especially the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Anglo-American relations
The film was originally suggested by a British government department to improve relations between the Americans in the UK and the British public following Powell and Pressburger's contributions to this sphere in A Canterbury TaleA Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale is a 1944 British film by the film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played several small roles. For the postwar American release, Raymond Massey narrated...
two years earlier
1944 in film
The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
, though neither film received any government funding nor input on plot or production. There was a degree of hostility against the American servicemen stationed in the UK for the invasion of Europe. They were viewed in some quarters as latecomers to the war and as "overpaid, oversexed and over here" by a public that had suffered three years of bombing and rationing, with many of their own men fighting abroad. The premise of the film is a simple inversion: The English pilot gets the pretty American woman rather than the other way round, and the only national bigotry is voiced by the first American casualty of the Revolutionary War against the British. Raymond Massey, portraying an American, was a Canadian national at the time the film was made, but became a naturalised
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
American citizen afterward.
Radio
- The film was twice adapted for the Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
on American radio- Stairway to Heaven, 27 October , Episode #587, starring Ray MillandRay MillandRay Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
- Stairway to Heaven, 12 April , Episode #918, starring David NivenDavid NivenJames David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
- Stairway to Heaven, 27 October , Episode #587, starring Ray Milland
- The film was adapted for the Screen Director's PlayhouseScreen Director's PlayhouseScreen Director's Playhouse is a popular radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949...
series on American radio- Stairway to Heaven, 26 July , starring Robert CummingsRobert CummingsCharles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
- Stairway to Heaven, 26 July , starring Robert Cummings
TV
- The film was adapted for the Robert Montgomery PresentsRobert Montgomery PresentsRobert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...
series on American TV- Stairway to Heaven, 9 April (NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
), starring Richard GreeneRichard GreeneRichard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
Note: This was a live performance.
- Stairway to Heaven, 9 April (NBC
Theatre
- The film was adapted as the musical "Stairway to Heaven" at the King's Head in IslingtonIslingtonIslington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
in November 1994. - The film was adapted as a playA Matter of Life and Death (play)A Matter of Life and Death is a stage adaptation by Tom Morris and Emma Rice of Powell and Pressburger's film of the same name for the company Kneehigh Theatre...
by the Kneehigh TheatreKneehigh TheatreKneehigh Theatre is an international theatre company based in Cornwall, England.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed in village halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries...
for performances at the National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, premiering in May 2007.
In popular culture
- A still of the movie (the final "escalator" scene, with the trial court reunited at Carter's surgery) was used as the cover for Phil CollinsPhil CollinsPhilip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
's 19891989 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.-Events:*January 14 – Paul McCartney releases Снова в СССР exclusively in the USSR...
single "Something Happened on the Way to HeavenSomething Happened on the Way to Heaven"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" is a single performed by Phil Collins and released in 1990, from the album ...But Seriously. The song reached the #4 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. A live performance of the song also appears on the Serious Hits... Live! album...
". - The British popduo Pet Shop BoysPet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
used the escalator in the video for "Go WestGo West (song)"Go West" is a song by the 1970s disco group Village People. The song eventually found greater success when it was covered in 1993 by the synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys.-Village People version:...
". - The film inspired the song "A Matter of Life and Death" by Rinaldi SingsRinaldi SingsRinaldi Sings is the stage name used by Steve Rinaldi, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose orchestrated pop music prompted the New Musical Express to describe him in 2004 as a "cocksure 20th Century Scott Walker".- Background :...
, featured on the 2005 album What's It All About. The song features a sample of Kim HunterKim HunterKim Hunter was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire...
's voice from the film. - The 2006 Iron MaidenIron MaidenIron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
album A Matter of Life and DeathA Matter of Life and Death (album)A Matter of Life and Death is the fourteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 25 August 2006 in Italy and Finland, and 28 August worldwide, excluding the United States, Canada and Japan on 5 September 2006....
, which deals heavily with the themes of war and religion, takes its name from the film. - The film is also referenced in an episode of the British sketch comedy Big TrainBig TrainBig Train is a surreal British television comedy sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, writers of the successful sitcom Father Ted...
, where three separate doomed pilots get their wires crossed with each other while talking to the female radio operator.
External links
Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).- BFI's Top Twenty (British) Films
- Bus to Paradise, a review of the film inspired Walsall Bus Station.
- Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
- Trailer at Virgin.net