A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

[Jexes23]

I have had a couple people encourage using B&N as they aren’t in the best of finacial positions and this sale is a big money maker for them. While it’s nice for everyone who lives in a large city to go out and buy this film directly from B&N, some of us live out in the country and need to have our movies shipped.

I would have paid 3 dollars more if I had picked this up on Amazon. However I also would have had the movie in hand the day of the release just like every other film I have preordered. My B&N copy is getting to me on the 31st, exactly a week after release.

Needless to say I will not preorder anything from B&N again. I’m not impressed.

[LPMA]

That’s quite odd as my preorder got to me, in Canada, yesterday.

[Namuhana]

My B&N pre-order arrived on release day.

I'm planning on watching it tonight. I've loved every P&P film I've seen, so I'm super excited to see this for the first time.

[lim.davidd]

amazing

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Namuhana

My B&N pre-order arrived on release day.

Well, that's not normal. Bravo!

[Namuhana]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Well, that's not normal. Bravo!

Right? The expected delivery date was Thursday, so I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived on Tuesday instead.

I also watched the film on Friday and absolutely loved it. It's right up there with The Red Shoes for me.

[Doctor Jack]

Originally Posted by Jexes23

I have had a couple people encourage using B&N as they aren’t in the best of finacial positions and this sale is a big money maker for them. While it’s nice for everyone who lives in a large city to go out and buy this film directly from B&N, some of us live out in the country and need to have our movies shipped.

I would have paid 3 dollars more if I had picked this up on Amazon. However I also would have had the movie in hand the day of the release just like every other film I have preordered. My B&N copy is getting to me on the 31st, exactly a week after release.

Needless to say I will not preorder anything from B&N again. I’m not impressed.

So, you can’t wait another week for this? That’s ridiculous.

[Donnie D]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

So, you can’t wait another week for this? That’s ridiculous.

ha!
Must be "A Matter of Life and Death"

[oildude]

Last night I watched A Matter of Life and Death. It looks stunning. The Technicolor transfer is brilliant, and so is the film. The colors are breathtaking and the black and white scenes are luminous and "pearly". What I watched on my screen for 104 minutes made my pupils dance with joy, and my heart soar as if with wings at the beautifully rendered story.

This is a not just a home-run, folks. Criterion has knocked this one completely out of the ballpark.

The opening scenes are like the beginning of a fantastically colorful fairy tale, The camera pans through the celestial firmament, a deep sea of blues and blacks in which the stars twinkle like diamonds, before showing the planet Earth. The screen then segues to David Niven piloting his burning Lancaster bomber with his dead radioman staring at the camera (...oops, the corpse moves his eyes ever so slightly, about the only nit there is in this nearly perfect drama). There is detail to be seen in the instruments, the sweat and blood on Niven's face, the engine flames visible out his cockpit window. And then Kim Hunter appears as the voice on his radio, trying to guide him home in his wrecked bomber through a thick fog blanketing the English coast. Except for the dead, his crew has all bailed out, leaving Niven, the pilot and wing commander, alone at the controls. It is dramatic stuff. Kim Hunter looks angelic against a backdrop of coral-colored light in her radio room, trying to fight back tears as she listens to Niven give his farewells and flirt with her at the same time. His plane is doomed and so is he, as he confesses to the lovely voice on the other end of his radio that, unlike his crew, he has no parachute.

I had heard of A Matter of Life and Death for years but had never seen it. For my first viewing to be Criterion's Blu-ray, I feel blessed. This is a marvelous film.


More of my review (there are no spoilers, just a bit long)

[Show spoiler]Powell and Pressburger are masters of intimate and compelling stories told against larger backdrops, but it is Jack Cardiff's amazing camera work that elevates their films to legendary status. As with his other P&P films, Cardiff has lensed A Matter of Life and Death with a keen sense of atmosphere. His camera angles and lighting create dramatic mood with the same artistry that a highly skilled painter wields a brush.

The cinematography compliments the performances on the screen. David Niven as R.A.F. officer Peter Carter gives the audience what is in my opinion the strongest role of his storied career. Niven, who had a gift for both comedy and drama, was often cast as charmingly mannered Englishmen in roles as varied as a weapons expert in The Guns of Navarone to a sophisticated jewel thief in The Pink Panther. Perhaps this was only natural for a man who had graduated from the British Military Academy at Sandhurst and entered adulthood in 1930 as an officer and a gentleman in the British Army. He resigned his commission a few years later and emigrated to America, where he bounced around odd jobs (including as a whiskey salesman) before ending up in Hollywood. Niven then joined a growing stable of British stars in Tinseltown (known as the Hollywood Raj) during the late 1930s and in a short time rose to leading man status in a series of films. When the Second World War broke out, he returned to England and re-joined the British Army as a lieutenant. His service included some work in the British film industry in war themed films to prop up the morale of the home front before transferring to the commandos and landing in Normandy after D-Day, where he worked in signals and intelligence scouting and reporting enemy positions. He finished the war as a Lt. Colonel, scarred by the experience and the horrors he had seen, rarely speaking about his time in combat.

While Niven is the main star of A Matter of Life and Death, he is surrounded by talent to match his own outstanding performance. Kim Hunter, perhaps most famous for her role twenty-two years later as Zera in 1968's Planet of the Apes, plays June, an American army technician serving in England as a coastal radio beacon operator for returning bombing missions over Germany. She falls in love with the doomed man over the radio as he chats with her in his final moments. Hunter is very good here. What could have been a weepy ridiculous melodrama becomes a wrenching, anxious odyssey as the story plays out thanks to Hunter's ability to make us believe in the better angels of ourselves, that love can elevate and redeem, even in burning bombers lost in fog and plunging to earth.

There are two other supporting standouts that must be mentioned. Roger Livesy, who plays Dr. Frank Reeves, a famed neurologist, and Marius Goring, as Conductor 71. Livesy is eccentrically brilliant and likeable as a man trying to save the life, and the sanity, of another. The story gives hints as to his ultimate fate; his character arc is the most important cog in the story and its most satisfying element. Without him, the movie would not be nearly as effective. Goring plays a Frenchman from the 18th century whose role is critical (and I will not reveal it here, as I think it best to watch the film and discover him for yourself). He is somewhat wicked and conniving, a trickster trying to atone for a grievous mistake, but a pleasure to watch as he gifts the film one of its most memorable characters.

NOTE: There is one scene about halfway through the runtime where the Blu-ray suddenly freezes during a Ping-Pong game, stays frozen for about 3 seconds, then switches scenes. It looks exactly like a Blu-ray having a glitch, freezing up, then skipping ahead. Having never seen the movie before, I thought "uh-oh" and replayed it several times before realizing it is intentional. Don't be alarmed. Your disc is fine.

[CarlosMeat]

Originally Posted by oildude

I watched this last night. It looks stunning. The Technicolor transfer is brilliant, and so is the film. The colors are breathtaking and the black and white scenes are luminous and "pearly".

This is a not just a home-run, folks. Criterion has knocked this one completely out of the ballpark.

The opening scenes are like the beginning of a fantastically colorful fairy tale, The camera pans through the celestial firmament, a deep see of blues and blacks in which the stars twinkle like diamonds, before showing the planet Earth. The screen then segues to David Niven piloting his burning Lancaster bomber with his dead radioman staring at the camera (...oops, the corpse moves his eyes ever so slightly, about the only nit there is in this nearly perfect drama). There is detail to be seen in the instruments, the sweat and blood on Niven's face, the engine flames seen out his cockpit window. And then Kim Hunter appears as the voice on his radio, trying to guide him home in his wrecked bomber through a thick fog blanketing the English coast. Except for the dead, his crew has all bailed out, leaving Niven, the pilot and wing commander, alone at the controls. It is dramatic stuff. Kim Hunter looks angelic against a backdrop of coral-colored light in her radio room, trying to fight back tears as she listens to Niven give his farewells and flirt with her at the same time. His plane is doomed and so is he, as he confesses to the lovely voice on the other end of his radio that, unlike his crew, he has no parachute.

I had heard of A Matter of Life and Death for years but had never seen it. For my first viewing to be Criterion's Blu-ray, I feel blessed. This is a marvelous film.

Summed up nicely ! I'd never seen the film either very entertaining. Such a positive film after such devastation in WWII. I love the character of Doctor Frank Reeves all competent, all committed, all good. I knew something bad would have to happen to him although in the context of the film a good thing.

The look of the film is actually so gorgeous like the Red Shoes , although I like the latter a bit better.

[Geoff D]

Usually the Beaver can't take caps for shit but even they can't wreck the clarity that comes through on this new restoration thanks to the precise alignment of the three-strip negatives. Not only is the colour fringing (caused by the overlap between the elements in prior transfers) all but eliminated it looks so much tighter and more detailed as a result. I'll be getting this or the UK ITV disc for sure but I hope that Sony also releases this on UHD at some point.

[Ray Jackson]

I'm thinking about blind buying this.

The only thing that's holding me back is the fact that as much I really enjoyed The Red Shoes...it's a wonderful film...I found that two viewings was enough to satiate my appetite for that particular story.

I didn't really like Colonel Blimp that much.

...should I do it?

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm thinking about blind buying this.

The only thing that's holding me back is the fact that as much I really enjoyed The Red Shoes...it's a wonderful film...I found that two viewings was enough to satiate my appetite for that particular story.

I didn't really like Colonel Blimp that much.

...should I do it?

[CarlosMeat]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm thinking about blind buying this.

The only thing that's holding me back is the fact that as much I really enjoyed The Red Shoes...it's a wonderful film...I found that two viewings was enough to satiate my appetite for that particular story.

I didn't really like Colonel Blimp that much.

...should I do it?

IMO this film is slightly below The Red Shoes as a story. I personally appreciate the complete immersion Lermontov has in the process and the whole background of labor of love which is more my philosophy of life and what I try to instill in my children so it hits me in that way. I don't get the same from A Matter of Life and Death but still a great film. I can watch The Red Shoes every six to eight months I think.

As you, I didn't get the same enjoyment at all from Colonel Blimp.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by CarlosMeat

IMO this film is slightly below The Red Shoes as a story. I personally appreciate the complete immersion Lermontov has in the process and the whole background of labor of love which is more my philosophy of life and what I try to instill in my children so it hits me in that way. I don't get the same from A Matter of Life and Death but still a great film. I can watch The Red Shoes every six to eight months I think.

As you, I didn't get the same enjoyment at all from Colonel Blimp.

I get choked up just thinking about Colonel Blimp.

[CBHampson]

Beautiful film and a gorgeous production from Criterion.

[Jexes23]

This transfer is PHENOMENAL.

So far I’ve been extremely impressed with every Powell & Pressburger film I’ve gotten my hands on.

I blind buy a lot, and usually I already know the directors, or the the director is of little consequence and it’s more about the individual title.

However, much like Pandora introducing me to one of my favorite artists once like 5 years ago, this is the only time I can think of that a label actually affected my life in such a way as to vault directors I had never heard of into what I now consider to some of my favorite work of all time.

Without Criterion I doubt I know who Powell & Pressburger are, and I’m glad they released these fine films so that utter travesty didn’t happen.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Usually the Beaver can't take caps for shit but even they can't wreck the clarity that comes through on this new restoration thanks to the precise alignment of the three-strip negatives. Not only is the colour fringing (caused by the overlap between the elements in prior transfers) all but eliminated it looks so much tighter and more detailed as a result. I'll be getting this or the UK ITV disc for sure but I hope that Sony also releases this on UHD at some point.

oh that'd look phenomenal - I viewed this the other night on my 4K LG TV and the colors had such a visual tactile appearance. Only once did the image go ever so slightly fuzzy (a b/w shot scene) so overall 99.9% of the restoration utterly wow'd me. Grover Crisp take a bow

[RockyIII]

Originally Posted by oildude

Last night I watched A Matter of Life and Death. It looks stunning. The Technicolor transfer is brilliant, and so is the film. The colors are breathtaking and the black and white scenes are luminous and "pearly". What I watched on my screen for 104 minutes made my pupils dance with joy, and my heart soar as if with wings at the beautifully rendered story.

This is a not just a home-run, folks. Criterion has knocked this one completely out of the ballpark.

The opening scenes are like the beginning of a fantastically colorful fairy tale, The camera pans through the celestial firmament, a deep sea of blues and blacks in which the stars twinkle like diamonds, before showing the planet Earth. The screen then segues to David Niven piloting his burning Lancaster bomber with his dead radioman staring at the camera (...oops, the corpse moves his eyes ever so slightly, about the only nit there is in this nearly perfect drama). There is detail to be seen in the instruments, the sweat and blood on Niven's face, the engine flames visible out his cockpit window. And then Kim Hunter appears as the voice on his radio, trying to guide him home in his wrecked bomber through a thick fog blanketing the English coast. Except for the dead, his crew has all bailed out, leaving Niven, the pilot and wing commander, alone at the controls. It is dramatic stuff. Kim Hunter looks angelic against a backdrop of coral-colored light in her radio room, trying to fight back tears as she listens to Niven give his farewells and flirt with her at the same time. His plane is doomed and so is he, as he confesses to the lovely voice on the other end of his radio that, unlike his crew, he has no parachute.

I had heard of A Matter of Life and Death for years but had never seen it. For my first viewing to be Criterion's Blu-ray, I feel blessed. This is a marvelous film.


More of my review (there are no spoilers, just a bit long)

[Show spoiler]Powell and Pressburger are masters of intimate and compelling stories told against larger backdrops, but it is Jack Cardiff's amazing camera work that elevates their films to legendary status. As with his other P&P films, Cardiff has lensed A Matter of Life and Death with a keen sense of atmosphere. His camera angles and lighting create dramatic mood with the same artistry that a highly skilled painter wields a brush.

The cinematography compliments the performances on the screen. David Niven as R.A.F. officer Peter Carter gives the audience what is in my opinion the strongest role of his storied career. Niven, who had a gift for both comedy and drama, was often cast as charmingly mannered Englishmen in roles as varied as a weapons expert in The Guns of Navarone to a sophisticated jewel thief in The Pink Panther. Perhaps this was only natural for a man who had graduated from the British Military Academy at Sandhurst and entered adulthood in 1930 as an officer and a gentleman in the British Army. He resigned his commission a few years later and emigrated to America, where he bounced around odd jobs (including as a whiskey salesman) before ending up in Hollywood. Niven then joined a growing stable of British stars in Tinseltown (known as the Hollywood Raj) during the late 1930s and in a short time rose to leading man status in a series of films. When the Second World War broke out, he returned to England and re-joined the British Army as a lieutenant. His service included some work in the British film industry in war themed films to prop up the morale of the home front before transferring to the commandos and landing in Normandy after D-Day, where he worked in signals and intelligence scouting and reporting enemy positions. He finished the war as a Lt. Colonel, scarred by the experience and the horrors he had seen, rarely speaking about his time in combat.

While Niven is the main star of A Matter of Life and Death, he is surrounded by talent to match his own outstanding performance. Kim Hunter, perhaps most famous for her role twenty-two years later as Zera in 1968's Planet of the Apes, plays June, an American army technician serving in England as a coastal radio beacon operator for returning bombing missions over Germany. She falls in love with the doomed man over the radio as he chats with her in his final moments. Hunter is very good here. What could have been a weepy ridiculous melodrama becomes a wrenching, anxious odyssey as the story plays out thanks to Hunter's ability to make us believe in the better angels of ourselves, that love can elevate and redeem, even in burning bombers lost in fog and plunging to earth.

There are two other supporting standouts that must be mentioned. Roger Livesy, who plays Dr. Frank Reeves, a famed neurologist, and Marius Goring, as Conductor 71. Livesy is eccentrically brilliant and likeable as a man trying to save the life, and the sanity, of another. The story gives hints as to his ultimate fate; his character arc is the most important cog in the story and its most satisfying element. Without him, the movie would not be nearly as effective. Goring plays a Frenchman from the 18th century whose role is critical (and I will not reveal it here, as I think it best to watch the film and discover him for yourself). He is somewhat wicked and conniving, a trickster trying to atone for a grievous mistake, but a pleasure to watch as he gifts the film one of its most memorable characters.

NOTE: There is one scene about halfway through the runtime where the Blu-ray suddenly freezes during a Ping-Pong game, stays frozen for about 3 seconds, then switches scenes. It looks exactly like a Blu-ray having a glitch, freezing up, then skipping ahead. Having never seen the movie before, I thought "uh-oh" and replayed it several times before realizing it is intentional. Don't be alarmed. Your disc is fine.

Is PQ even more stunning than 4K mastered Lawrence of Arabia?

[RockyIII]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matter-Life...+ray+criterion

Is this the same rendition?