Monday, July 16, 2007

A Matter of Life and Death ... and Technicolor

I screened Powell and Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death" over the weekend.

Thoroughly amazed - every time I see one of their films for the first time, I find myself saying, "I've never seen anything quite like that before".

The plot involves an RAF flyer, played by David Niven, who bails from his crippled airplane without a parachute and cheats death. The whole balance sheet in Heaven is thrown off and he appeals his case in order to stay on earth with an American woman (Kim Novak) that he's fallen in love with.

Real life is shown in glorious Technicolor while Heaven is depicted in shades of monochrome - a nice touch, considering the bureaucratic nature of paradise that Powell and Pressburger show.

I wonder when this is going to get an official release in Region 1 - Columbia, which owns the US distribution rights, either announced or briefly released it on DVD, but it was quickly withdrawn for some reason.

Highly recommended if you can track it down.

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