1946 • 104 m
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
With David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Robert Coote, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, and Richard Attenborough

Peter Carter is a British Royal Air Force pilot trying to nurse a badly damaged and burning Lancaster bomber home after a mission in May 1945. He manages to get in touch with June, 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, but does not because of a mistake on the part of Conductor 71, 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 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.

Can he find a lawyer clever enough to keep him out of heaven and in June's arms for a few more years? —Adapted from Wikipedia

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, and ranks #20 in the British Film Institute's top 100 British Films.

Watch a scene from the movie here:

"What today's audiences will find amazing is the sheer energy of its invention."
—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

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