With his bomber set to crash land, WWII airman Peter Carter (David Niven) opts to bail out, but not before spending his last remaining moments conversing with June (Kim Hunter), an American radio operator. Miraculously, Peter washes ashore, meets June and falls in love with her. When informed that his survival is a mistake and that he's summoned to the "other world", Peter refuses and demands a hearing by a higher authority...

Heralded as one of the greatest British films of all time, A Matter of Life and Death (known as Stairway to Heaven in the U.S.) is a delightful fantasy which asks bold questions about mortality, faith and the afterlife while remaining fervently secular. For its daring mix of black-and-white and dazzling Technicolor photography, Powell & Pressburger employed a young and inexperienced Jack Cardiff to photograph the film, launching the career of one of cinema's finest ever cinematographers. David Niven, Kim Hunter and Roger Livesey are all in sparkling form, and look out for early starring roles for Richard Attenborough and Kathleen Byron, the latter would play a far more prominent role in Powell and Pressburger's next film, Black Narcissus (not to mention Powell's personal life).

Powell, Pressburger and cinematographer Jack Cardiff were well-known for visually sumptuous productions. A Matter of Life and Death was their first homage paid to the very invention of Technicolor. Sony Pictures, in cooperation with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the British Film Institute, completed the restoration in 2000 at a cost of around US$150,000. The process was all photochemical and only the soundtrack was remastered digitally.

7/8

(Sun)

2:00pm *

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

17/9

(Sat)

7:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

* Post-screening talk with Sam Ho & Matthew Cheng