Things to Watch For in A Matter of Life and Death

Things to Watch For in your second viewing:

• Note the similarity/differences between June's control center and Peter's cockpit.
  
  
• What do we learn about Peter from his opening dialogue with June? What does he ask her?
  
  
• How is the "grim reaper" portrayed in this film?
  
  
• Note the scope the doctor uses to survey the town and it's similarities to the holes in the clouds that the angels look through to observe earth. Also note the doctor's use of a camera obscura.
  
  
• Why do you think the afterlife is shown in black and white while life on earth is shown in color?
  
  
• Note how the rose in the Conductor's jacket the effect June's tears have on it.
  
  
• What is the significance of the chess book?
  
  
• Note how the film is set up so that Peter's recovery from surgery is tied to the jury's decision? And that we never know whether the whole afterlife storyline is just a hallucination.
  
  
• What is the Shakespearean play that the soldiers are rehearsing for and what is its significance?
  
  
• Note the special effects in the film. What do you think of them, given the time period in which the film was made?
  
  
• Why do you think Peter chooses the doctor to be his advocate at the trial?
  
  
• Note how science and religion are portrayed in the film?
  
  
• Note the turn towards the political in the trial. What do you think that was?
  
  
• The film's original title is Stairway to Heaven and we actually see the stairway in the film. What do you think it signifies?
  
  
• Trivia: It was during a visit to Hollywood in 1945 that director Michael Powell decided to cast the then-unknown Kim Hunter as June, the American servicewoman, largely upon the recommendation of Alfred Hitchcock, who had done a series of screen tests of actors and actresses auditioning for parts in his upcoming production, Notorious. The trouble was that in these tests, Hunter was not seen but, rather, heard off-camera, feeding lines and cues to the actors Hitchcock was actually testing. But Hitchcock assured Powell that he would arrange a "face-to-face" with Hunter and her agent, so that he could see for himself whether she fit the requirements of the "all-American" girl Powell had envisioned opposite David Niven. And upon first encountering Hunter, Powell agreed with Hitchcock that she indeed was a perfect choice for the role.
  
  
• More Trivia: The first scene shot was David Niven washing up on the beach. Originally planned to fade in from black, Michael Powell decided on the spot that the effect would be too cheesy. When Jack Cardiff told him to look through the camera, Cardiff then deliberately breathed right onto the lens, which fogged the glass for a few seconds until it evaporated. Powell loved the idea and had him use it for the shot.
  
  
• Still More Trivia: The huge escalator linking this World with the Other, called "Operation Ethel" by the firm of engineers who constructed her under the aegis of the London Passenger Transport Board, took three months to make and cost 3,000 pounds (in 1946). "Ethel" had 106 steps each 20 feet wide and was driven by a 12 h.p. engine. The full shot was completed by hanging miniatures.