Why You Should Watch... A Matter of Life and Death (with Laura Venning) | Podcast

Facing up to big questions about life, death and the world beyond with a typically dry British sense of humour, Powell and Pressburger's classic A Matter of Life and Death is a favourite of Martin Scorcese. Here to discuss why the technicolor world of the film is so appealing half a century later is film critic Laura Venning.
To hear more of our discussion, check out the new indietrix podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...
Read some more of Laura's work here:
lwlies.com/articles/my-brilli...
www.girlsontopstees.com/read-...
And follow Laura on Twitter: / laura_venning
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indietrix film reviews is a movie review channel hosted by Will Webb with a wide view of cinema, taking in arthouse, indie and blockbuster movies with lots of analysis and discussion.
Patreon: / indietrix
Reddit: / indietrix
Instagram: / indietrix
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/Willwebbful/
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[@AJNorth]

Like Martin Scorsese, my first encounter with A Matter of Life and Death was watching a cut version on a Black & White television after school in the 1960s. Fast-forward thirty years to 1994 and the theatrical release of the first major restoration, which I saw in a sixty-year-old theater and projected on a pair of Peerless Magnarc Carbon Arc Projectors with Simplex SH-1020 Optical Sound Heads. When the image faded into Technicolor after the arrow hits the bullseye of the archery target at the opening credits, my jaw hit the floor. Since first acquiring AMOLAD on videotape almost thirty years ago, I've watched it at least twice each year. The meticulous 4K Blu-ray restoration released in 2018 is truly extraordinary; it should be required viewing for every cinephile. As an aside, I've one minor quibble with the analysis in the discussion above: If anything, the portrayals of Conductor 71 in AMOLAD and Julian Craster in The Red Shoes (1948) serves to showcase the acting ability of Marius Goring, in my humble opinion; indeed, that the same actor plays both roles two years apart has astonished everyone I have shown both films to (as it did me).

[@OffMyCloud]

Wonderful review of what in my opinion is the greatest film ever made. I first watched it when I was 10 or 11 years old and was entranced by it. I'd go as far as to say that the themes of the film have shaped my life.

[@darrenhoskins8382]

Me too ☺️☺️☺️

[@conrad152]

Well said !

[@darrenhoskins8382]

Love the look back David Niven gives to his own brain operation going on. Can’t not mention Roger Livesay in review of this!

[@user-sd3ik9rt6d]

The phrase ' conservative by nature, labour by experience ' resonated with the post war election shock.

[@edisonlima4647]

It is such a great movie! I also love "Passport to Pimlico", almost for the opposite reasons.

[@Indietrix]

Great choice. All part of that rich post-war tradition where filmmakers and audiences are engaged in trying to process WW2 and also what the future looks like (although as you say, very different visions!) I wonder if post-pandemic film will have a similar feel.

[@HannibalFan52]

Peter's line to June about 'I'd rather jump than fry' has stuck with me since I first saw this film in the 1960s. It came back to me when I saw the footage of people jumping from the Twin Towers on 9/11, and I'm sure the young women who jumped from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire felt the same way. I think my favorite character is actually Conductor 71. Seeing Marius Goring in other roles, he just doesn't look 'right' to me. Sadly, his performance as Theodore Maxtible in 'Evil of the Daleks' is unavailable, as six of the seven episodes were wiped by the BBC.

[@Indietrix]

Yeah it’s super striking; we talk in this and I think a bit more in the podcast version about how matter-of-fact the film is about the human cost of war. And yeah I’ve been hoping we’ll find a full Evil of the Daleks for a while but every year makes it more unlikely! Still, if they can find a Web of Fear-style version of a few eps, there might be hope yet 🤞