Product Description

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/06/2009

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9595 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2009-01-06
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 210 minutes

Amazon.com
A true marvel, A Matter of Life and Death is one of the best films by the storied English filmmaking team known as the Archers: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Among other felicities, this 1946 fantasy has one of the most crackling opening ten minutes of any movie you'll ever see: after a deceptively dreamy prologue, we are thrown into the conversation between an airman (David Niven) whose torched plane is about to crash in the English Channel, and an American military radio operator (Kim Hunter) operating the radio on the ground. Their touching exchange, made urgent by his imminent death, is breathtakingly visualized (you have never seen a WWII plane interior quite as vividly as this). What follows is glorious: Niven's death has been missed by an otherworldly collector (Marius Goring)--all that thick English fog, you know--and so he gets to argue his case for life before a heavenly tribunal. The heaven sequences are in pearly black-and-white, the earthly material in stunning Technicolor (the color is the cause of a particularly good in-joke). The Powell-Pressburger brief on behalf of humanity is both romantic and witty, and the wonderful cast is especially enriched by Roger Livesey (the star of Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp), as a doctor with a camera obscura and an enormous heart.

Age of Consent, the other film in this two-disc set, comes from a much later period in Powell's career--indeed, close to the end of it. Made on a low budget in Australia in 1969, the movie depicts a disenchanted painter (James Mason) finding renewal in the isolation of an island and the beauty of the young woman (Helen Mirren) who models for him. The salt-and-pepper authority of Mason and the nubile freshness of Mirren give pleasure, although the theme is too on-the-nose (and Jack MacGowran's comic relief too broad) for a really subtle take on Powell's part. Extras include a seven-minute Martin Scorsese comment for AMOLAD, and a commentary track on that film by Powell-Pressburger authority Ian Christie; Scorsese chimes in again for Age of Consent, as does Helen Mirren, whose memories of her first movie are specific and fond. Kent Jones contributes the commentary track, a 10-minute interview with underwater photographers Ron and Valerie Taylor includes some Mirren comments, and a 16-minute making-of documentary gives some flavor of the set, including the memories of Powell's son Kevin. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Greatest unknown film maker's double bill
I was introduced to Michael Powell's work by a friend who loved 'The Red Shoes'. Although I dislike musicals, that film had such visual poetry that I loved it the instant I saw it.
I have made it a point to see his other films wherever possible and 'Stairway to Heaven', seen several times on TV, was always a favorite. Oddly, it has never been available in any video format--until now.
This double feature has a pristine print of Stairway which remains a favorite and a film everyone should see.
Accompanying it is Powell's final film--'Age of Consent', which I had never before seen. It features a fine, measured performance by James Mason--and a first-time showing by Helen Mirren.
Viewing these and Powell's other films show just how good this man was. I find it amazing that one film--'Peeping Tom', derailed his career so completely.
In any case, this is a great DVD with two amazing films--and when you see them, you will seek out his other works.

Age of Consent
Age of Consent is long overdue and a delightful film to see. As with some films of that vintage set in Australia, it has an English director and stars, but the native joy of the novel by Norman Lindsay (the painter in Sirens) shines through. James Mason plays the painter who spends a season on a remote Queensland island, and finds a youngish (and solidly built) Helen Mirren to paint. Most of the film is fluff, except for a nasty turn by Mirren's mother, but Powell's light touch is perfect and you get to spend time in an astonishingly beautiful corner of Oz. Actually, watching this film feels like taking a holiday. Recommended.

It's about time.
I have waited way to long for this film(Stairway to Heaven).
A lot of my collection is about films memories from my childhood.This is a major player.The images from this film have stayed with me since the first time I saw it on TV. This is one of the most beautiful films ever made.
The age of consent is an odd film to match up with this, but I have never seen it and enjoyed it.