Michael Powell on DVD

The two-disc set The Films of Michael Powell contains A Matter of Life and Death and Age of Consent. Powell is primary viewing for film buffs and these two films deserve attention for their DVD debut. A Matter of Life and Death was released in the US as Stairway to Heaven (in 1947). The story was David Niven’s return to acting after war service and also stars Kim Hunter, Raymond Massey, Kathleen Byron and Roger Livesey.
AMOLAD revolves around an angel (Marius Goring) who missed snagging Niven for the hereafter and must now convince him to die. But Niven demands a heavenly arbitration panel and the whole issue of life and death proceeds as a spirited cosmic trial. The comedy concerns transmigration, the drama involves romance and the special effects (heaven in black and white, Earth in Technicolor) have only been copied but never surpassed. That said the film represents a throwback to earlier views of God and history, definitely from the first half of the 20th century. A Matter of Life and Death is still great viewing no matter its archaic vision.
In 1960 Powell practically ended his career with the notorious Peeping Tom (although Psycho made the same year, and featuring similar themes, only boosted Hitchcock’s career) it took several years for him to regain his film footing. The result shot on the Great Barrier Reef, Age of Consent was one of Powell's last but the first for Helen Mirren.
Mirren plays a teen nymph who provides inspiration for blocked artist (and also producer James Mason). Extras on the discs included Martin Scorsese intros for each film, commentary by film historians. Also for Age of Consent short docus focus on Mirren (with a current day interview) and on the underwater photographers Ron and Valerie Taylor, themselves responsible for most of the underwater footage of the Great Barrier Reef waters from that era.