A Matter of Life and Death/Colonel Blimp/I Know Where I'm Going

A Powell Pressburger box set. 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946) is a wartime propaganda movie commissioned by the Ministry of Information, but turned into a fantastical allegory by the Archers - aka Powell and Pressburger.

David Niven plays an RAF pilot who is ready to be picked up by the angels after bailing out of his plane.

But an administrative error in Heaven leads to a temporary reprieve, during which he must prove his right to stay on Earth.

A tribunal in heaven ensues to decide the case. In 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' (1943), set during World War 2, stuffy ex-soldier Clive Candy (Roger Livesey) recalls his career which began as a dashing officer in the Boer War.

As a young man he lost the woman he loved (Deborah Kerr, who plays three roles) to a Prussian officer (Anton Walbrook), whom he fought in a duel only to become lifelong friends with.

Candy cannot help but feel that his notions of honour and chivalry are out of place in modern warfare.

The film's title comes from 'Evening Standard' cartoonist David Low's satirical comic creation, Colonel Blimp.

Whilst in 'I Know Where I'm Going' (1945) a woman (Wendy Hiller) has always known what she wanted in life, and now she is about to marry a millionaire.

But when she ends up stranded on a Hebredian island due to a storm, she changes her mind.