After a bombing raid over Germany, RAF squadron leader Peter Cater’s plane is going down over the English Channel. Without a parachute and facing certain doom, Peter radios a final message to the nearest base. On the other end is June, an American servicewoman. Even in his final moments, Peter is charming and flirtatious with June. After saying farewell, he jumps out the aircraft door to certain death. Except—Peter wakes up on a beach. To his amazement, he’s alive. Even more amazing, Peter encounters June, who is riding her bike home after her shift at the base. The two are astounded by the situation and quickly fall in love.
Except there is a problem. Peter was supposed to die. Conductor 71, the entity assigned to escort Peter to the Other World, couldn’t find Peter in the thick, English fog. Peter gets 22 hours with June before Conductor 71 catches up to him and says his time is up. Peter protests: It isn’t fair to June to experience the pain of losing Peter when she only loves him because of the mistake that the dear Conductor made. So Peter asks to appeal his death and spends the next three days preparing the defense of a lifetime—literally.
What a fun premise and a fun, charming movie. While it has a bunch of ‘old timey’, ‘40s gusto, this film is as witty as anything that is coming out today. The performances are wonderful, from Niven’s charm, to Hunters earnestness, to Livesey’s inquisitiveness, to Gorings otherworldly silliness. And its special effects, while stylized, are seamless and impressive. I do think I kept waiting for the film to say something more grand about life and love. The crux of Peter’s trial is more about American-UK relations than on higher matters of existence. But this says more about the time (when British women were waking up to half-American babies with absentee/deceased fathers), and makes the film even more interesting as a time capsule for all of those feelings. I recommend this one, entirely.