Phantom threads: original costume designs for A Matter of Life and Death

Costume designs for this world and the next by Hein Heckroth for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s immortal fantasy A Matter of Life and Death.

8 December 2017

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) costume design
© BFI Special Collections

Costume designer Hein Heckroth’s original watercolour design for the airman jacket and overalls worn by pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) in the opening scenes on the beach.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

The resulting uniform modelled by David Niven in A Matter of Life and Death (1946).

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Niven wearing the airman jacket.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) costume design
© BFI Special Collections

The design for the outfit that Carter is wearing when he finds himself on the stairway to heaven.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) costume design
© BFI Special Collections

Heckroth’s design for the 18th-century garb worn by Conductor 71, the heavenly agent (and former French aristocrat) who collects Carter to escort him to heaven.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Marius Goring playing Conductor 71.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) costume design
© BFI Special Collections

The design for a suit and overcoat worn by Dr Frank Reeves, the physician whose help June (Kim Hunter) calls upon to advise on Carter’s apparent concussion.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Roger Livesey playing Dr Reeves, as he finds himself defending Carter’s right to continue living in a heavenly court.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) costume design
© BFI Special Collections

How Heckroth imagined the judge’s outfit.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Abraham Sofaer playing the judge who holds Carter’s fate in his hands.

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