- A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
- Returning to England from a bombing run in May 1945, pilot Peter Carter's plane is damaged and his parachute ripped to shreds. He has his crew bail out safely, but figures it is curtains for himself. He gets on the radio, and talks to June, a young American woman working for the U.S. Army Air Forces, and they are quite moved by each other's voices. Then he jumps, preferring this to burning up with his plane. He wakes up in the surf. It was his time to die, but there was a mix-up in heaven. They couldn't find him in all that fog. By the time his "Conductor" catches up with him twenty hours later, Peter and June have met and fallen in love. This changes everything, and since it happened through no fault of his own, Peter figures that heaven owes him a second chance. Heaven agrees to a trial to decide his fate.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
- Returning from a bombing mission over Europe during World War II, Captain Peter Carter is the only survivor aboard his heavily damaged Lancaster. He's ordered his crew to bail out, but knows he's not going to make it as he cannot land the plane, and his parachute isn't functional. He makes contact with an Allied radio operator, June and she is amazed at his resilience in the face of death. Miraculously, he wakes up on the beach with a headache and not much else. He meets June and they immediately fall in love. There has been a mistake however. He was supposed to die, but was missed by the Heavenly messenger who was unable to collect him due to a particularly thick English fog. When the messenger calls on him to accompany him to the great beyond, he demands the opportunity to defend himself and argues that as a result of the mistake, he has now fallen in love, and should be allowed to live out his life and remain on Earth.—garykmcd
- On May 2, 1945 during World War II, Englishman and Captain Peter David Carter is returning to England in a bomber on fire, without a parachute, and with his Sparks Bob dead. He contacts June, an American with the U.S. Army Air Forces on land and they start a conversation. June tells him that she is single and is presently living in Lee Wood, at the seaside, and Peter explains his situation and asks June to send a telegram to his mother, and tells that he will jump from the plane since he does not want to burn with the plane. Peter awakens in the surf of Lee Wood beach and he meets June and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile in Heaven, Conductor 71 admits to the Powers That Be that he committed a mistake and lost Peter in the fog. Then he meets Peter and tells him that he must go to Heaven since he should have died in the fall. But Peter claims to the Court of Appeals in Heaven that the negligence of the Department of Records had allowed him to fall in love with June and he deserves a second chance. Down on Earth, June takes Peter to Doctor Reeves and the doctor finds a brain tumor that may be causing hallucinations in Peter, and tells her that he must operate in an urgent basis. While Peter is submitted to a surgery, heaven agrees to open a case in court and judge his fate.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- On May 2, 1945, RAF pilot Peter Carter, returning back to England from a bombing mission over Germany, knows that he faces certain death in his plane having been hit and being in flames, the rest of his crew who he has already ordered to parachute to safety or have died on board, the one in that latter category being his friend, Bob Trubshawe. Peter's final words are with a WAC radio operator based in England who he learns is an American named June. In the course of their several minute conversation, they fall in love despite knowing Peter's imminent fate. Rather than die in a fiery crash or be incinerated mid-flight, Peter decides he'd rather die by ejecting himself from the plane despite having no parachute. Miraculously, Peter survives the fall awakening several hours later on the English beach. From his and June's discussion, he knows he is near where she lives and is able to locate her, the two who instantaneously fall in love in person. The problem is that Peter, according to the cosmos, was supposed to die, the only reason he didn't being the Conductor in the celestial heavens that was supposed to retrieve Peter missed him during the fall in what was the dense English fog, this the first such error of a missed body in over a thousand years. Peter and June having fallen in love in the intervening twenty hours between the time Peter was supposed to die and when the error was discovered causes an issue in retrieving Peter now. In the Conductor contacting Peter and Peter only on Earth about taking him to what was supposed to be his rightful place in the heavens, Peter indeed protests, not so much in fearing death but in his love for June and not wanting to leave her side on Earth. As such, he appeals his death sentence which will eventually lead to a trial in the heavens to decide his imminent fate. Beyond preparing for the trial itself, Peter also tries to understand in a Earthly sense why he survived and if what he is currently experiencing is real or a fantasy of his own making. With June's help, Peter consults with her friend, neurologist Dr. Frank Reeves which may have some unintended consequences in taking Earthly human actions to deal with something otherworldly.—Huggo
- Squadron Leader Peter D. Carter is a British bomber pilot on his war back from a bombing mission over Nazi Germany towards the end of WWII. His bomber is badly damaged and won't make it back home, all his crew have parachuted to safety but Peter's parachute was damaged. His choices seem clear - jump or fry.
He makes one last call on the radio and makes contact with June, an American WAC at an air base in England. After reporting his situation and exchanging a few last thoughts, Peter decides to jump.
But Peter survives the fall. Landing in the sea, he is washed up on a British beach where he soon meets June, cycling home. After the shock of realising who each other is, and after a few tears, they declare their love for each other.
It seems that Peter only survived the fall because Conductor 71, who was supposed to conduct the deceased Peter to the afterlife, missed him in the fog. When Conductor 71 finds Peter and asks him along, Peter refuses to go saying that it was only because of that mistake that he actually met June and that now they should be allowed to live out their life together.
Peter is also suffering from occasional blinding headaches and June arranges for him to meet Doctor Reeves who diagnoses a brain tumour. Are the episodes where Peter meets the Conductor when time appears to stop and everyone around him is frozen, really happening? Or are they just in his imagination, caused by the tumour? The film-makers leave it up to the audience to decide.
Peter has appealed his "call up" to the afterlife and a tribunal is arranged in "the other place" (never explicitly referred to as "Heaven") where his case will be argued. But Peter must find a defence counsel from amongst those who are no longer alive. As he wonders who he can choose to represent him the tumour is growing and the necessity for an operation becomes A Matter of Life and Death.
On a stormy night Dr Reeves and June are anxiously waiting for the ambulance to take Peter to hospital. Dr Reeves rides out to meet it on his motorbike, but he crashes and is killed. However Peter is content to hear this news because Dr Reeves is now qualified to represent him at the tribunal.
The tribunal is assembled, the audience filled with many people from the current conflict and from all of history. The prosecutor is Abraham Farlan, the first American killed by a British bullet in the struggle for American independence. He is not fond of Englishmen, especially an Englishman who claims to have fallen in love with an American girl. Peter's case is argued with the debate ranging over the relative merits and demerits of the English and Americans. But this case isn't about national stereotypes, it is about individuals, so the tribunal decides to travel down to Earth to see Peter & June for themselves.
Peter puts his case well and claims that his love for June is due to the Conductor's mistake. The decision rests with the tribunal's opinion of June. At Dr Reeves' suggestion, June shows that she is willing to take Peter's place in the balance sheet and to give her life for him. But of course that can't be allowed to happen and she runs into his open arms.
The tribunal declares for the (un)common man and Peter and June are allowed to live out their life together.
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