Vitals

David Niven as Squadron Leader Peter David Carter, charismatic Royal Air Force pilot

Southern English Coast, Spring 1945

Film: A Matter of Life and Death
Release Date: November 1, 1946
Directed by: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Costume Designer: Hein Heckroth

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Powell and Pressburger’s marvelous Technicolor fantasty-romance A Matter of Life and Death begins eighty years ago today, “the night of the second of May, 1945.”

Less than a week until the German surrender that effectively ended the European theater of World War II, a Lancaster bomber is returning through the fog over the English Channel after a Royal Air Force mission over Germany that resulted in the aircraft’s terminal damage. His radio operator dead and the rest of the crew bailed out on his orders, the poetic Squadron Leader Peter David Carter (David Niven) sits alone at the controls, communicating to the charming U.S. Army Air Forces technician June (Kim Hunter), who attempts in vain to reassure the pilot while he offers his own reassurance that he isn’t afraid to meet whatever awaits him:

Hello, June, don’t be afraid. It’s quite simple—we’ve had it, and I’d rather jump than fry. After the first thousand feet, what’s the difference? I shan’t know anything anyway. I say, I hope I haven’t frightened you… you’ve got a good voice, you’ve got guts, too! It’s funny, I’ve known dozens of girls—I’ve been in love with some of them—but an American girl who I’ve never seen, who I never shall see, will hear my last words. It’s funny. It’s rather sweet! June, if you’re around when they pick me up, turn your head away.

With his own parachute damaged and the Lancaster hurtling toward a fiery fate, Peter stoically accepts the inevitability of death (“I’ll be a ghost and come and see you! You’re not frightened of ghosts, are you? It’d be awful if you were.”) and relays a few final messages for June to pass along to his mother and sisters before bailing from the craft. Expecting to die, Peter is nonplussed to find himself not only alive but washed up on the beach at Devon near June’s USAAF base, just in time to find her cycling home.

The two fall quickly in love, but their passionate relationship is interrupted when the flamboyant Conductor 71 (Marius Goring), who missed Peter in the fog, returns and implores him to join him in the Other World as intended. Despite his earlier stoic attitude toward death, Peter is now unwilling to part with the love he’s fond with June and demands an appeal from the judges of the afterlife.

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What’d He Wear?

After Peter lands on the beach dressed in the battle-dress uniform of a RAF Squadron Leader, he changes into more civilian-oriented clothing with a houndstooth sports coat that was likely David Niven’s own, as the actor was contemporarily photographed wearing it off-screen. Always the English gentleman, Niven frequented Savile Row tailors like Huntsman and Norton & Sons, so this jacket was probably crafted by one of those storied houses.

Woven in a light brown, black, olive, and burgundy houndstooth check, the single-breasted jacket features full-bellied peak lapels that roll to a two-button front fastening at Niven’s natural waist. The dramatically rearward-slanted hip pockets evoke the traditional hacking jacket silhouette, complemented by a welted breast pocket and double vents.

Tan suede elbow patches detail the sleeves, which are finished with four functioning cuff buttons—known as “surgeon’s cuffs”—that Niven often wears with two buttons undone. Lightly padded shoulders and a full, clean chest sharpen an elegant silhouette while preserving the relaxed ease consistent with English country style.

Peter debuts the jacket over a light-blue cotton shirt that appears to be from his RAF service dress uniform. The long-sleeved shirt has a semi-spread collar, a front placket fastened with white buttons through white-threaded buttonholes, and double (French) cuffs that he fastens with gold links.

His dark slate-blue wool trousers are likely also orphaned from his No. 1 service dress uniform, which would suggest that they are tailored with a fitted waistband, double forward pleats, on-seam side pockets, and the plain-hemmed bottoms that we see breaking over the tops of his black calf leather cap-toe oxford shoes.

Later, Peter wakes up in a country house where June and her friend Dr. Reeves (Roger Livesey) are overseeing his convalescence. Rather than pairing his sport jacket with pieces of his uniform, he’s dressed more intentionally for the setting in warm-toned civilian clothing.

His silky off-white sports shirt has a shapely collar that he wears open at the neck to show off a rakishly knotted scarlet-red silk kerchief with a beige medallion print. The long-sleeved shirt has mixed brown 4-hole buttons up the front placket and fastening each barrel cuff.

Peter’s dark-gray woolen flannel pleated trousers provide a harmonious contrast with the upper half of his outfit, with the coarser fabric aligned with the country setting while the neutral gray shade also calls out the black check in his jacket. These fashionably full-fitting trousers have side-pockets and turn-ups (cuffs) that break over the tops of his dark-brown leather lace-up shoes—an appropriately sporty alternative to the black RAF oxfords he wore earlier.

Peter always wears a gold signet ring on his left pinky and a dressy gold tank watch. Likely Niven’s own wristwatch rather than the pilot watches favored by RAF personnel during World War II, this timepiece consists of a rectangular gold case framing a lighter gold rectangular dial, secured to Niven’s left wrist on a smooth black leather strap.

Royal Air Force Uniforms

Peter bails out of his Lancaster bomber while dressed in a dark blue-gray wool serge “war service dress” uniform, introduced by the RAF to follow the British Army’s “battledress” design. This consists of a waist-length blouse with buttonholes to attach it to the waistband of matching trousers for a continuous, jumpsuit-like effect. The blouse has a covered five-button fly front, belted waist that buckles on the right side, and two box-pleated chest pockets each covered by a scalloped flap. Peter wears his Squadron Leader (OF-3) rank insignia around the shoulder epaulets with his RAF wings patch, service ribbons, and gold wings badge over the left breast.

Echoing his later civilian attire, Peter wears his light-blue cotton shirt open-neck to show a burgundy day cravat printed with small white dots. The flat-front trousers have a long rise with on-seam side pockets and flapped pockets over the seat and left thigh. He tucks the bottoms of his trousers into his shearling-lined black leather 1936 pattern flying boots, though he loses the left boot when landing—eventually balancing it out by removing his right boot and the white sock.

Over his war service dress, Peter wears a flight harness, orange “Mae West” life-preserver vest, and iconic dark-brown sheepskin Irvin flying jacket—discarding all on the beach after his landing.

Peter briefly appears in his full RAF No. 1 Service Dress uniform, handsomely tailored in a blue barathea wool. Basically unchanged eighty years later, the uniform consists of a single-breasted tunic with four gilt buttons, four flapped pockets, a half-belted waist, and rank insignia banded over the end of each sleeve as well as the same badging over his left breast as seen on his war service dress.

The matching pleated trousers have a long rise with side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms—likely the same ones seen when Conductor 71 introduces himself to Peter by interrupting his outdoor date with June. He also wears the same light-blue shirt, now with the requisite black necktie knotted in a neat four-in-hand.

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How to Get the Look

When not in his RAF uniform, Squadron Leader Peter Carter reflects actor David Niven’s sartorial sophistication by appropriately dressing for the country in a handsome houndstooth sport jacket with open-neck shirts, contrasting trousers, and the occasional rakish neckerchief.

• Light-brown, black, olive, and burgundy houndstooth wool single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with full-bellied peak lapels, welted breast pocket, slanted hip pockets, tan suede elbow patches, functioning 4-button surgeon’s cuffs, and double vents
• Off-white silky long-sleeved sport shirt with front placket and button cuffs
• Scarlet-red and beige medallion-printed silk neckerchief
• Gray woolen flannel pleated trousers with self-suspended waistband, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Brown leather lace-up shoes
• Gold signet pinky ring
• Gold tank watch with rectangular gold dial on smooth black leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie, which was kindly suggested to me as a subject by my friend Wendi several years ago and quickly became a fast favorite of mine!

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The Quote

What do you think the next world’s like? I’ve got my own ideas.