A Matter of Life and Death (film) A Matter of Life and Death (film) A Matter of Life and Death is a 1946 British fantasy-romance film written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and set in England during the Second World War. The film stars David Niven, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, Kim Hunter and Marius Goring. The film was originally released in the United States under the title Stairway to Heaven, which derived from the film's most prominent special effect: a broad escalator linking Earth to the afterlife. The decision to film the scenes of the Other World in black and white added to
A Matter of Life and Death (play) A Matter of Life and Death (play) A Matter of Life and Death is a stage adaptation by Tom Morris and Emma Rice of Powell and Pressburger's film of the same name for the company Kneehigh Theatre. Its first run at the National Theatre lasted from 3 May 2007 to 21 June 2007. Taken from the programme of the performance at the Olivier Theatre, London, 12 May 2007. Though the plot of the adaptation was broadly similar, there are some differences. In the play June, the radio operator, with whom Peter falls in love, was British rather than American, since