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 Loaf and Death some suburb of America — and being told they're not going to understand a joke, or a northern saying." Regardless, Park changed the title from "Trouble at Mill" as he thought it was too obscure a Northern England colloquialism. As well as a final title that references "A Matter of Life and Death", the film also references "Batman", "Aliens" and "Ghost". Park said in an interview with the "Radio Times", "The BBC hardly gave a single note or instruction on the whole thing", and Park goes on to remark how it was better than his previous work with DreamWorks, "Curse