dwrdnrth I love this film. My father flew bombers in the RAF during WWII and told me the sequence at the beginning was the most realistic representation of a damaged aeroplane in flight he had seen in film. Having said that this is not a war film, it is a charming tale of love, friendship, life and, of course, death. David Niven is his usual convincing self but he doesn't dominate the film in which he stars. (Though it must have been his influence that caused one character to be named Trubshaw.) Roger Livesey, Kim Hunter, and the excellent Raymond Massey make this a rounded film with their portrayals of developed characters. It is beautifully filmed, Kim Hunter's bicycle ride along the beach somehow enchants me. It is a good tale well told and acted. I highly recommend it.

HotToastyRag Everyone knows I love David Niven. Stairway to Heaven is one of the worst movies he's ever made-even worse than the one where his military mission is to rescue a cow. No, I'm not kidding; that was the plot to Island Rescue. Not only is this movie terrible, but Marius Goring's character is downright creepy and Allan Gray's music will make you think you're going insane. The premise was very interesting, and the opening scene made me want to cry. David Niven is a pilot in WW2. His co-pilot has been killed and he's talking over the intercom to Kim Hunter, an American volunteer in the air force. He knows he's going to die because his plane is damaged and he's given his parachute away so another soldier can bail out. He talks to Kim, asks her questions about herself, and tells her he loves her seconds before jumping out of his airplane and facing his death. Get out your Kleenexes, right?Well, due to a clerical error by Marius Goring, Niven isn't transported to the afterlife. He's washed ashore without a scratch, conveniently finds Kim Hunter and truly falls in love with her. The people upstairs aren't happy with the mistake and send Goring down to Earth to bring Niven back up. Niven protests and demands the opportunity to argue his case and win his life back. I know it sounds fascinating, and you'll be very tempted to watch it, but it isn't nearly as good as it sounds. David Niven, although the lead, has less screen time than Roger Livesey, the second lead. Goring is frightening and is more believable to be a representative from Hell than Heaven. The plot takes twists and turns that are boring and somewhat upsetting, and the long-awaited trial uses arguments that don't make any sense. There's only one type of person who will want to watch this movie: the artsy film student. Remember in The Wizard of Oz, when the magical world turns to color? In this movie, it's the opposite. Real life is in Technicolor, and the afterlife is in black-and-white. The color switches are just the beginning to the technological productions in the film. There's a gigantic 106-step "stairway to Heaven" that moves like an escalator, a huge camera obscura in Roger Livesey's office so he can look down on the entire town, and a very innovative shot that shows the inside of David Niven's eyelids as he goes to sleep. Also, whenever Goring visits Earth, he freezes time so no one else can see him besides Niven. I don't know how they filmed those scenes in 1946, but it's pretty incredible. Once, a table tennis match is stopped, and the ball is frozen in mid-air!Weigh the good against the bad and decide for yourself if you want to sit through this film. If I had the opportunity to do it over again, I would have turned the movie off after the first scene.DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not your friend. There are several scenes where the camera tilts and swirls, or the foreground of the shot moves in the opposite direction of the background, and it might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

blanche-2 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger wrote and directed "A Matter of Life and Death," or "Stairway to Heaven," a fantasy in 1946 and starring David Niven, Kim Hunter, Marius Goring, Robert Coote, Richard Attenborough, Raymond Massey, and Roger Livesey.During and after the war, there were many films about angels, heaven, and spirits after death: "It's a Wonderful Life," "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," "The Bishop's Wife," "Heaven Can Wait" -- the loss of loved ones was part of the collective unconscious. "A Matter of Life and Death" concerns a flyer, Peter Carter (Niven) who is about to die -- his plane and parachute are damaged. He is able to contact someone on the radio, June (Hunter), an American working for the USAAF. She wants to help him, but there's nothing she can do. He has accepted his fate and just wants to hear her comforting voice. If it's possible to fall in love with such a brief contact, they do.Carter jumps out of the plane rather than burn up. He wakes up - still alive. Because of the fog, the "Conductor" from the beyond couldn't find him when it was his time to go. The Conductor does find him 20 hours later. By then, Peter and June have met and know that they are in love. He doesn't want to die, he wants to stay on earth.Carter decides that what happened was through no fault of his own, and he should have a second chance. He is told that he can appeal his case.Was this a dream as a result of brain damage suffered by Carter, for which he later has surgery? Or did he really go to trial in heaven? It's left ambiguous, though some have interpreted it one way or the other.Whether it's a dream or not, it's a beautiful film by the two masters, and beautifully acted. David Niven, always charming and relaxed, is a sympathetic character, as is Hunter, who gives a lovely performance. This film perhaps gave Marius Goring his best role, as the flamboyant Frenchman, the Conductor, though he mainly played character roles effectively. One of the striking things about the film, besides the 5000 extras(!) are all of the young men in uniform pouring into heaven. We only see the reception area, so we don't know what happens after that. It is a sobering sight, and one that didn't surprise any audiences in light of World War II.I love most of Powell-Pressburger films, The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus being my favorites, but this one is up there, too.

framptonhollis Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are the team behind "The Red Shoes", "Black Narcissus". "The Tales of Hoffman", "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", and this masterwork. They're famous filmmakers for many reasons, one of those reasons including how they used Technicolor in a lot of their films. In this film, both Technicolor and black and white are used. Any scene shot in Technicolor takes place in the real world, any black and white scene takes place in the afterlife.The film is very clever in it's portrayal of the afterlife, and has a lot of fun with the idea. It is creative and very fascinating to watch, and these sequences are the best parts of the whole movie!The rest of the film is quite wonderful, as well. It is clever, romantic, dramatic, and full of twists and turns in an already creative and incredible storyline.Not only is the execution and intelligence of this film amazing, but, on a technical level it is, without a doubt, one of the most technically amazing films of all time. The Powell Pressburger team experiment with using dutch angles, freeze frames, and plenty of other wonderful special effects, including a shot from behind a human eye as it closes.The film is great on every level. It is clever and creative, romantic and heartwarming, beautiful and visually stunning, and just, overall, a really great film!