A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a. Stairway to Heaven)

An astonishingly bizarre and witty take on life and death, this imaginative magnificent classic stars David Niven as an erroneously alive bomber pilot, who resolves to fight his case at the celestial court to reunite with his love on Earth. Distilling political allusion of post-war Anglo-American relations in a romantic fantasia, the duo revels in their spectacular visual inventions, most notably the gorgeous artificiality of the grand staircase. The astonishing contrast between monochrome and colour gets the angel to proclaim: ‘One is starved for Technicolor up there!’ – doubling as a salute to the magical realism of cinema. A highly-stylised and visionary masterpiece, it crisscrosses time and space to validate the transcendent value of love.