THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509230036
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
THERE WAS a time when the movies regularly gave us fantasies.
James Stewart was quite believable, for instance, as a man who saw a tall rabbit named Harvey or a man who went into the past to find that his life, after all, was worthwhile.
After a long sojurn of cynicism perhaps the movies are learning that audiences not only accept these flights of whimsy but actually want them.
Stewart's ``It's a Wonderful Life'' is successfully revived each year. Warren Beatty's remake of ``Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' was a big hit as ``Heaven Can Wait.'' And there will soon be a remake of ``The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.''
Not the least of these nods toward fantasy is the current reissue of ``Stairway to Heaven,'' originally released in England as ``A Matter of Life and Death'' in 1946. The film takes us to ``the other place'' for a heavenly trial that is remarkably complex and existential in its hints at what fate, or the afterlife, may hold for us.
David Niven is an RAF pilot who, in his last moments, has radio contact with an American WAC played by Kim Hunter. He then jumps from his burning plane above England, without a parachute. Because of a heavenly error he, miraculously we would say, survives. He finds himself on a beautifully photographed beach and meets Hunter. They are in love but, alas, he actually should be dead. Marius Goring, as a fawning French aristocrat who was beheaded long ago, is the ``conductor'' who makes the mistake. He's sent from heaven to fetch the pilot back.
David doesn't much like the idea of being dead, even if he is to go to heven. He appeals to the highest court of all. His sensible doctor (Roger Livesey) dies and goes to heaven to be his defense counselor. The prosecutor, played by Raymond Massey, is the first American killed by the British in the American Revolution, and a particular Brit hater. He maintains that David is dead, and needs to stay that way - that the rules can't be bent.
Michael Powell and his co-director and writer Emeric Pressburger have given this film a distinctive look that proves how magic movies were back when special effects didn't cost millions. A simple stop-motion effect stops the earth creatures from hearing heaven talk. Heaven is photographed in sepia-toned black and white while the earth is lensed, by the legendary Jack Cardiff, in muted Technicolor. It is something to see.
The ending is a bit pat in its ``love conquers all'' swiftness. A bit dated, too, is the American vs. British debate that was so timely in post-World War II England.
``Stairway to Heaven,'' complete with an escalator straight upward, is a stunning-looking film. Beyond its looks, it has clever comments to make about death. The fact that it has been so seldom seen is more than justification for its restored print. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Stairway to Heaven'' (``A Matter of Life and Death'')
Cast: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey
Directors and writers: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Mal's rating: Three stars
Location: Naro in Norfolk
by CNB