On TCM right now and they are calling it by a different name ???? - A Matter of Life and Death Discussion

[–] bejblj03 9 years ago

I'm also watching it now. I believe the original title was "A Matter of Life and Death" and it was changed to "Stairway to Heaven". Maybe it was changed because it's less wordy.

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[–] HoferPM-1 9 years ago

Do you think it's because in today's modern world, we are not to mention going to heaven ????? I was a very young child when I actually saw this movie in the theatres !

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[–] PillowRock 8 years ago

No, that has nothing to do with it.

As others have said, A Matter of Life and Death was the *original* title. For some reason or other, the title was changed when it was released in the US (you realize that it's a British movie, right?). In cases like that, the trend has been to use the original title whenever possible (foreign language titles tend to be treated differently).

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[–] hallogallo 8 years ago

"Do you think it's because in today's modern world, we are not to mention going to heaven ?????"

Exactly the opposite. The title was changed to Stairway to Heaven in the USA because the studio thought the public would stay away if the stuck with the original and far more relevant A Matter of L:ife and Death because it contained the word death.

EDIT: You also realise that the word heaven is deliberately not used in the movie as Powell and Pressburger didn't to tie the narrative to Christian beliefs and theology preferring the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

Who's driving this plane? Stan Butler?

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[–] pr8hd 9 years ago

Stairway to Heaven was the U.S. release title.

The Liver is Evil and Must Be Punished!

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[–] Steve Crook 9 years ago

Why did they rename this movie to A Matter of Life and Death ???????

They didn't. The renaming was to call it Stairway to Heaven for the US release. It was known as A Matter of Life and Death in the rest of the English speaking world and that's its original title.

But when it was first released in the States the American distributors thought that American audiences wouldn't want to go and see a movie with "Death" in the title, especially just after WWII where so many people had died

Steve

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[–] milicentbrovovich 8 years ago

Actually; the original title is A Matter of Life and Death and that's how I know it, how most of the IMDB reviews know it as and what makes the most sense. Only in US (i think) was it changed to Stairway to Heaven because apparantly americans would not have wanted to watch a movie with "death" in the title...

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[–] Steve Crook 8 years ago

TCM is one of the few places that still calls it "Stairway to Heaven".
Most US screenings and DVD releases use the correct title of A Matter of Life and Death

The title was changed to "Stairway to Heaven" for the initial US release. Powell & Pressburger were told that this was because the distributors thought that Americans wouldn't want to see a film with "Death" in the title, especially so soon after the end of WWII where so many people had died.

P&P responded with the title Death Takes a Holiday (1934) only to be told that that is about death taking a holiday - P&P gave up the argument 

Steve

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