![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wastinaway.net\/shortfatguy\/images\/moviesbug.gif?resize=65%2C20&ssl=1\")
That age-old question — Prop or Wings?<\/i> — looks like it might finally be answered for DVD owners. Some wonderfully encouraging news concerning the A Matter of Life & Death<\/i><\/a> (aka Stairway to Heaven<\/i> [1946]), a classic produced by The Archers and starring David Niven and Kim Hunter, was posted yesterday at The Digital Bits<\/a>:It took two years to get access to original source material at the British Film Institute, but restoration on this title is now complete and a high definition transfer has been done. The film has been added to Columbia’s schedule for release. It is still a minimum of four months away, though, as Columbia adheres to a policy of only making specific information available for titles it expects to release within three to four months.<\/font><\/blockquote> A remastered print of this wonderful movie was exhibited several years ago, in 1995; presented by Martin Scorsese. A home video release seemed inevitable — preferably via the Criterion Collection, who’d done such an excellent job with Powell\/Pressburger\\’s The Red Shoes<\/i><\/a> and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp<\/i><\/a>. So it’s exciting news to hear that a DVD might finally be released. (I actually bought the PAL DVD just because I got tired of waiting [before I even had a PAL converter]. The Carlton disc has brief extras, but it certainly looks better than my ancient VHS archive [taped off Canadian TV] and it’s a pleasure to see the movie again anyway.)
Steve Crook is the webmaster of an excellent Powell\/Pressburger<\/a> site (they being the men who founded The Archers and together made AMOLAD<\/i> and many other beautiful and groundbreaking films). By remarkable coincidence, he recently informed us that there is talk of a remake! I’m sure what surprises me more: that someone thinks there’s money to be made in remaking a movie that not enough people have heard of to begin with, or, that they believe such a perfect movie can be improved upon. Nevertheless, this was the e-mail Mr Crook received, two days ago:Hi, my name is Roy Lee. I was the producer of the U.S. remake of THE RING. I am wondering if you have any information on how I can obtain the remake rights for Matter of Life and Death. Do you know who owns them?
Thanks,
Roy Lee<\/font><\/blockquote>Since it appears Roy Lee<\/a>‘s only credit is a remake of Japanese movie, I really think he needs to work on an original idea before he starts tampering with one of my favorites.
(Images to follow, as soon as I remember how to get my Sony DVD drive to play a PAL disc\u2026)\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That age-old question — Prop or Wings? — looks like it might finally be answered for DVD owners. Some wonderfully encouraging news concerning the A Matter of Life & Death (aka Stairway to Heaven [1946]), a classic produced … Continue reading