Console best movie i've ever seen.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

utgard14 Good cast turns in some of the weakest performances of their careers in this notoriously pro-Soviet propaganda film made at the height of World War II. Franklin Roosevelt urged Hollywood to make films to support our then-ally Russia. I doubt he had to urge very hard as most of those involved in the making of this film had well-known political sympathies. In particular Walter Huston, who made Mission to Moscow the same year. The film was nominated for six Oscars, as well. Clearly this was motivated by something other than an accurate assessment of the film's merits. Objectively speaking, it's a forgettable war drama with some nice action scenes but a terrible script and several embarrassing performances. Just because you're a poor villager doesn't mean you speak like you've been hit in the head too much. But that's exactly the way Anne Baxter, Farley Granger, Jane Withers, and Dana Andrews play their characters. Child actor Eric Roberts is also very annoying. I defended his precocious character in Watch on the Rhine because that was written into the story. Here he just grates on the nerves. Vets Walter Huston, Walter Brennan, and Erich Von Stroheim comport themselves best. Only of interest today as a historical curio and for devoted classic film fans. The washed-out print I saw on TCM wasn't very good. I can't say I'm surprised nobody has paid to clean this one up.

James Hitchcock My enemy's enemy may not always be my friend, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States government decided, on the basis of the "my enemy's enemy" principle, to hail Joseph Stalin as a trusted ally and brother-in-arms. The effects of this were soon felt in Hollywood. Tinseltown had long had its own colony of Communist sympathisers, but owing to the disdain for Communism felt both by film moguls and by the great majority of the wider American population they had never had much opportunity to use the cinema to make propaganda for their cause. Even a film like "Blockade", written by the avowed Communist John Howard Lawson about the Spanish Civil War, is so confused in its politics that it is difficult to tell whether it is pro-Republican or pro-Franco. The US-Soviet alliance, however, allowed Uncle Joe's amen corner to come out in their true colours with the full blessing of the American authorities. "The North Star ", therefore is that rare beast, a Soviet propaganda film made in the USA. ("Mission to Moscow" and "Song of Russia" from around the same period are other examples). The script was written by another Communist sympathiser, Lillian Hellman, and the film was directed by Lewis Milestone, best known for the anti-war epic "All Quiet on the Western Front", but who showed here that he could also turn his hand to pro-war epics. The story tells of a Soviet village which is overrun by the Nazi invaders but whose inhabitants fight back through guerrilla tactics. The opening scenes show a most idealised vision of the life back in the USSR. Although there are a few modern touches such as tractors, telegraph poles and Red Army uniforms, just to let us know that it is 1941 and not 1812, the overall impression is of a sort of timeless Ye Olde Merrie Russia, a place of thatched cottages inhabited by happy smiling peasants, of horse-drawn carts, of pretty girls in traditional folk-costumes with flowers in their hair, of handsome young men singing and accompanying themselves on the balalaika. Actually, the village of North Star is not in Russia proper at all but in the Ukraine. Indeed, given that the village is captured by the Germans in the first few hours of Operation Barbarossa, it is presumably in the westernmost part of the Ukraine- that is to say in territory which was Polish until 1939 and only became Soviet as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Needless to say, that notorious piece of double-dealing and the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland in 1939 are not mentioned anywhere in this film. There are also a few other things which Ms Hellmann neglects to mention:-1. Communism. The words "Communist" and "Communism" are never heard. The word "Socialist" only appears twice, on both occasion as part of the formula "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". 2. Stalin. Old Uncle Joe is conspicuous by his absence. 3. The forced collectivisation of Soviet farmland in the early thirties and the ensuing famine, or Holodomor, which killed several million Ukrainians. The film gives the impression that the peasants still own their own land. Of course, if the people of North Star were still under Polish rule at this period they would have been spared this ordeal, but would have been well aware of what was happening on the other side of the border. 4. The Great Purges of the late thirties. 5. The fact that in many parts of the western Soviet Union- especially those parts not inhabited by ethnic Russians- the German invaders were initially actually welcomed as liberators from Stalinist rule. The film stars some well-known actors- Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Farley Granger, whose first film this was. (Huston achieved the unenviable double of appearing both in this film and in "Mission to Moscow"). It does not, however, contain any acting of note. None of the characters are shown as rounded individuals, but are simply personifications of Absolute Good (Soviets) or Absolute Evil. (Germans).The following year, Andrews and Granger were again to act together in a propaganda film, "The Purple Heart" about the war in the Pacific. This latter film has been much criticised for its allegedly racist treatment of Japanese characters, but "The North Star" has not received similar criticism for its equally racist treatment of the Germans. It was, of course, criticised during the Cold War period, but this criticism centred upon its whitewashing of Communist rule in the USSR and not upon its stereotypical portrayal of the Germans as Beastly Huns. It would seem that in Hollywood it is OK to be racist about certain races but not others. Particularly offensive is the portrayal of the German doctor played by Erich von Stroheim who is sceptical about Nazism but is just as willing to commit acts of brutality as any Nazi. (His surname is von Harden- presumably chosen for its closeness to the English word "hard"). The implication is that all Germans- not just the Nazi leadership- are evil. Not all wartime propaganda films were bad. Some were very good pieces of film-making and one or two, such as "Casablanca" or "Went the Day Well?" deserve the label "great". "The North Star" is not a film of this nature. It is a lying, bigoted piece of propaganda, every bit as dishonest as the sort of films which might have been shown in Stalin's own cinemas. Watching it I realised what Mary McCarthy meant when she said of Hellmann that "Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'". 2/10

wes-connors The peace-loving Ukrainian town called "North Star" celebrates the Communist lifestyle by singing and dancing, unaware blood-thirsty barbarians are lurching at the gate. Yup, it's June 1941, and Nazis are about to attack our dear friends in the Soviet Union. It begins after a group of young "Russians" - handsome teenager Farley Granger (as Damian Simonov), pretty girlfriend Anne Baxter (as Marina Pavlova), older brother Dana Andrews (as Kolya Simonov), chubby Jane Withers (as Clavdia Kurina), and cute Eric Roberts (as Grisha Kurin) - go on a merry frolic to holiday in Kiev.The singing quintet seems to need only Julie Andrews as a leader, but Dana Andrews (no relation) skips out in front. Then, pig farmer Walter Brennan (as Karp) meets them on the road, and leads them in another chorus. He seems grumpier singing than Mr. Andrews did dancing. Yet, this film is NOT a musical comedy - and, the Germans attack. Suddenly, the happy hikers aren't so cheerful; in fact, they will have a difficult time getting back to "North Star" alive. Back in town, kindly doctor Walter Huston (Pavel Grigorich Kurin) will confront Nazi doctor Erich von Stroheim (as Von Harden).This is not one of the best World War II propaganda films produced in Hollywood, because the joyousness of the opening sequence is entirely too strained (not to mention painfully unbelievable). Yet, there is no denying "The North Star" is a good effort, overall. On advise from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Goldwyn and William Cameron Menzies assembled a remarkable team, ably led by director Lewis Milestone. The six "Academy Award" nominations reflect the impressive crew, which included writer Lillian Hellman, photographer James Wong Howe, and composer Aaron Copland.Once you get past the ridiculousness of the situation, the movie gets stronger. While not entirely impressive as Ukrainian Communists, the ensemble cast is very good. Ms. Baxter, in an early role, and Mr. Granger, in his first appearance, are a lovely young couple. Mr. Huston is excellent; especially, watch his final confrontation with Mr. Stroheim, who continues to build upon the role he began in D.W. Griffith's World War I opus "Hearts of the World" (1918) - from clicking his heels (there) to draining the blood out of innocent children (here). Also shining are Ms. Withers and the dependable Mr. Brennan.****** The North Star (11/4/43) Lewis Milestone ~ Anne Baxter, Farley Granger, Walter Huston, Jane Withers

lord woodburry I am amazed by the intensity of some of the comments.The 1943 movie North Star celebrated Stalin's dictatorship over Ukrania, presenting the joys of colectivisation on the humble peasants among whom was the veteran actor Walter Brennan who otherwise played stereotyped American personages. Where the joys of collectivization were simply leftist rot and John Wayne is said to have hated this movie, the movie correctly presents the intensity with which the Russians fought to expel the German invaders. Most German veterans of the Great Patriotic War note that Russians fought on when British or French would have stacked arms and sat by the roadside watching panzers drive by.The movie of course does not present the other side of the coin. Ukrania was a province where Stalin had his greatest problem. Resentment flared intensely against the Soviet regime particularly in the rural areas which retained their allegiance to the Church and which resented collectivization. Many Ukranians defected to the German cause.This film of course was shot in 1942 in the heat of the war. I hardly would have deemed it sane to have made a movie about citizens of an allied country who had defected to the enemy.I do recall that this film went to TV's Million Dollar Movie in the 1950s substantially edited and presented as a German invasion of Hungary and ended with a voice over reference to the Hungarian revolt in 1956.