Stars Look Down [VHS] [1940]

With a title like THE STARS LOOK DOWN, you might think this is an expose of the way film extras are instructed never to look directly at the faces of the superstars they work with, but instead it is a polished, well-made film about a boy, Davey Fenwick (Michael Redgrave) who aspires to better things and stifled by his upbringing as the son of a coal miner in a company town with no options but descent into the killing pit. Instead, he works like crazy and gets a scholarship to a prestigious college. His parents don't understand, but they're proud of him anyhow.

I like the symbolism of the dramatic opening, as dozens of scruffy miners plod over the hill to confront the mineowners, as well as reps from the miners union which has seemingly sold out to the big interests. The issue is whether or not colliery workers should be forced to work a potentially dangerous seam which might at any moment flood the entire valley. Even the union is backing up the owners on this one, so the men declare a unilateral strike. As the gates slam shut, you see a crazed evangelist wearing one of those billboard contraptions over his shoulders, crying out the Biblical story of "the second Angel" as the miners traipse home, clouds of coal dust blowing over them. Only Carol Reed would have filmed this scene in such a way.

Margaret Lockwood is Jenny. Those four words alone should get you into the revival house, and you can see why the beginning of the movie, with all the dirty louts, ugly owner creeps, crazed revivalists, and squalid Fenwick kitchen with the bathtub next to the oven, needs a little hint of glamor. That's where Lockwood comes in. The reigning queen of Gainsborough Studios, Lockwood specialized in being the beautiful "bad girl," like Gloria Grahame, except with a more candybox look to her, and this picture must be one of the very first such parts for her. Here she shows off a Paulette Goddard figure, while hiding her true colors, which are Paulette Goddard-style gold-digger. She's after Emlyn Williams, the cocky nouveau riche man about town, while still leading on Michael Redgrave by the short and curlies. When will these men ever learn? It takes the renewed call to social justice to shake the Jenny monkey off Redgrave's back.

People often say 1939 was the single best year for movies, what with GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ, STAGECOACH and NINOTCHKA, MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON and WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THE WOMEN and EVEN ANGELS GET WINGS, and dozens of others, but THE STARS LOOK DOWN is rarely numbered among these 1939 classics, and I have no idea why. Even Renoir's THE RULES OF THE GAME gets the nod more often than our poor British import.

Maybe the temper of the times militates against a pro-miners movie? Or else it has simply slipped between the cracks. Pity, that.

This film was made the year I was born, and as has been mentioned by multiple reviewers, it remains the single most fabulous year of great film making. I doubt anyone knows just why so many brilliant films came out that year, but I grew up loving film and still do to this day.
"The Stars Look Down" shows us in grim detail what the coal miners endured with little sympathy from the ever manipulative owners. "Davy", played by a young Michael Redgrave, reveals his talent and promise to come.
Greed in all its forms are well represented by Jennie, in whom our Davy's attempt to find love fails miserably, partly due to his naivete' but also due to her fear of not having a means of support when the man she believes she loves dumps her. Women in this period were dependent on men for financial security, so one can find a moment's sympathy for her when it all goes awry. Greed is also well represented by the investors and owners of the coal mine, who try to hide the fact that the mine is a death trap. Davy tries to tell them they are about to kill their men, but like the good politicians they are, the owners use diversionary tactics to override Davy's passionate warnings. In the midst of all this, we see Davy getting a scholarship to university, waylaid by Jennie, who can't wait to snag him and get on with the business of eating chocolates and buying furniture as a Missus.
I won't reveal the ending, but the movie is claustrophobic, as it should be, to the level of Das Boot. While watching this film, it was hard not to recall the recent spate of terrible mining disasters and the fallout for those men who survived. Even though generations have passed, mining is mining is mining.
I've watched this film twice and it loses nothing the second time around. I bought it in VHS format, and then happily found it in the 50 Hollywood Legends collection. It is my hope that coming generations find films of this era - not made extravagantly, gritty black and white, but it gets your attention in its own quiet way, tells the truth about mining, human nature, that life is not always fair and sometimes we must negotiate to find hope.

This is an oft overlooked small British masterpiece that deserves its place in the history of film. It has many cousins of the same ilk. If you enjoy this movie, go find the host of other British films made in the 30's and 40's who were making art while the U.S. was still learning how to use a camera.