Sous le regard des étoiles

This appeared recently on BBC4's 'Coal night' - and seems an apposite choice given the subject matter.

My earliest memory of this story (I'm 42) is the 1974 serial produced when ITV still mattered and wasn't riddled with reality TV, puerile so called comedy and makeover shows. The 'drama' offered up by the third channel now is so lightweight the thought of the likes of the 21st century equivalent of Avril Elgar appearing it seems light years away from what could be described as reality (in the non vacuous sense). It was excellent, as I recall, but I didn't post this just to rant at the decline of ITV's quality standards, that's been done to death elsewhere.

So, the film - it's always refreshing and very pleasing to come across something 'new' from someone who has already earned their spurs elsewhere. Carol Reed needs no introduction to the cognoscenti of cinema - anyone who has seen 'The Third Man' or 'Fallen Idol' will testify to that! What's so good about this film is not only the beautiful evocation of a world long gone (it was made in 1939, just before the outbreak of WW2), but also gives an indication of just how difficult working class life must have been. If you did not work, you did not eat. Pretty much all the people who worked on this film are long dead, but watching it, and with an eye for the accuracy of how social history is portrayed, it's hard not to be moved by the grim reality of the inevitability of 'life down 'pit'. You're born into griding poverty, you grow up a friendly ragamuffin, you mine, you get old, you die.

Unless, of course, you're asked to mine Scupper Flats. The story itself is a strong one. In the days when mine owners swanned around in posh cars and deigned to show up at the pit once in a blue moon, the safety of being asked to mine a new face is called into question by idealistic young Davey Fenwick, who, having got his hands dirty down the mine, attempts a better life by breaking away and trying to earn a degree from the local university. Of course, a woman gets in the way, and the beautiful but manipulative and shallow Jenny Sunley (admirably played by Wicked Lady Margaret Lockwood) eyes an opportunity to 'better herself' financially and persuades Davey to drop out and become a school teacher. Eventually, Davey's idealism and pragmatic suspicions are proved correct, with tragic consequences.

Beautifully acted from a time when real craftsmanship went into British film making, the piece stands not only as great entertainment (though it won't engage 'movie' buffs with short attention spans who think anything pre 2008 isn't worth bothering with), but also as a wonderful piece of social history and a look at an age that's well and truly passed. The portentous voice over at the end reinforces this beautifully, and its idealistic call to action makes me wonder if we really have learned anything at all in the 70 years that followed.

I have to begin this review by saying I saw the U.S. edit of the movie. According to wikipedia, the unfortunate intro and outro are not in the English version, and there's an extra scene at the end.

Once you get past the useless introductory speech, this movie begins quite well, portraying a grim world and immediately giving one a feel for the plight of the miners.

For me, a difficulty came with the introduction of Margaret Lockwood's character. I admit there are selfish, empty headed people in the world, but they make for poor film characters. Fortunately it's a fairly small role, but it felt unnecessary to have her at all. She represents a melodramatic streak that unfortunately runs through the movie and lessens the overall impact.

While some parts were problematic, other parts are terrific, such as the mother's stoic attitude as her son goes off to college in which you see her feelings only when no one is looking. And the inevitable disaster is impressively handled.

I also didn't find Michael Redgrave complete believable. I'm not convinced he could develop such an upperclass accent no matter how hard he studied at the local schools.

While worth seeing, this could have been a better movie with a little less melodrama.

I recently purchased this outstanding movie on video. Michael Redgrave has always been one of the finest actors of his generation and his performance in this film only serves to strenghten my opinion. I was very surprised by the way a film of this era, concentrated so much on the social and economic deprivation of the mining community in Great Britan, surely one of the largest workforce of the time. The struggle for better conditions and the respect of their employers as workers and human beings is perhaps the crux of this story but the underlying sub-plots of human greed and subterfuge made sure my interest never waned. It is to me most memorable as a story of the ordinary man, struggling through adversity, always with dignity and self-respect. Despite the often bleak surroudings and the fact that it is also shot in B&W to maximize this atmosphere, it never depressed me and left me feeling good,long after the last of the credits had rolled.

Director Carol Reeds version of A.J. Cronins novel of poverty, greed and unfulfilled dreams still seems fresh today despite its sixty years.

Michael Redgrave stars as Davey Fenwick, a bright man from a poor mining background, who wins a scholarship to university. He hopes to graduate and then enter politics, so as to work to end the suffering of his kith and kin and their ilk.

However, his plans change when he meets and falls in love with Jenny Sunley (played by Margaret Lockwood), a strikingly beautiful but manipulative and materialistic little minx who has just been cruelly dumped (why???) by her boyfriend, Daveys old friend, the ruthlessly ambitious Joe Gowlan (Emlyn Williams). Understandably smitten, Davey marries the lovely but self-centred Jenny and, at her instigation, quits university and moves home to work as a schoolteacher. But his world is turned upside down when trouble at the pit, Jennys restlessness and the reappearance of Joe, whom Jenny still loves and who is now flashily well-to-do,combine.

At the time, this was one of the most expensive films ever made in Britain. But it was well worth the investment. It assured Carol Reeds reputation and gave to film audiences and to posterity a grimly realistic picture of life at the sharp end in 30s Britain. The all-star cast too got a chance to show their ability, giving terrific performances; Redgrave is superb as the disillusioned idealist, Williams is thoroughly unpleasant as the unfeeling, cynical Joe while Margaret Lockwood, one-time screen ingénue in her first wicked girl role, gives a wonderful performance as the drop-dead gorgeous, vixenish, gold-digging Jenny.

As social commentary this is a great movie, but, on another, more profound level,it works as a dark, despairing canvas depicting the often destructive nature of human relationships. Essential viewing!

I watched and thoroughly enjoyed "The Stars Look Down" which was screened today as part of the BBC's Summer Festival of historic British movies, having read and enjoyed the novel many years ago but having never previously had an opportunity to see the movie.

It was of particular interest because the novelist, A.J. Cronin actually set the novel near my home town of Ashington in the North East of England, and got it pretty well right as he'd worked as a medic in the area for some years. Interestingly enough, I noticed that many US critics refer to it as being set in a "Welsh" mining village. This may well be because they recognised Emlyn Williams's accent as Welsh and the rest were a pretty mixed bunch - I spotted only one genuine North-East accent! Like all "Socialist Realism" the melodrama was overplayed - nonetheless, there was some truth and accuracy in there and it was fascinating to see how the movie treats coal miners - rightly, in my opinion - as heroic figures.

An unjustly neglected classic.