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Sous le regard des étoiles

Original title: The Stars Look Down
  • 1940
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
Sous le regard des étoiles (1940)
Drama

In a small coal-mining village, Bob Fenwick leads a strike over safety standards at the local colliery. Meanwhile, his son David goes off to university with the hope one day to return to hel... Read allIn a small coal-mining village, Bob Fenwick leads a strike over safety standards at the local colliery. Meanwhile, his son David goes off to university with the hope one day to return to help the miners with their working conditions.In a small coal-mining village, Bob Fenwick leads a strike over safety standards at the local colliery. Meanwhile, his son David goes off to university with the hope one day to return to help the miners with their working conditions.

  • Director
    • Carol Reed
  • Writers
    • A.J. Cronin
    • J.B. Williams
    • A. Coppel
  • Stars
    • Michael Redgrave
    • Margaret Lockwood
    • Edward Rigby
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    1.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Carol Reed
    • Writers
      • A.J. Cronin
      • J.B. Williams
      • A. Coppel
    • Stars
      • Michael Redgrave
      • Margaret Lockwood
      • Edward Rigby
    • 24User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win total

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    Top cast38

    Edit
    Michael Redgrave
    Michael Redgrave
    • Davey Fenwick
    Margaret Lockwood
    Margaret Lockwood
    • Jenny Sunley
    Edward Rigby
    Edward Rigby
    • Robert Fenwick
    Emlyn Williams
    Emlyn Williams
    • Joe Gowlan
    Nancy Price
    Nancy Price
    • Martha Fenwick
    Allan Jeayes
    Allan Jeayes
    • Richard Barras
    Linden Travers
    Linden Travers
    • Mrs. Laura Millington
    Cecil Parker
    Cecil Parker
    • Stanley Millington
    Milton Rosmer
    Milton Rosmer
    • Harry Nugent, MP
    George Carney
    George Carney
    • Slogger Gowlan
    • (as George Carnay)
    Ivor Barnard
    Ivor Barnard
    • Wept
    Olga Lindo
    Olga Lindo
    • Mrs. Sunley
    Desmond Tester
    Desmond Tester
    • Hughie Fenwick
    David Markham
    David Markham
    • Arthur Barras
    Aubrey Mallalieu
    Aubrey Mallalieu
    • Hudspeth
    Kynaston Reeves
    • Strother
    Clive Baxter
    • Pat Reedy
    James Harcourt
    James Harcourt
    • Will
    • Director
      • Carol Reed
    • Writers
      • A.J. Cronin
      • J.B. Williams
      • A. Coppel
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews24

    7.01.2K
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    Featured reviews

    8marty65

    to say how much I enjoyed the social aspect of this movie

    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.
    7watkins39

    Old-Style Political Drama

    I'm obsessed with the Third Man, and forever looking for similar movies. I get the impression that Carol Reed never made anything comparable to that classic, but this is an interesting, unusual film that is worth seeing in its own right.

    It is a political drama about the struggle to control the means of production - no, really. Michael Redgrave and Emlyn Williams play two young men from a dour north-east mining town who escape, separately, to the bright lights of Newcastle. Redgrave's character is a scholarship kid at the university, while Williams plays a spiv who starts out working as a bookie but soon finds other dubious business interests.

    They return home for different reasons, and clash over the future of the mine, which the workers suspect is unsafe. It's a surprisingly anti-establishment film for 1940, when Britain was deep into the Second World War, especially given Churchill's famously harsh treatment of striking miners in the 1920s.
    7CinemaSerf

    The Stars Look Down

    Michael Redgrave is the local boy done good, when he wins a scholarship to go to university to train to be a teacher. Unfortunately, he has fallen in love with the rather fickle "Jenny" (Margaret Lockwood) who has a bit of a venal streak. Curtailing his studies, he returns to live with her in his boyhood town intent on improving the lot of his community - but he is soon disillusioned when he sees his wife still keen on her flashy old flame "Joe" (Emlyn Williams) and that his elderly father looks set to have to work the mines for years to come... He accidentally discovers that the mine is unsafe, and determines to bring this to the attention of the council to avert disaster, but will they listen? Carol Reed allows this story plenty of room to breathe. Though not complex, we can see the characterisations develop as the story seems to head, unstoppably, towards disaster in quite a compelling fashion. Redgrave, Williams and Allan Jeayes as mine owner "Barras" work well to create a solid, if a bit dryly told, story of greed and exploitation with some superbly claustrophobic mining photography to add authenticity.
    9dr_sardonicus1

    Beware the Wicked Lady

    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.
    6cherold

    Parts of this are quite good; I've read English version is better

    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.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Sir Carol Reed disowned this movie, calling it "a gloomy little piece". He expected it to be a box-office disaster and was highly surprised when wartime audiences warmed enthusiastically to it.
    • Quotes

      [first lines]

      Richard Barras: Well, Fenwick, will the men work tomorrow?

      Robert Fenwick: Not if its to be in Scupper Flats, Mr. Barras.

      [indicating a well-dressed union official]

      Richard Barras: Even against your union?

      Robert Fenwick: The union isn't being asked to work in Scupper Flats. On the other side of that coal seam is a million tons of flood water ready to rush right down on top of us.

      Richard Barras: You don't think I'd take a chance in floodin' me own mine, do you, Fenwick?

      Robert Fenwick: Well, show us the plans of them old workings, then!

    • Alternate versions
      The U.S. release included additional narration spoken by an uncredited Lionel Barrymore.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Love Goddesses (1965)

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    FAQ16

    • How long is The Stars Look Down?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 14, 1947 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Zvezde gledaju sa neba
    • Filming locations
      • Cumbria, England, UK(Exterior)
    • Production company
      • Grafton Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 50m(110 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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