Steel Town

Steel Town is a nice B film from Universal studios that has John Lund going to work at a steel mill to learn the business from the ground up. He's the son of the boss, but dad has never forgotten his roots. He has Lund boarding with an old friend from his beginning days William Harrigan and his wife Eileen Crowe. Also staying at the house is Ann Sheridan their daughter who slings hash at the local eatery popularized by the factory workers and James Best a young steel factory worker whose dad was killed at the mill in an accident. He's a reminder of what can go wrong if one is not always alert.

Lund has a rival for Sheridan in Howard Duff also a veteran worker at the plant. In a way their rivalry is a whole lot like the rivalry of soldiers for the affections of the girl be left behind in a slew of war pictures. Don't kid yourself, these workers see themselves in as rigorous and occupation as any the military has to offer.

In fact that notion is graphically demonstrated by the cinematography showing the making of steel, how these guys are working near furnaces operating at hundreds of degrees fahrenheit.

Watching Steel Town put me in mind of a story how the fabled Yankee owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert learned the brewery business also from the ground up. Purportedly Ruppert's dad sent his son to work in the factory so as to learn the business from the ground up. His first job was washing the kegs where the beer was to be stored.

All the players get right into their roles, so much so that you cease to think of them as actors and view them in the blue collar roles they are playing. This film above all is a nice tribute to the working people who really made this country great.

John Lund may be in position to inherit the steel mill, but his uncle wants him to learn what goes on from the ground up. So he moves into the home of uncle's one-time fellow puddler William Harrigan. Harrigan's daughter is Ann Sheridan with a strawberry-blonde rinse and, apparently, a given name of 'Red'. Lund is+ working under Miss Sheridan's boyfriend, Howard Duff.

I suppose Lund is supposed to be the hero, his vast wealth irrelevant, his arrogance delightful insouciance, his learning how to shovel into a furnace without burning out his eyes more significant than cramming for a test, then forgetting everything but the diploma. I find Duff's dislike very natural as Lund tries to appropriate his girl, and Miss Sheridan's reverse snobbery until she realizes that it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one. Of course Lund will make good. Of course he'll marry Miss Sheridan. What they'll talk about evenings is a problem that can be resolved in the divorce courts.

As usual, I enjoyed Miss Sheridan, who always is busy doing whatever she is doing at the moment, and dislike Lund, one of the lesser examples of Post-War Leading Man: handsome, stalwart, and utterly interchangeable. With Eileen Crow, Chick Chandler, and a surprisingly natural Nancy Culp as a hash house waitress.

If this film is nothing else, it is an excellent statement/commentary on a working class town in the 1950s. Great use of color for 1952, which was allegedly done to properly feature Ann Sheridan's red hair. Many scenes were filmed at the Kaiser steel plant in Fontana, CA. What the average viewer in the 21st century probably will not know is that the cars used in this movie were manufactured by the Kaiser-Frazer Motor corporation. Of all the aspects of this film, seeing these old cars, a very colorful 1951 Kaiser driven by Lund and a 1951 Henry J (also made by Kaiser) driven by Duff, was a real treat. Not much of a story but excellent social commentary on a period many look back on with rose colored glasses.

Outstanding documentation of the open hearth steel making process! The tour of the mill that Steve Kostane (John Lund) is given is an excellent summary, from raw materials (including coke-making!) into the blast furnace to produce the iron, to steel in the open hearth, to teeming the red-hot ingots and readying them for the rolling mill. There are not many integrated steel mills like this left in the US, and none AFAIK use the open hearth process anymore (today steel is made in the BOF, basic oxygen furnace, or is melted from scrap). BTW, in addition to automaking, Kaiser Steel also had a large shipbuilding division which turned out Liberty ships in WWII.

OK, so while the movie IS a bit cornball, it's a great document in glorious living Technicolor©! It's a shame that it doesn't seem to be commercially available on DVD.

STEEL TOWN is a neat little film about the boss' nephew who comes to town to work in a steel mill and learn the business. He also moves in on a local redhead, setting up a rivalry with a co-worker for her hand. The film has almost a documentary feel as it demonstrates steel production methods (filmed as Kaiser Steel's California plant) and makes good use of its color filming.

John Lund stars as Steve Kostane (the spelling on the company sign), the nephew who moves in with "Red" (Ann Sheridan) and her family, much to the consternation of Jim (Howard Duff). The two men battle for Red's favors but have to work together in the dangerous steel mill. We know from the getgo who will win, but it doesn't matter.

Co-stars include William Harrigan as the father with a bad heart, Eileen Crowe as the mother, James Best and Chick Chandler as co-workers, and best of all Nancy Kulp as the saucy, gum-chewing waitress Dolores who yells out each in a Brooklyn accent and always finishes with "and a cup of java." The Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana, California, is used as a filming site and as mentioned, a couple of Kaiser automobiles are prominent. Steve drives a white Kaiser DeLuxe sedan, and Jim drives the smaller model, the Henry J. The Kaiser auto company had brief success as a start-up company after World War II but discontinued producing passenger cars in 1955. Their Jeep continues in production.

Along with the cars, the film also promotes Fontana (near San Bernardino) and mentions Lake Arrowhead as a weekend destination as well as a retirement spot.