My parents took me to see this film at the Rex cinema in Hanworth England in 1943. I was 6 years old! About half way through the film, there was an air raid. We had to leave the cinema and go to a shelter. I remember the story and especially the song, which the children were singing on the cart. The film has been shown many times on television, but I have never been able to watch it. I guess that this must have some connection with the air raid. I am now 74 years old and the film is being shown again on television tomorrow afternoon. I hope to finally be able to watch it all the way through, at long last and lay to rest whatever has prevented me doing so previously.
I have finally seen this film to the end! Not bad after 68 years. I now realise why it made such an impression on me. In the film, the children and some adults were bombed and machine gunned by aircraft, after jumping from the carts into a ditch. It was at this point that we had to leave the cinema because of an air raid, having just seen children killed on the screen. I had already experienced many air raids at the age of 3 years and 9 months, during the Septmber 1940 Blitz and I still have vivid memories of the bombing, destruction and fires. Am I correct, or is my memory failing in that I believe the original title for the U.K release was 'The Red Star'???
The North Star
1943
Drama / Romance / War
The North Star
1943
Drama / Romance / War
5.9 Synopsis
It's June, 1941 in a farming cooperative in the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Ukraine. Although the citizens of the cooperative hear about the atrocities of the war on their radios, they are on the most part not yet directly affected by it. It's the end of the school year, and some of the older youth are excited about their futures. Beyond that, a small group of those youths are looking most forward to their imminent vacation to Kiev, where they are planning to hike for the four or five days it takes to get there above their planned three days in the city itself. They include: Damian Terasa Simonov, who finished top of his class including getting a scholarship to study at the State University of Kiev in the fall; his girlfriend, Marina Pavlov, the two who will be separated for the year as she finishes her schooling and who plan eventually to reunite in Kiev not only for Marina to go to university as well but for the two to get married; Kolya Simonov, Damian's older, more worldly brother who is a junior officer in the Soviet air corps; Clavdia Kurin, an old fashioned type of girl on who Kolya is sweet; and Grisha Kurin, Clavdia's younger brother. Things change when the Nazis invade the Soviet Union - including the village of the cooperative - first with air strikes then ground troops. While some of the villagers form a guerrilla army hidden in the woods, they led by Kolya and Damian's father, Boris Stepanich Simonov, Kolya, Damian, Marina, Clavdia, Grisha, and fellow villager, the elderly Karp, are caught between Kiev and the village, all trying to make their way back to the village, except Kolya who must join his regiment at the airfield. Their journey becomes more important to the war effort upon their encounter with someone else on the road. Back in the village, the people who may end up being the most conflicted are: Marina's mother, Sophia Pavlov, who will probably be the primary target of the Nazis as the de facto head of the cooperative, with Marina's father, Rodion Pavlov, having joined the ranks of the guerrillas; and Clavdia and Grisha's grandfather, Dr. Pavel Grigorich Kurin, who as a doctor has vowed to save lives, and who may be asked to save the lives of wounded Nazi soldiers, all the while while the Nazis in similar circumstances have bled the children of villages to their deaths all in the name of providing blood plasma to the wounded soldiers. —Huggo
Uploaded By: FREEMAN
July 23, 2021 at 10:47 PM
Director
Cast
Tech specs
720p.BLUMovie Reviews
This film has always haunted me
This is a unique film and you may never see another quite like it!
What a surprise this film was! A film made in America about a small Russian village that stands up and fights the Germans who invade seems rather unique to me. It may not win any awards for recreating a Russian village or impeccably portraying the Russian culture or people but this movie succeeds in the most important area for a film: it gets the story across and it pulls you into the lives of the characters. There certainly can't be very many films like this one. I have to admit, "The North Star" takes a few minutes to get rolling. The cinematography was great from the beginning, but the story lags during the first half hour to forty five minutes of the film and is mired down a bit by portraying the villagers as so sappy and sweet that they seem to have stepped off the stage of a dreamlike 1940's Hollywood musical. Fortunately, the director, the screenwriter or somebody woke up and realized that this film had potential, and boy does it take off! This movie shifts gears from sappy drivel to life and death matters and the characters seem to come to life. The Germans rolling into their village are no laughing matter, and it is a fight to the death! This movie seems to have Part I which could be called ignorance is bliss and Part II which could be called the real story begins. Perhaps the actors revolted against the director! Part II was a revelation. What the Germans do to the children in the village is enough to make anyone mad enough to fight and I found myself rooting wholeheartedly for the Russians resisting the brutality of the Germans. There are some strong performances in this film by some of the most talented actors of the 1940's. Ann Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan, Jane Withers, Farley Granger and Erich von Stroeheim all give performances that had my attention glued to the screen. I was absolutely amazed and thrilled to find all of these movie legends in one film. Don't miss this one of a kind story. You may never see a movie quite like it anywhere else. I give it an 86/100.
Rare Movie To Show Soviet Russia In Positive Light
One of the many staple of movies made during WWII to both entertain the audience and aid the war effort. Several then-known and soon-to-be-known stars such as Walter Brennan, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, and Anne Baxter. Aside from the usual war effort type movie, the biggest thing about this movie was that it was one of the rare movies to show the Soviet Union in a positive light. Granted it focused on a small village in the Ukraine without much explicit Soviet visuals but it was none the less. Again it was shot in 1943 when we, and the Soviets, were technically allies and battling the Nazis. Even then the US was never really at ease with the Soviet alliance and shortly after the surrender of Germany it became apparent that the Soviets broke with the rest of the allied post-war plans. However this movie was meant to be more of a heart-warming drama focusing on several families and most specifically their young children who are from 17-to late 20s and a couple even younger who set out on a road trip on the same day Nazi Germany invades the Ukraine. Brennan plays the old man grandfatherly figure who helps the younger people deal with the attack once it commences. This was one of Dana Andrews' earliest war type movies he goes on to play many more such roles. Obviously meant to be a propaganda piece or at least to elicit support for the war it is a good movie if you like war type movies especially since it shows an aspect of the WWII experience that is not commonly scene in movies.