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The North StarWhen it comes to the great war films, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet On The Western Front regularly tops the list. However, given what it contributed to the US war effort, an argument could be made for Milestone's less celebrated The North Star being a more important picture. At the time the film was made, 1943, it was becoming increasingly apparent that, if America and her allies were to triumph over Nazi Germany, they were going to have to rely on the Russians. But what was John Q Citizen to make of the vodka-swilling, communism embracing Russkies? Hopefully a film like The North Star would illustrate that not only were Mother Russia's children much like Uncle Sam's but they also shared similar dreams, qualities and objectives.
The Ukraine, 1943: and a band of school friends are walking across country to Kiev. With the school year over, the youngsters are keen to enjoy themselves, but they've reckoned without the Nazis who are now at war with their former ally. As the friends' village is ravaged by the Luftwaffe, the men folk take to the hills where they join the resistance. The women and children, meanwhile, are left at the mercy of a German doctor (Erich Von Stroheim) who views his young charges as a limitless supply of fresh plasma. Since they think little of the Russians, the Nazis believe it won't be long before they capitulate. But just as the Great Bear was surprised by Hitler's betrayal, so the Fuhrer will underestimate the Russian capacity for resistance, here personified by our five young heroes and their efforts to keep the guerillas supplied with artillery and ammunition.
Although it now seems unsubtle and hackneyed, the power of The North Star is easy to appreciate if you can just keep the context in mind. Despite being only a few miles away across the Baring Straits, American understanding of the USSR in the early 1940s didn't extend much beyond snow and salt mines. Milestone's movie was an attempt to win hearts and minds, nothing more, nothing less. The success of the exercise stemmed from Milestone's understanding of the genre (his list of war films is really long and includes such classics as A Walk In The Sun and Halls Of Montezuma) and the ability of Anne Baxter, Dean Jagger, Farley Granger and Co. to play young Russians who come on along like contemporary American teens.
Special mention must also go to John Huston's dad Walter, who was the best thing about so many films, and to Erich Von Stroheim, the genius director (Greed) who proved his professionalism by being happy to play the bad German when the directing work dried up. The cinematography is also superb, but then you'd expect nothing else from the mighty James Wong Howe (Hud, The Rose Tattoo).
Precisely what difference The North Star made to the war effort we'll never know. But if all Hollywood propaganda pictures conformed to Milestone's high stands, we might be less inclined to cringe whenever the studios decide to get behind the boys.
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