The Stars Look Down

Made in 1939, but released in the US at around the same time as HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, this superb view of the plight of British miners was unfortunately overlooked at the box office. Though related in subject, THE STARS LOOK DOWN is much grimmer than John Ford's classic.

Based on a novel by A.J. Cronin, Carol Reed's first major film is set in a bleak coal mining town in northern England, where Rigby and Price have struggled to give their son (Redgrave) an opportunity for a better life and a university education. Rigby works in the mine with his younger son (Desmond Tester) and attempts to organize his fellow miners, who are working under dangerous conditions....