''The North Star'' (also known as ''Armored Attack'' in the US) is a 1943 pro-

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

war film starring

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Fra ...

, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...

It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, written by Lillian Hellman and featured

production design In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wor ...

by William Cameron Menzies. The music was written by Aaron Copland, the lyrics by

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

, and the cinematography was by

James Wong Howe Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sou ...

. The film also marked the debut of Farley Granger. The film is about the resistance of Ukrainian villagers, through guerrilla tactics, against the German invaders of the Ukrainian SSR. The film was unashamed pro-

Soviet propaganda Propaganda in the Soviet Union was the practice of state-directed communication to promote class conflict, internationalism, the goals of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the party itself. The main Soviet censorship body, Glavlit, ...

at the height of the war. In the 1950s, it was criticized for this reason and it was re-cut to remove the idealized portrayal of Soviet collective farms at the beginning and to include references to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The film was then retitled ''Armored Attack'' and released to American theatres, where it begins with the arrival of the Germans in the town and continues through the scenes of the uprising, with a narration tacked on praising the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.

Plot

In June 1941, Ukrainian villagers are living in peace. As the school year ends, a group of friends decide to travel to

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

for a holiday. To their horror, they find themselves attacked by German aircraft, part of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Eventually their village itself is occupied by the Nazis. Meanwhile, men and women take to the hills to form

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

militias. The full brutality of the Nazis is revealed when the Germans send Dr. von Harden to use the village children as a source of blood for transfusions into wounded German soldiers. Some children lose so much blood that they die. When Dr. Pavel Kurin, a famous Ukrainian doctor, discovers this and informs the partisans, they prepare to strike back. They launch a cavalry assault on the village to rescue their families. Kurin accuses von Harden of being worse than the ardent Nazis, because he has used his skills to support them. He then shoots him. The peasants join together, and one girl envisions a future in which they will "make a free world for all men".

Cast

The North Star (1943) 1.jpg, Walter Huston, Esther Dale and Ruth Nelson Erich von Stroheim-Martin Kosleck in The North Star.jpg,

and Martin Kosleck Carl Benton Reid in The North Star.jpg,

Carl Benton Reid Carl Benton Reid (August 14, 1893 – March 16, 1973) was an American actor. Early years Reid was born in Lansing, Michigan. He used his full name professionally because when he worked in radio, four other people in the business were named Ca ...

Ann Harding in The North Star.jpg, Ann Harding

Criticism

The House Committee on Un-American Activities would later cite ''The North Star'' as one of the three noted examples of pro-Soviet works made by Hollywood, the other two being Warner Brothers' '' Mission to Moscow'' (1943) and MGM's '' Song of Russia'' (1944). Similar U.S. World War II movies are RKO Radio Pictures's '' Days of Glory'' on Russian resistance in the Tula Oblast and MGM's '' Dragon Seed'' on Chinese efforts against the Japanese occupation. The extent to which the film incorporated official Soviet propaganda about

collective farms Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

prompted British anti-communist writer Robert Conquest, a member of the British Foreign Office's Information Research Department (an anti-communist propaganda unit) in the 1950s, to later write ''"a travesty greater than could have been shown on Soviet screens to audiences used to lies, but experienced in ollective-farm conditionsto a degree requiring at least a minimum of restraint"''.'' The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine,'' Conquest, page 321, Oxford Press, 1986; see Chapter 17 for detailed information on the efforts of pro-Soviet Westerns to help the regime cover up the true conditions on the collective farms.

Recut

The film was rereleased in 1957 under the title ''Armored Attack''. This edited version opens with the entry of a German column marching into a village and concludes with narration praising the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. It was released together with Fred Zinnemann's 1950 film '' The Men'' which was also renamed to ''Battle Stripe''. In later years, the original version was made available on home video restoring segments removed for the 1957 re-release.

Awards

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards: * Art Direction (Black-and-White) (Perry Ferguson, Howard Bristol) * Cinematography (Black-and-White) (James Wong Howe) * Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) (Aaron Copland) * Sound Recording (

Thomas T. Moulton Thomas T. Moulton (January 1, 1896 – March 29, 1967) was an American sound engineer. He won five Academy Awards in the category Sound Recording and was nominated for eleven more in the same category. He was also nominated four times in the ...

) * Special Effects ( Clarence Slifer,

Ray Binger Ray Binger (November 16, 1888 – September 29, 1970) was an American cinematographer. He started working in Hollywood in 1924, mastering the art of process photography. By 1934 he had gravitated towards special effects work. He was one of th ...

) * Writing (Original Screenplay) (Lillian Hellman)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:North Star 1943 films 1943 war films American war films American pro-Soviet propaganda films American black-and-white films Eastern Front of World War II films Films set in Ukraine Films directed by Lewis Milestone Films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era Samuel Goldwyn Productions films Films with screenplays by Lillian Hellman Films scored by Aaron Copland World War II films based on actual events 1940s English-language films 1940s American films