The North Star (1943)

In 1941 Ukraine, a small village finds itself under attack when the Germans invade Russia. While some of the men take to the hills to form a band of guerrillas, others stay in the village to resist the vicious Nazi takeover. In 1943, the Russians were our allies and this blatantly pro-Soviet propaganda piece is no worse than the usual WWII propaganda films Hollywood was churning out. Lillian Hellman's screenplay has the Russian peasants working happily in harmony, throwing community picnics, singing (lyrics courtesy of Ira Gershwin no less) and dancing (so much so that the film threatens to turn into a musical at any moment). The dialog is so dreadful that one can't believe it came from the woman who wrote THE LITTLE FOXES and THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. The characters don't talk the way real people do, they're mouthpieces of Hellman. Fortunately, the director Lewis Milestone (STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS) and his ace cinematographer James Wong Howe know how to shoot action sequences and they are the highlights of the film: the first attack on the road by German planes, the burning of the village as the Nazis approach, the guerrilla attack on the German soldiers. Although admired in its day (it got six Oscar nominations), with the advent of the Cold War the film was re-cut, thirty minutes were removed that were pro-Soviet. The score is by Aaron Copland. The massive cast includes Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, Walter Huston, Eric von Stroheim, Farley Granger, Walter Brennan, Dean Jagger, Ann Harding, Jane Withers and the wonderful child actress Ann Carter (CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE).