THE NEW PROGRAMMES

Evening Star, Issue 23699, 5 October 1940, Page 8

THE NEW PROGRAMMES

COAL-MINING EPIC DR CRONIN'S 'STARS LOOK DOWN ' : , There can be few who have hot read ' or heard of the popular story, ‘ The « . Stars Look Down,’ by Dr A. J. Cronin. i .. This gripping story of the coal-mining .-industry and of the men who .toil and I ('sweat below the ground made Cronin’s ■ Vreputation. ‘The Stars Look Down’ ' has now been filmed, and, if anything, : has been strengthened by its adaptation • ; to the screen. Certain is it that no Dritish picture has even been made with , : . a finer cast dr with more'realistic spec- . tne.le,?ahd tense drama than ‘ The Stars

■ : ;. : ..•ib{fci)bw■D, , which is enjoying a season , fat the. State. A G.B.D. attraction, ‘The Stars ’ Look Down ’ co-stare Michael Bedgrave, Margaret Lockwood, and Enilyn Williams. The greatest'care was taken to capture the atmosphere of a typical mining village, and for this purpose the whole production unit spent several im the town of Workington when ‘ 'background scenes were shot. Jhey died in a coal pit slowly, hopelessly, one by one as their mates battled feverishly to break through to save ' them. Hour after hour, day after day, ; they tapped on the rock with a stone in the hope that they might be heard 1 and an answering tap come back to ‘ them, but always silence of the, tomb—their tomb. Three days before the 1 flimsy walls of Scupper flats, a danger- - ous coal seam in the Sleesdale colliery had yielded to the terrific pressure of a , million tons of flood water and a mighty deluge had been let loose upon miners 1 working at the face. The telephone ' line—the last hope of communication, , had carried a feeble message of. hope. ; “ Carry on through the old workings and go straight ahead without turning ' 1.500 yards, and then break through ' the wall where the mine has been sealed.” Some time in the past the

roof had caved in, and now a fall of a thousand tons of rock blocked their

path. Without tools it was hopeless to try to break through. So for hours they sat. For days they had endured, (until slowly the want of food had begun ■to. tell upon their weakening bodies. ■Water trickled through the cracks in the rocks, but food—of this there was none, except a coiigh drop or two that had been forgotten in a pocket. At the «nd : of the third day they died. .. . ■ 1 , This is one of the dramatic incidents in the'film version of Dr J. A. Crohin|s ‘ The^Stars Look Down,’, which, as is igenerally known, deals with the, hopes .■ami aspirations of a studious young miner, ' DiVid Fenwick, who sacrifices his ambitions .for pretty, shallow little Jenny Sunley, who lets him down in preference for the unscrupulous, selfmade Joe Gowlan This human drama is being played out. whilst the mine itself and its impending disaster looms in the background throughout the whole film. The climax is one of the most impressive scenes ever brought to the screen.

All who hope for a swift return of peace throughout the world .pall find the latest ‘ March of Time ’ film, ‘ The Vatican of Pius X11.,’ exceptionally interesting. This feature, which is on the supporting programme, pictures the efforts of Pope Pius XII. to bring back peace to a war-racked world, and presents the first complete motion picture story ever filmed inside the Vatican.