Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Stars in My Crown
"Take Your Choice...Either I Speak...Or My Pistols Do!"
An orphaned man recalls his upbringing with his aunt and her husband, the parson, in a small Western town during the Reconstruction.
- Original title
- Stars in My Crown
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
John Chard
Mar 26, 2018 · via TMDB
Yellow backs in fancy dress. Stars in My Crown is directed by Jacques Tourneur and written by Joe David Brown and Margaret Fitts. It stars Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell, Alan Hale, Lewis Stone, James Mitchell, Amanda Blake and Juano Hernandez. Music is by Adolph Deutsch and cinematography by Charles Schoenbaum. It's post the American Civil War and we are in the Southern town of Walsburg. Preacher Josiah Gray (McCrea) arrives in town and promptly settles down to become an important part of the community. Soon he will come face to face with two killer diseases, that of typhoid and racial hatred. First off it should be noted that some plot synopsis' and poster art are off base, McCrea's preacher is not a gun toting dude willing to use guns to further his causes, it's a brief scene flecked with humour. Also note that the Ku Klux Klan is not mentioned in this, the gang at the centre of the race hatred here are called The Night Riders (Nightriders perhaps?). A veer from what we know as the norm for a Tourneur movie, this only really suffers from being a little too precious and naturally dated in its depictions of small town church life and racial bigotry. But that said, it's such a warm involving picture that is performed and directed with skill, it's almost impossible not to feel good about things come the closure of the play. Story thrives on community strengths and weakness, delicately blending both to show optimism on offer in spite of human fallibilities. The battle between faith and medicine in nicely played, refusing to force feed one or the other, whilst the key scene as the racial hatred reached its vilest peak is potent and hits all the right notes. Cliches and stereotypes are within, perhaps unsurprisingly for the era of film making, while Hernandez's black character is written as far too passive to be utterly comfortable. It also would have been nice to have had more of Charles Kemper's ebullient medicine show host, but complaints are small here and Stars in My Crown is a worthy and comfort food kinda picture. 7/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Joel McCrea
Josiah Doziah Gray
Ellen Drew
Harriet Gray
Dean Stockwell
John Kenyon
Alan Hale
Jed Isbell
Lewis Stone
Dr. Daniel Kalbert Harris, Sr.
James Mitchell
Dr. Daniel Kalbert Harris, Jr.
Amanda Blake
Faith Radmore Samuels
Juano Hernández
Uncle Famous Prill
Charles Kemper
Prof. Sam Houston Jones
Connie Gilchrist
Sarah Isbell
Ed Begley
Lon Backett
Jack Lambert
Perry Lokey
Arthur Hunnicutt
Chloroform Wiggins
Marshall Thompson
Narrator (adult John Kenyon) (voice)
James Arness
Rolfe Isbell (uncredited)
Chuck Courtney
Jed Isbell (uncredited)
Adeline De Walt Reynolds
Granny Gailbraith (uncredited)
Edmund Glover
Clyde Chapman (uncredited)
Victor Kilian
Ned (uncredited)
Rhea Mitchell
Mrs. Backett (uncredited)
Harry 'Snub' Pollard
Bartender (uncredited)
Eula Guy
Townswoman (uncredited)
Frank Mills
Drunk in Saloon (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold
Annie (voice) (uncredited)
Al Bain
Townsman (uncredited)
Helen Brown
Townswoman (uncredited)
Helen Eby-Rock
Townswoman (uncredited)
Jimmie Horan
Townsman (uncredited)
Dick Johnstone
Townsman (uncredited)
Mathew McCue
Townsman (uncredited)
Philo McCullough
Townsman (uncredited)
Patsy O'Byrne
Townswoman (uncredited)
James Pierce
Townsman (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt
Townsman (uncredited)
Jack Tornek
Barfly (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell
Townsman (uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Walter Plunkett
Costume Design
Sydney Guilaroff
Hairstylist
Jacques Tourneur
Director
Alexander Courage
Orchestrator
Douglas Shearer
Recording Supervision
Once Upon a Time in the West
Dances with Wolves
The Ox-Bow Incident
El Dorado
Dead Man
Bad Day at Black Rock
3:10 to Yuma
Calamity Jane
Apache Gold
Soldier Blue
The Man From Snowy River II
The Harder They Fall
The Homesman
The Work and the Glory II: American Zion
Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws
The Salvation
The Unforgiven
The Wolf and the Lamb
Blueberry
Trail of the Falcon
Dances with Wolves
Little Big Man
El Dorado
Shane
Jeremiah Johnson
Pale Rider
The Shootist
Lawless
Love Takes Wing
Love's Enduring Promise
Woman Walks Ahead
The Power of the Dog
Appaloosa
Cimarron
Forsaken
The Way West
Sweetwater
Monte Walsh
Never Grow Old
The Stalking Moon
May 11, 1950
