The Way To The Stars

[CaptainWaggett]

A heads-up that The Way to the Stars (as strong a candidate as any for the title of Best Film Made in Britain During WW2) is on BBC2 on Sunday 17th Jan at 12.15pm

[Bernardo]

One of the early theme music successes was it not? We had the 78 at home. The dramas which are contemporary with the dramatic situations are always the best. The reality of the time could not be bested by invention and the emotions portrayed probably real.

Just shot over to IMdB and checked the film. No wonder it is so good cast and production teams packed with talented personnel.

[CaptainWaggett]

One of the early theme music successes Dream Of Olwen was it not? We had the 78 at home. The dramas which are contemporary with the dramatic situations are always the best. The reality of the time could not be bested by invention and the emotions portrayed probably real.

The Way to the Stars has a great score but it's not The Dream of Olwen which comes from While I Live, a film that might accurately be described as 'tosh' (not that there's anything wrong with that )

[Bernardo]

Yes, you will see I altered it as my memory blank was restored. We had a stack of that genre of 78's and plead confusion as I can recall the records but putting the title to this one failed me for a while.

[Josie52]

Apologies if this film has been featured on this board before!

It's one of my absolute favourites with a really good cast (John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone, Rosamund Johns, Douglass Montgomery etc. There's a very young Richard Attenborough in a small part)

I always sob my heart out at the parts where 1) Michael Redgrave's character gets shot down and John Mills reads a poem he has written and 2) where the American airman (Douglass Montgomery) crashes his aeroplane with the bomb on board to save the whole village from being destroyed. His friend then goes to the children's party to which he was going to be the star turn and tells them "he just couldn't make it."

I've watched and enjoyed it many times and it never fails to choke me up!

[CaptainWaggett]

Apologies if this film has been featured on this board before!

It's one of my absolute favourites with a really good cast (John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone,

Ahem!!!!!!

[Steve Crook]

There's a very young Richard Attenborough in a small part

There is? where?

Steve

[Nick Dando]

There's actually a young Bill Owen and a young Jean Simmons in this wonderful film. Like Steve and the Captain, I must have missed Basil Rathbone and Richard Attenborough.

Nick

[Josie52]

Sorry I'm lying to you all.

It was Basil Radford & I'd mixed up Richard Attenborugh; he had a small part in A Matter Of Life & Death.

It's still a fantastic film though!!

I hadn't even been drinking when I posted!

[philip hindley]

Apologies if this film has been featured on this board before!

It's one of my absolute favourites with a really good cast (John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone, Rosamund Johns, Douglass Montgomery etc. There's a very young Richard Attenborough in a small part)

I always sob my heart out at the parts where 1) Michael Redgrave's character gets shot down and John Mills reads a poem he has written and 2) where the American airman (Douglass Montgomery) crashes his aeroplane with the bomb on board to save the whole village from being destroyed. His friend then goes to the children's party to which he was going to be the star turn and tells them "he just couldn't make it."

I've watched and enjoyed it many times and it never fails to choke me up!

Me too, love this film, the poem at the end is brilliant.

[theuofc]

Does anyone know who did the narration for the opening sequence of Way to the Stars (1945)? I've checked the BFI Screenonline, but I don't see the narrator listed.

I enjoyed this well-made Asquith film, quiet tension, excellent acting all-around, John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bonar Colleano, whose wise cracking I always enjoy...

Thanks for your help,

Barbara

[Steve Crook]

Does anyone know who did the narration for the opening sequence of Way to the Stars (1945)? I've checked the BFI Screenonline, but I don't see the narrator listed.

I enjoyed this well-made Asquith film, quiet tension, excellent acting all-around, John Mills, Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bonar Colleano, whose wise cracking I always enjoy...

Thanks for your help,

Barbara

Not a voice I know

Check it at

from 2 minutes in

Steve

[theuofc]

Not a voice I know

Steve

Thanks for that, Steve. I wondered if it might have been Terence Rattigan himself.
I did a search of YouTube but couldn't find any interviews with Rattigan to compare the voices.

Best,

Barbara

[MrT]

The narrator sounds a bit like John Justin from The Thief of Bagdad and The Gentle Sex. It was quite common for films of this era to have uncredited narrators. I think its Eric Portman who narrates the opening to "The Flemish Farm", and I'm sure there are others.

MrT

[theuofc]

The narrator sounds a bit like John Justin from The Thief of Bagdad and The Gentle Sex. It was quite common for films of this era to have uncredited narrators. I think its Eric Portman who narrates the opening to "The Flemish Farm", and I'm sure there are others.

MrT

Hi, Mr. T:

Many thanks for that. A shame not to credit the narrator. I notice that the writers of Obituaries, even for notables, aren't always credited, alas, as some are so well written I'd like to know.

Best,

Barbara

[Elaine]

I have this film on video. I think it about time I put it onto dvd. It is well worth it.
It isn't very often in films now, that there is narration, which is a shame as I think it can add to a films completeness. If that makes sense?

[cornershop15]

Like William Holden in Sunset Boulevard

It might be worth your while, Barbara, to post your query at the IMDb's Message Board for The Way to the Stars. Good luck.

[Elaine]

Like William Holden in Sunset Boulevard

It might be worth your while, Barbara, to post your query at the IMDb's Message Board for The Way to the Stars. Good luck.

Wasn't he dead cornershop? I always thought that was weird, a dead man telling his story. Of course we didn't know that at the time, only later at the end of the film.

[cornershop15]

His voice is 'from the grave', Elaine! It's established that William's character is dead at the beginning and the rest of the film is told in flashback.

[theuofc]

I have this film on video. I think it about time I put it onto dvd. It is well worth it.
It isn't very often in films now, that there is narration, which is a shame as I think it can add to a films completeness. If that makes sense?

I agree, Elaine. If it's done right, I like a narrator, maybe not throughout the whole movie, but at the start to set the scene as in Way to the Stars.

I'm not saying anything new in pointing out the similarity of a narrator and a revisit to an abandoned airfield in the opening scenes of Twelve O'Clock High. The narrator is a living Dean Jagger after the war who cycles out to the abandoned airfield that he served at during WW2 and we flashback to that time. An excellent movie that if anyone hasn't seen it. Gregory Peck is perfect as a serious man in command dealing with discipline problems, hitting targets, and trying not to crack under the strain.

Barbara