"Star in the Night" is a 21-minute black-and-white live action short film from the final year of World War II. It's a Warner Bros movie and it won Gordon Hollingshead one of his 6 Academy Awards. There are some western references, but it still mostly drama and family in terms of the genre. I must say I enjoyed the music, especially at the end, but the story did not keep me interested/entertained enough to recommend this one, even at such a short runtime. The acting is not the problem, it's okay and you could see that the cast is fairly talented, includin5 Golden Globe winner J. Carrol Naish. It's the plot that was simply no edge-of-the-seat stuff, not even close. The director here is Don Siegel, so certainly lots of talent involved as he was the one directing "Dirty Harry" several decades later. "Star in the Night" is his first documented work and he was in his early 30s here. It may be true that black-and-white live action film is not the perfect genre for holiday movies and this one here is still among the most known. But maybe it is also evidence that it is indeed tough to deliver under these conditions. Not a failure, but not a particularly good watch either. Not recommended.
Review of Star in the Night
