THE NORTH STAR (1943) ** The Soviet Union suffered enough problems to satisfy a cycle of plagues, but I hope that at least it was never as schmaltzy as the first half of this film. It's like a bad Broadway musical (surely Aaron Copland and Ira Gershwin can't be responsible for those songs) version of "The Waltons," except for they're all Russians (Ukrainians, whatever). It's very, very bad, and absurdly awkward, but more nauseating than funny. Then the Nazis invade, which at least gets the singing to stop, which improves the film right there. The aesthetics never improve much, but you can't help realizing that the nonsense on the screen is reflecting, however miserably, genuine tragedies and heroism of real life. It's all hopelessly melodramatic but it would be wrong to say that it isn't moving at all. But I mean, the only big-budget piece of pro-Russian American-made propaganda ever and this is what you get? No wonder the Cold War ensued with such enthusiasm. Even Walter Huston isn't that good, though Anne Baxter's closing statement about "the people" running the world and "fighting for it" sounds pretty damn radical to me. I mean, then what would the corporations run?
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