Main Cast: Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell, Lewis Stone
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
Stars in My Crown is an episodic movie about a rural Southern community in the 19th century. Though the film features a number of characters, it focuses on a preacher who moves into the city and helps solve the town's problems. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Review
A very gentle but also very affecting rural drama, Stars in the Crown is a nostalgic bouquet to a time that its creators see as in some ways more difficult, but also more rewarding, than their own. Walesburg has its share of problems, some mighty big, but it also has an outsized father figure that provides the moral guidance and authority necessary to deal with those problems. Playing almost like a fable in places, Stars is not realistic, but it's absorbing, and it's hard not to get caught up in its "good can and will conquer all" theme. Working in a genre light years away from his Cat people-like films, director Jacques Tourneur's work is delicate and sensitive, yet alive to all the dramatic possibilities inherent in the script, of which there are many. The climax, which is definitely clichéd, is also undeniably powerful and immensely satisfying. Tourneur is helped by Joel McCrea's softly towering performance, one which anchors the film firmly and which is commanding without being overly showy (a little showy, yes, but it works.) Dean Stockwell does very well as the young boy, and Ellen Drew makes a fine "better half" for McCrea. Throw in solid work from Amanda Blake, alan Hale and James Mitchell, and the result is a small gem. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Gene Ruggiero - Art Director, Jacques Tourneur - Director, Gene Ruggiero - Editor, Adolph Deutsch - Composer (Music Score), Charles E. Schoenbaum - Cinematographer, William H. Wright - Producer, Margaret Fitts - Screenwriter, Joe David Brown - Book Author
Shortly after the American Civil War, preacher Josiah Gray (Joel McCrea) arrives in the town of Walesburg. He heads straight for the saloon to give his first sermon. When the patrons laugh at him, he pulls out two guns, cowing the men into listening.
Josiah settles in and becomes a well-respected member of the community. The people build a church. He marries Harriet (Ellen Drew) and raises her orphan nephew John (Dean Stockwell). (The story is narrated by Marshall Thompson, as an adult John.)
When the beloved Dr. Harris, Sr. (Lewis Stone) dies, his place is taken by his son (James Mitchell), but the younger, unreligious man is not well-liked and wants to leave Walesburg. He falls in love with the schoolteacher, Faith Samuels (Amanda Blake). She is reluctant to marry him, as he insists on moving away.
John comes down with typhoid. Dr. Harris, Jr. warns Josiah to stay away from other people to avoid spreading the disease, but Josiah ignores him and soon, others are stricken, including Faith. When Harris blames him, the preacher's faith is shaken; he closes the church and withdraws from the community. Fortunately, John recovers and figures out the cause was tainted well water. Meanwhile, Harris's tireless work on behalf of his patients forges a bond between him and Walesburg. When it seems that Faith is dying, Harris summons the preacher. Josiah's prayers are answered; Faith recovers, and the man of science and the man of faith are reconciled.
Josiah is tested again. Leading businessman Lon Backett (Ed Begley) wants to buy the land of freed slave Uncle Famous Prill (Juano Hernandez). He needs the mica deposit to keep his mine in operation, but Uncle Famous refuses to sell. The out-of-work miners trample the old man's crops and scatter his livestock, then when he stubbornly holds out, give him an ultimatum: get out or else. Josiah declines the armed assistance of his old war buddy, Jed Isbell (Alan Hale), and his sons (including an uncredited James Arness), and waits with Uncle Famous for the lynch mob to show up in their Ku Klux Klan costumes. Josiah offers no resistance, but asks only to read them Uncle Famous's will. With each item, he slyly reminds the beneficiary of the old man's past kindness to that individual. Shamed, the mob disperses, Lon Backett leading the way. Afterwards, John picks up the pages Josiah was reading and, seeing only blank pages, says it's not a will. Josiah replies, "It's the will of God."
Amanda Blake as Faith Radmore Samuels. Blake and James Arness would be reunited five years later as the stars of the long-running television western Gunsmoke.
Tout Ça ne Vaut pas l'Amour (1931) ·Pour Être Aimé (1933) ·Les Filles de la Concierge (1934) ·Romance of Radium (1937) ·The Man in the Barn (1937) ·They All Come Out (1939) ·Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939)
