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Star in the Night

21 votes

Nick, a motel owner who has lost faith in more than just the humanity of mankind, is visited by a kindly stranger on Christmas Eve. The motel's guests are only concerned for themselves until a poor man and his wife drive up to the motel, unable to go any further. Out of rooms, Nick's wife prepares a place for them in a shed under a neon star Nick had just finished hanging. Their plight brings out the generosity in everyone, including Nick, who remembers another family almost two thousand years earlier that also found a makeshift room at an inn under another kind of star.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1945-10-13

Runtime: 22 mins

Director: Don Siegel

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama, Family, Western

Original title: Star in the Night

Production Companies: The Vitaphone Corporation, Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

J. Carrol Naish

Donald Woods

Rosina Galli

Richard Erdman

Lynn Baggett

John Miles

Anthony Caruso

Mr. Dilson (uncredited)

Irving Bacon

Traveler's Wife (uncredited)

Claire Du Brey

Traveler (uncredited)

Dick Elliott

Miss Roberts (uncredited)

Virginia Sale

Right Cowboy (uncredited)

Cactus Mack

Reviews

Geronimo1967

In what is a fairly straight re-imagining of the Nativity story, we encounter three cowboys riding across the desert armed with an huge great pile of recently bought gifts - it seems two of them rather fancied the sales-girl in the shop! Anyway, when they see a bright star they decide go and investigate. Pretty swiftly, they arrive at a motel where the rather curmudgeonly owner "Nick" (J. Carrol Naish) has only just, reluctantly, agreed to let a newly arrived and expectant couple use his lobby as a place to sleep for the night. Luckily, his wife "Rosa" (Rosina Galli) has a little more of the Christmas spirit to her, and soon she and just about everyone else in her hotel are mobilised to prepare for their other new arrival. Every sheet and towel is provided and other guests cannibalise their own clothing to make swaddling clothes and bandages. Don Siegel uses a choral score full of carols to do much of the guiding here as the cast deliver a typically life-affirming endorsement of the Christmas story. Even the grumpy landlord eventually falls victim to the charms of events as they unravel. It's not one of the more memorable of seasonal movies, but's it still quite a poignant little adaptation that works fine and is well worth a watch.

2024-02-08

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