Editing Lewis Milestone (section)

=== ''The North Star'' (1943) ===
Milestone's next project was the propaganda film ''[[The North Star (1943 film)|The North Star]]'', which dramatizes the damage caused by the [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]] to the inhabitants of a Ukrainian farming collective. US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] dispatched [[Lowell Mellett]], chief of the Bureau of Motion Pictures of the [[United States Office of War Information|Office of War Information]] to enlist producer [[Sam Goldwyn]] to make a film celebrating America's wartime alliance with Russia. Milestone's production staff included playwright-screenwriter [[Lillian Hellman]], cinematographer [[James Wong Howe]], set designer [[William Cameron Menzies]], composer [[Aaron Copland]], lyricist [[Ira Gershwin]] and a competent cast.<ref>Passafiume, 2009. TCM: "Celebrated cinematographer James Wong Howe would be behind the camera, and Aaron Copland and Ira Gershwin would contribute the music and lyrics to several folk songs for the film{{nbsp}}... Lillian Hellman went to work on the screenplay" and "Goldwyn received a message from President Roosevelt through Lowell Mellett, the chief of the Bureau of Motion Pictures of the Office of War Information{{nbsp}}... It would be a portrayal designed to gather sympathy for the Russian people and strengthen American support for the U.S. government's alliance with the Soviet Union"<br />Hoberman, 2014: "lavish Samuel Goldwyn production"<br />Cojoc, 2013 pp. 93&ndash;95: "the American's perceptions of the Soviet Union had to be shaped overnight so that [[FDR]] could receive popular support for entering the war on the Soviet Union's side. a responsibility for such a task was [placed on] The Office of War Information."<br />Millichap, 1981 p. 115: "the production credits of The North Star are impressive". And p. 124: Millichap list James Wong Howe, William Cameron Menzies, and Aaron Copland. And "the cast does well enough with what it has [in terms of script]" and "Goldwyn bankrolled a lavish production"</ref><ref>Murphy, 1999. p. 16: The North Star was made "at the request of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] with the conscious aim winning the support of the American public for its wartime ally, the Soviet Union."</ref>

Hellman's script and Milestone's cinematic compositions establish the bucolic settings and social unity that characterize the collective's inhabitants. Milestone uses a tracking shot to follow the aged comic figure Karp ([[Walter Brennan]]) as he rides his cart through the village, a device Milestone used to introduce the film's key characters. An extended sequence portrays the villagers celebrating the harvest with food, song and dance, resembling an ethnic [[operetta]]. Milestone used an overhead camera to record the circular symmetry of the happy revelers.<ref>Millichap, 1981 pp. 118&ndash;119: "lovable old coot [Brennan's Karp]" and "Here the operetta analogy takes hold{{nbsp}}... singing and dancing{{nbsp}}... reduces the major characters to fugitives from a musical comedy [and] makes no sense in terms of plot{{nbsp}}... does much to create the inanity that finally destroys the film."</ref><ref>Hoberman, 2014: "The peasants were played, without [adopting Russian] accents, by{{nbsp}}... [[all-American]] types: [[Dana Andrews]], [[Anne Baxter]], [[Dean Jagger]]{{nbsp}}... [[Walter Brennan]]{{nbsp}}... appeared as semi-comic stock characters with [[Walter Huston]], as the village doctor, supplying the sort of moral authority{{nbsp}}.... The chief villains were Erich von Stroheim (once billed as The Man You Love to Hate) and [[Martin Kosleck]]"</ref><ref>Hoberman, 2014: "its idealization of Soviet life, notably the lengthy village celebration choreographed by the Russian ballet master [[David Lichine]], that suggests [the Hollywood musical] [[Oklahoma! (film)|Oklahoma]]."</ref> Milestone displays his "technical mastery" as villagers discern the approach of German bombers. Portions of this sequence resemble documentary war footage, recalling Milestone's work in ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) and [[Joris Ivens]] ''[[The Spanish Earth]]'' (1937).<ref>Millichap, 1981 pp. 119&ndash;120: Milestone exhibits "admirable technical mastery" in the first bombing sequence{{nbsp}}... momentarily recalls the power of All Quiet" and p. 120: "the power of documentary [as in] Joris Ivens's The Spanish Earth"<br />Canham, 1974 p. 93: "Milestone's professionalism transcends his material"</ref>

''The North Star'' received positive reviews from the mainstream press, and only [[William Randolph Hearst|Hearst]]-owned papers interpreted the film's pro-Russian themes as pro-Communist propaganda. The [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|Academy of Arts and Sciences]] nominated ''The North Star'' for Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects, Best Musical Score, Best Sound and Best Original Screenplay. The film was largely ignored at the box office.<ref>Hoberman, 2014: ''The North Star'' "received near universal acclaim when it opened in New York at two Broadway theaters, less than a month after the Red Army liberated Kiev{{nbsp}}... [numerous dailies including] [[Life magazine]] named The North Star the movie of the year{{nbsp}}... only the two [[William Randolph Hearst|Hearst]] papers were critical, denouncing the movie as pro-Soviet propaganda."</ref><ref>Cojoc, 2013 pp. 93&ndash;95: "''Life'' magazine (1943) called it 'an eloquent tone poem&nbsp;... a document showing how the people fight and die" [while] the Hearst Press condemned it as communist propaganda"<br />Passafiume, 2009. TCM: Hearst papers "made the outrageous suggestion that the film was not only Red propaganda but Nazi propaganda" and "positive reviews did little to help The North Star, which ultimately fizzled at the box office"</ref>

In the [[Cold War (1947–1953)|post-war years]], Sam Goldwyn's ''The North Star'', Warner Brothers' ''[[Mission to Moscow]]'' (1943) and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|M-G-M]]'s ''[[Song of Russia]]'' (1944) came under scrutiny by the anti-communist [[House Un-American Activities Committee]].<ref>Millichap, 1981 pp. 116–117: Films produced after the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Hitler–Stalin pact]] and Russia joined the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]] "were to haunt their creators in the McCarthy era, when various [[McCarthyism|witch hunters]] would try to sniff out any sympathy with Communism. In most cases, this romanticizing of the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] seems more commercially than politically motivated. The mass media, somewhat in response to government pressure, portrayed all our allies as good guys, the Soviets included."</ref><ref>Barson, 2020: "Lillian Hellman's script gave the picture a political tone that would land the filmmakers in trouble with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) just a few years later."</ref>

In 1957, ''The North Star'' was reissued as ''Armored Attack'' in a heavily edited form; sequences that celebrate life under the Stalinist regime were removed. The setting is represented as Hungary during its [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956 uprising]] with a voice-over condemning communism.<ref>Passafiume, 2009. TCM: "Later in 1957 with the burgeoning of the cold war and McCarthyism, ''The North Star'' was completely re-cut to air on television after being singled out by the House Un-American Activities Committee as being pro-Communist. All sympathetic Soviet references were completely removed, a narrator was added warning against the 'menace of Communism,' the location was changed from Russia to Hungary, and a new title was given to the film: ''Armored Attack''"</ref>