Nervi d'acciaio

Steel Town is a nice B film from Universal studios that has John Lund going to work at a steel mill to learn the business from the ground up. He's the son of the boss, but dad has never forgotten his roots. He has Lund boarding with an old friend from his beginning days William Harrigan and his wife Eileen Crowe. Also staying at the house is Ann Sheridan their daughter who slings hash at the local eatery popularized by the factory workers and James Best a young steel factory worker whose dad was killed at the mill in an accident. He's a reminder of what can go wrong if one is not always alert.

Lund has a rival for Sheridan in Howard Duff also a veteran worker at the plant. In a way their rivalry is a whole lot like the rivalry of soldiers for the affections of the girl be left behind in a slew of war pictures. Don't kid yourself, these workers see themselves in as rigorous and occupation as any the military has to offer.

In fact that notion is graphically demonstrated by the cinematography showing the making of steel, how these guys are working near furnaces operating at hundreds of degrees fahrenheit.

Watching Steel Town put me in mind of a story how the fabled Yankee owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert learned the brewery business also from the ground up. Purportedly Ruppert's dad sent his son to work in the factory so as to learn the business from the ground up. His first job was washing the kegs where the beer was to be stored.

All the players get right into their roles, so much so that you cease to think of them as actors and view them in the blue collar roles they are playing. This film above all is a nice tribute to the working people who really made this country great.