Star Dust

"Star Dust" is a highly fictionalized story about two* young people who want to make it in moving pictures. One is a 17 year-old who has a LOT of ambition and gumption (Linda Darnell) and the other is a college football player with a lovely tenor voice (John Payne). They are spotted by a talent scout (Roland Young) and at first he's interested in Darnell...though it turns out he knew and was in love with her mother long ago, and he's afraid she'll get hurt. Regardless, they arrive in Hollywood where their biggest obstacle is another talent scout (Donald Meek) who is determined to sink these prospects. Can they somehow STILL make it?

I think the biggest reason for this film was to highlight the very young Darnell...who really was 17 and just signed to a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. And, while the studio in the film is called Amalgumated, it's really Twentieth Century-Fox...and the studio head (William Gargan) plays the Daryle Zanuck sort of role.

Overall, this is a nice, fun film and although Darnell's big scene that impressed everyone at the end seemed overacted, it works well. In many ways, it's like "A Star is Born"...though not quite on the level of this classic film.

*There is a third Hollywood hopeful (Mary Beth Hughes), though he part is VERY small in comparison to the other two.

The story of a hopeful young woman who wants to become a movie star is given rather clichéd treatment but still manages to be enjoyable fluff thanks to an excellent cast, all doing their best to make the film look better than it really is.

LINDA DARNELL is at her most beautiful as a young aspiring actress who has to wait awhile before she gets the big break that turns her into a movie star. JOHN PAYNE is her love interest, also an actor hoping to make it in Hollywood. Unfortunately, his role also is assigned some comic relief about a broken nose which becomes a running gag throughout the story. Nevertheless, Payne performs his chores in easy style.

The good supporting cast includes ROLAND YOUNG, CHARLOTTE GREENWOOD, DONALD MEEK,WILLIAM GARGAN--and in a bit part GEORGE MONTGOMERY.

Starts out realistically enough but soon becomes mired in a predictable script with too many Hollywood clichés thrown into the mix. But if you're a fan of Linda Darnell, don't miss this one. She's stunning.

Star Dust the film with the famous Hoagy Carmichael-Mitchell Parish song played in the background is loosely based on its star's own story of how she obtained her place in the cinema firmament. Linda Darnell does well in playing a version of herself and we wouldn't see anything like it again until MGM starred Mario Lanza in That Midnight Kiss.

Young Linda plays a would be hopeful who shares a connection with her discoverer. Former comic actor Roland Young now a talent scout for the studio that is headed by William Gargan. Darnell shares a connection to Young through her late mother and he takes a fatherly interest in her career even though at first he tries to discourage her from ever thinking about a show business career.

In that he has a rivalry with another studio executive Donald Meek who is marvelous as a typical 'yes' man. He's got an interest himself in Mary Beth Hughes that's a more prurient interest and he'll damage Darnell to promote Hughes.

John Payne is also on hand as an All American football player who is another of Young's discoveries. His character is without a doubt based on Johnny Mack Brown who tore up the playing fields for the Crimson Tide of Alabama before coming to Hollywood. Payne gets an opportunity to sing one forgettable song in Star Dust. Singing the title song is yet another of Young's discoveries Mary Healy who is helped along by studio drama coach Charlotte Greenwood.

Though Payne and Darnell are the leads and the film is based somewhat on Darnell's own story the film is really driven by the rivalry between Young and Meek. Star Dust shows both its young leads off to good advantage and Darnell's place in Hollywood was certainly secure.

A title which has often be used (with or without a hyphen)."Star Dust" depicts the rising of new stars and mainly the long road they have got to follow to hit the big time in Hollywood-although it is a short film and Darnell's and Payne's road does not seem a very rocky one.They make an attractive pair,a singing faux cowboy -actually a football player- and a young student who works as a waitress in a coffee shop and learns the algebraic (or trigonometric ? )formulas while serving the guests who sometimes are talent scouts ,Cinderella's good fairy.The best moment is the movie in the movie : Linda Darnell ,as if her life depended upon this screen test (and it did anyway) ,outdoes herself and is better than in the rest of the film.

Linda Darnell wants to be discovered by a talent scout. Well, luck falls in her lap, when Roland Young, ex-silent screen star and now movie studio talent scout, enters her diner near a college campus looking for some fresh faces. Costarring John Payne and Charlotte Greenwood with a young George Montgomery and young Robert Lowery in bit parts and other recognizeable faces, this is a pretty enjoyable film with some upbeat songs near the beginning. If I have any major problems with it, it's that it's not funny enough or involving enough in the second half to really captivate the viewer's interest. But on the whole, it should please most viewers.

There are also two other things I wanted to comment on:

(1) This movie mirrors Linda Darnell's own career. And, maybe it was the inspiration for penning this movie. When Miss Darnell was first discovered, she was under age and the Fox executives were reluctant to put her under contract. That's all I really know. But, that happens to her character here, too. (Also, this was only her third film, her second being "Day-Time Wife," which I have also reviewed.)

(2) And, on a sad note, one night while visiting a friend, Miss Darnell was badly burned, when the house caught on fire and she never recovered. She had just watched "Star Dust" on TV that night.