Review of The Stars Look Down

Made as a fiction the film is actually a perfect documentary of work in UK coal mines of 1930s era. Set and outside filming perfectly capture the dirt and squalor of mining towns and the conditions underground of a way of life gone forever. The pit head machinery, pit ponies, miners cottages, the whippet, and general grit and grime are also accurately shown and will be a vital research source if anyone cares to in the future. 24 Nove 2020 wtching again and seeing the disaster when the miners blast breaks through into an old mine filled with water and the inrush of water kills men and pit ponies. I only recently discovered that this was a fairly common occurence before mine mapping became mandatory to prevent such things. Intersting vignette is the man throwing stone dust on the coal aroudn the blast hole to go a little way towards prevent dust explosions. When the men are trapped by blasting into water shown on old maps it floods and traps them the film does descent into a mawkish but quite true preaching and religious theme. As the men are trapped the owner reveals that he did in fact have maps showing old workings were dangerously close to where the men were ordered to work. It is a better film than many British films of the era.