La via delle stelle

"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.