Lost in the Stars
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
In August 1949, in the South African village of Ndotsheni ("The Hills of Ixopo"), the black Anglican priest of St. Mark's Church, the Rev. Stephen Kumalo, learns from a letter from his brother (John Kumalo, who lives in Johannesburg) that their sister is in trouble. Stephen decides to travel to Johannesburg to help his sister; he will also seek his son, Absalom, who works in the mines ("Thousands of Miles"). In Johannesburg, Stephen learns that his sister will not leave but she asks him to take care of her young son, Alex.
He finally locates his son Absalom, who had been in jail. Absalom now plans with his friends to steal, so they can get enough money to avoid a life in the gold mines. Absalom's pregnant girlfriend Irina tries to convince him not to take part, but he goes ahead with his plan ("Trouble Man"). During the robbery, Absalom kills Arthur Jarvis, a white friend of his father, Stephen. As Absalom is jailed, Stephen wonders how to tell his wife, Grace, and he realizes he is facing a crisis of faith ("Lost in the Stars").
Stephen knows that his son could either tell a lie and live or tell the truth and die. He prays for guidance ("O Tixo, Tixo, Help Me"). At the trial, Absalom's two friends lie to the court and are freed, but Absalom, truly repentant, tells the truth and is sentenced to hang ("Cry, the Beloved Country"). Stephen performs a wedding between Absalom and Irina in prison and then returns home to Ndotsheni with Irina and Alex. Alex and the child of Arthur Jarvis meet and start to become friends ("Big Mole"). Stephen tells his flock he can no longer be their minister, and their faith is now also shaken ("A Bird of Passage").
On the still-dark morning of the execution, Stephen waits alone for the clock to strike ("Four O'Clock"). Unexpectedly, the father of the murdered man pays him a visit. He tells Stephen that he has realized that they have both lost sons. Out of recognition of their mutual sorrow, and despite their different races, he offers his friendship, and Stephen accepts.

Review: Worthwhile Yet Rarely Seen Version Of The Broadway Musical. Alan Paton's novel CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY made for a dramatic musical with a score by Kurt Weill.  American Film Theater's adaption of it contains excellent performances by Brock Peters, Clifton Davis, Melba Davis, Paula Kelly (her musical number is one of the film's highlights) and Raymond St. Jacques, but sadly is rarely seen.  The movie itself is a little slow, but the score is beautifully rendered by the cast, and contains the heart of Paton's story.. tribute to Brock Peters. I waited a long time for AFT to release their films from the early 70s, and this one was one of the best I've seen so far. It is truly one of the best screen musicals of all time, the songs being more operatic in that they are so charged emotionally and delivered with great feeling. You will not be humming a catchy ditty after the movie ends, but in its place will be a sense of sadness as well as buoyant nobility. As an indictment of apartheid, it stands supreme in film, with the possible exception of "Amandla!" which of course was made later and gets to have the happy ending of the long struggle.I have also long been a fan of Brock Peters, who died last summer, and watching "Lost in the Stars" only emphasized how much I missed him in film after his career started with such great roles in "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Pawnbroker," and "Porgy and Bess." He did have a long and consistent career in TV and voice-over work (one of the greatest voices ever!) but film roles were few and far between. His singing and acting here are nothing short of grand.. Reconciliation And Hope. The one musical production of that batch of classics that the American Film Institute produced in 1973-1974 is this classic Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson adaption of Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country. Lost in the Stars is listed as a musical tragedy and that is an apt description. There are few laughs in this one.There was a non-musical film of Cry the Beloved Country done in 1950 under British auspices that was shot in the Union of South Africa right under the noses of the apartheid government. Canada Lee was an impressive Stephen Kumalo in search of his runaway son in Johannesburg. Brock Peters ably fills those shoes and sings the Weill-Anderson songs magnificently.Kumalo is a minister who's son Absalom, played by Clifton Davis, like his biblical namesake has grown up to be a major disappointment. While in Johannesburg he falls in with bad company, impregnates Melba Moore, and participates in an armed robbery gone bad where he shoots a wealthy white landowner's son. As it turns out the deceased was quite the liberal on race relations which complicates a difficult situation.Still Peters does what he can to pick up the pieces of his tattered family and together with the father of the deceased try to mend their lives. The two are aching symbols of a country torn terribly apart by racism.Weill's best known songs from Lost in the Stars are the title song and Our Little Grey House and Stay Well. Bing Crosby recorded both of the last two which are sung by Peters and Moore respectively on the film back when the show was in its first run on Broadway. Frank Sinatra did a superb version of Lost in the Stars on his album The Concert Sinatra and that song is sung by Peters in the film.Brock Peters had done a revival of Lost in the Stars on Broadway in 1972 so we are lucky indeed to have his performance preserved on film.Lost in the Stars was a tragic show that carried a message that men of good will can still live together despite the awful things we do to each other. Though Alan Paton died before the apartheid government finally fell, Brock Peters lived long enough to see the peaceful revolution of South Africa, remarkable as our own civil rights revolution or the change in government in India where whole societies did not raise the sword to create change. The show is about reconciliation and hope and should not be missed.. An interesting variation on Paton's book & the Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson musical. This film, based loosely on the acclaimed Broadway play (1949-50; '58; '72) of the same name, was one of 14 film adaptations of plays (& only its second musical) produced by Ely Landau, for an organization he called the American Film Theater. All AFT produced films were seen only in a pre-paid subscription series over 2 seasons ('73-'74, '74-'75) in 500 theaters in 400 cities. These AFT films were released in a KINO DVD set in 2003. (this info from Wikipedia)Stars: Brock Peters (the Rev. Kumalo), Melba Moore (Irina), Raymond St. Jacques (John Kumalo), Clifton Davis (Absalom), Paul Rogers (Jarvis). Plot: A rural, black Anglican priest, the Rev. Kumalo, in 1940s apartheid segregated South Africa searches for his son, Absalom, who'd gone to Johannesburg and stopped contacting his family. Kumalo eventually finds Absalom and his pregnant girlfriend, Irina--but also that Absalom's being charged with murdering a young white man (Jarvis's son), a man unlike his father who'd been very active in helping blacks and opposing apartheid. (The translation of "apartheid" is "aparthood" = legalized racial/ethnic segregation).The "Lost in the Stars" Broadway musical from which the music of this film is taken is based on Alan Paton's VERY influential 1948 novel, "Cry, the Beloved Country." Paton's book (banned in South Africa for many decades) helped foster civil rights changes in the USA as well as probably many diplomatic pressures on South Africa that helped end apartheid (1948-94). "Cry, the Beloved Country" has been published world-wide in 20 different languages and made into 2 other films (1951, 1995) of that name.Paton was a devout Anglican ("Anglican" = Episcopalian in the USA) South African who strongly opposed apartheid as did a number of other South African people and denominations (e.g., Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.; but even altogether, these denominations were a political minority in South Africa).Kurt Weill's & Maxwell Anderson's Broadway musical "Lost in the Stars" closely followed but simplified Paton's narrative. This film adaptation takes great liberties with their narrative version of Paton's book although keeping its title and most of (or all?) the music.The plot is essentially a modern day morality play with 2 major protagonists: the black Rev. Kumalo represents Christian ideals that conflict with the wealthy white landowners' (Jarvis's) desire to preserve apartheid segregation. A slightly lesser but significant figure is the Rev. Kumalo's brother, John. He takes a political, NON-religious, angry stance (opposed to his brother's faith-based non-violence) exhorting blacks to oppose & defeat the empowered whites who keep blacks permanently disenfranchised and in extremely inferior status.This version of the stage musical isn't like those Hollywood musicals in which narrative actions stop for singing; in this, the songs always seem very integral to the narrative's development. But it presents its own version of Paton's book and certainly bears little resemblance to Weill's & Anderson's Broadway play except for the music.Several emotional interactions seem more intense (IMO) than in the original musical OR in the '95 film, "Cry, the Beloved Country." The ideological conflict between the Kumalo brothers is emphasized perhaps more than in the '95 film. BUT, inexplicably, in THIS musical film version--sadly--the concluding, hope-giving, emotional reconciliation between these two fathers (prominent in the book, the Broadway musical, the '95 film) who lost their sons is quite diminished and almost totally absent.My ratings: 9 (of 10) for its representation of this era's events, 8 (of 10) for entertainment, 7 (of 10) for fidelity to the musical and the book.