Star in the Night (1945) Starring: J. Carrol Naish, Donald Woods, Rosina Galli, Dick Erdman, Lynn Baggett, Johnny Miles, Tony Caruso Directed by Don Siegel. Screenplay by Saul Elkins. Produced by Gordon Hollingshead Run Time: 22 minutes. Black and White. USA Christmas, Drama, Short.
There’s an old saying or a song lyric that goes “from small things big things one day come” and that could be used to describe the directorial career of Don Siegel, best known for such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), and Dirty Harry (1971).
In 1932, at the age of 20, after meeting producer Hal Wallis, Siegel got a job as a film librarian. Siegel described this job as a lost loafer’s paradise, easy and responsibility-free, to the point that he and his supervisor could just drink and dick around on the clock.
But success still came his way. He rose to head of the Montage Department,
where he directed thousands of montages, including the opening montage for Casablanca
(1942). But his directorial debut wouldn’t come until 1945 and the short Star
in the Night, a retelling of the birth of Christ.
