Customer Reviews

Starlight Hotel [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Sam Pillsbury film from New Zealand, starring Peter Phelps and Greer Robson, is a heartrending story of friendship and love. The two leads are truly magnificent. We don't realize how much we have come to care for these two souls in this quietly moving story until it is over, and we are left with a feeling in our hearts that stays with us a long time.

Young Patrick Dawson (Peter Phelps) is running from the New Zealand law for assualt on a reposseser. Dawson worked for the man until one night when he takes all the possesions back to the families they came from. This leads to a scuffle in which his boss is put into a coma. Flashbacks tell the backstory and we learn of Dawson's bitterness over the first world war, and disillusionment that the girl he loved married someone else while he was away.

Kate (Greer Robson) is a sweet, lonely young teenage girl who has lost her mother and runs away to find her father, who has gone to Wellington to find work. She meets Patrick and from the moment they are mistaken for family we know that the two will travel together. Kate slowly grows on him as a special bond is formed between the two dreamers.

The movie itself is dreamlike and compelling, and also romantic. Kate is only around thirteen, and as Patrick begins to care for her, they fight and argue as an older brother and younger sister would. But gradually she comes to mean more. We see just how much she means to him when he loses her in a riot and misses his ship to Australia in a desperate search to find her. He will risk his own freedom to save her. Another tender scene has Patrick taking flowers from another headstone for Kate to place on her mother's.

Robson is luminous and Phelps gives realism to the young yet world weary Patrick. They give memorable performances in a beautifully filmed story. Director Pillsbury shows the young couples' feelings changing, yet goes no further, allowing the viewer to imagine them in the future. A touching ending seems more like a beginning, the viewer aching to know what the future holds for Kate and Patrick. This is a tender film which holds a special place in the hearts of all who bothered to see it when it first came out. It may never make it to dvd, so don't wait a moment to see this very special film almost everyone missed. Check into the "Starlight Hotel" and enjoy this wonderful film for dreamers.....

I saw this film in Mexico City on December '94... almost seven years ago!!!! Since the first time a saw Starlight Hotel, my life change, i think it's not necesary to explain exactly how, but i found another way to see life. The friendship between Kate and Patrick, all the risks they face together and how they care each other, make this story unique. I really love this film, and in some way i would like to be part of the story... i would like to visit the locations in New Zealand, i would like to meet Greer Robson and Peter Phelps, and ask them what does this film mean for them. Sadly, i don't know anything about them in the last years. One thing i learn from this story, besides love and friendship, is the courage to reach all our dreams, no matter what we have to do!!! By the years, i'm sure of something, Starlight Hotel is my all time favorite film, i have no doubt about it. By the way, I have a VHS tape with this film translate to spanish, but it's to old and i have no idea of how i can get the original video of this film (so if somebody can help me, i'll thank you very much).

This is no action film but a quiet, thoughtful story about two people, with beautiful New Zealand scenery as a backdrop. I even found and bought the book it was based on ("The Dream Monger" -- I had to get it from New Zealand, it's out of print and absolutely no one else had it), in which Patrick actually teams up with a boy instead of a girl. The book was good, but the movie was definately improved by making Kate a girl.

I love the scenery, the slowly developing friendship, the sometimes embaressing and awkward moments, and the tenderness the war veteran finds himself showing. I could've done without some of the language but over all, liked this video very much and would recommend it to anyone with similar tastes.

God bless Jen, for giving me this movie for Christmas. (She found it on eBay.) Starlight Hotel is magical. It is my "official" favorite movie. I have seen it countless times. The scenery... Patrick.... Kate... I melt into mush. Remember when he thought he lost her during the riot? Remember when she threw mud at him? Remember the "goodbye to my mate"? So many scenes to endear these two outcasts to your inner-dreamer. What are you waitng for! Find this movie and enrich your soul!

First off, someone asked what does Starlight Hotel mean? Well the answer is given about 25 mins into the film just after Patrick & Kate jump off the train they've hitched a ride on. Basically it means you've nowhere to stay for whatever reason & therefore you're sleeping rough (i.e. "under the stars" or "at the Starlight Hotel" - best place in town according to Patrick).

I first saw this film in the early 90s and fell in love with it! There is a long-lost beauty and innocence to this film which is very touching - helped by some breathtaking New Zealand scenery and some superb atmospheric music by Andrew Hagen & Philip Morton which really does enhance the 1930s depression era that the film is set in. It's unusual to hear music that is so evocative of the spirit of a film. I'd buy the soundtrack but it doesn't seem to have ever been released on CD! I guess it's because there isn't that much of it, but what there is, is used very effectively for creating mood and ambience.

Basically the film depicts the friendship that develops between Kate a 13-ish year old girl who's run away from home to look for her father and meets Patrick a late twenty-something who's on the run from the law after accidentally causing serious injury to a dodgy bailiff; and the film follows them on their many adventures during the 1930s economic depression and how their friendship develops while they're "on the wag". To me, where this film really scores highly is the way it portrays the spirit of the great Depression. There's an element of "rites of passage" in the film as well but it's kept very subtle and there's no nudity or anything suggestive like that (thankfully) and the film has an all-too-rare gentleness and innocence that is sadly lacking in most areas of life these days. This doesn't sound like there will be much to keep one interested, but this is far from the case!

Both principal actors play their parts very well indeed and a real chemistry seems to blossom between them. Sadly, Greer Robson is an actress whose talent is all-too-rarely seen. A pity in my opinion as I think she showed real talent in this film.

There are some great dialogue moments: for instance when the two are walking along a road and a small lorry (pickup truck) deliberately "buzzes" Patrick & Kate, and a standoff ensues between Patrick the the two ruffians in the lorry. During said standoff Kate comes up to Patrick & says "What's the matter Dad?" To which Patrick replies "these men are lost... and I've just told them where to go!" Brilliant!

To anyone who enjoys the more aesthetic aspects of cinema & human relationships, this film is an absolute must!

Very highly recommended!

As a 25 year old in 1987/1988 I spent six months living in New Zealand while training for Tack and Field competitions. It was a great experience. On one of my final nights in Aukland, I saw this film as it debuted in the cinema. On the big screen, the cinematography was breath taking and it made me teary eyed to be leaving New Zealand. The story of the film was a tender one. The relationship that develops between the young man and the girl he finds himself responsible for was really touching. I had hoped that there would be a sequel that would explore a romantic relationship between the two of them after the girl came of age. A film of subtle beauty for those with sophisticated tastes.

I can't add much more to the glowing reviews. Sometimes, a song or a movie just grabs your heart, and many years later, it's still there. Every time I watch "Starlight Hotel," I fall in love all over again. What a simple but profound story with believable and endearing characters. Like so many others, I wish it were available in DVD, but I recommend to anyone that you get this priceless movie any way you can.

In my review, I forgot to refer to another reviewer's comment that the movie has nothing to do with the title. The protagonist of the film is not well off financially and while on the run, spends the night outside beneath the open sky in the "Starlight Hotel". One of my favorite films.

This is a lovely movie about the friendship of two complete strangers, a young teenage girl and a man in his twenties, who meet on the run and build closer bonds while getting to know each other. I love this romantic film since I have first seen it about twenty years ago and I can only recommend it.

I first saw this movie some years ago and it's never left me. I just purchased it and viewed it again, and I still love it. The scenes I can't forget are two different times when Kate and Patrick are running from their pursuers and the twenty-something Patrick refuses to let go of 13 year old Kate's hand. He could easily flee without her, she so obviously slows him down, but he refuses to leave her, even to the point of picking her up in desperation and throwing her over his shoulder. For some reason, that does something indescribable to my heart. Other offbeat romantic movies I've loved have included The Princess Bride, Untamed Heart, Bram Stoker's Dracula (for one scene), Paradise, The Professional, and Out of Africa.