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Stars In My Crown [Remaster]

Joel Mccrea (Actor), Ellen Drew (Actor), Jacques Tourneur (Director) Rated:
NR
Format: DVD
4.8 out of 5 stars 709 ratings
IMDb7.4/10.0
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April 18, 2011 		—
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Product Description

Folks in Walsburg may want to pay heed to the brace of pistols holstered onto Josiah Gray's hips. In time, they may want to pay even more heed to the Bible in his hand. Gray (Joel McCrea) is the newly arrived parson in the woodsy post-Civil War Tennessee town. And the true test of his strength will come when, during his greatest and most dangerous challenge, he sets aside his six-shooters and relies on his faith. McCrea brings a quiet resolve to this touching tale burnished through the recall of the pastor's impressionable nephew (Dean Stockwell). Based on the novel by Joe David Brown (who would later provide the source novel for Paper Moon), Stars in My Crown shines with a powerful, simple dignity.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 2.72 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 28817350
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Jacques Tourneur
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 29 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ April 18, 2011
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Alan Hale, Dean Stockwell, Ellen Drew, Joel Mccrea, Lewis Stone
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ MGM
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004P8R9VG
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Best Sellers Rank: #74,999 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 709 ratings

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
709 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find this remastered movie to be a classic with a heartwarming story about the old west, featuring great actors and good entertainment value. They appreciate its uplifting message about good and bad humanity, with one customer noting its many positive life lessons. Customers value its family-friendly nature and its ability to teach about human character, while also appreciating its humor, with one review mentioning it can make viewers laugh and cry.

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Movie qualityMessageStory qualityCastFamily valueTeaching qualityEntertainment valueHumor
79 customers mention "Movie quality"78 positive1 negative

Customers praise the movie's quality, describing it as a fantastic and classic film.

"...I wish every person in America would watch this movie. Great movie, well done and very good cast...." Read more

"Love this movie. Love Joel McCrea. He fits this part so well, I couldn't imagine anyone else doing it." Read more

"Good movie, not a "typical" western but enough action to not be boring. Good representation of faith without being "preachy"." Read more

"This is a great movie - very human and very uplifting! It is a story about struggles and how to deal and overcome them by focusing on faith." Read more

42 customers mention "Message"39 positive3 negative

Customers find the movie uplifting and heartwarming, appreciating its good morals and positive representation of faith.

"It reminded me of the older movie productions with good morals and good small town living." Read more

"I loved this movie. Great for anyone to watch. Had a good message and was very entertaining. I love Joel McRae!..." Read more

"Very heart warming movie" Read more

"...Just because its an older film does not mean its out of date. A great message" Read more

34 customers mention "Story quality"33 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the movie's story, describing it as a heartwarming and moral tale set in the old west, with one customer highlighting the incredible scene towards the end.

"This is a great, great western type movie.It deserves 6 stars.Excellent story.Superb acting from a stellar cast...." Read more

"Wonderful story. Very uplifting." Read more

"...Foe a B movie, it gets an A rating, great story, very well told, with excellent morals and entertainment value...." Read more

"...Although a bit sentimental it has well developed characters and a good story line...." Read more

18 customers mention "Cast"18 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the cast of the movie, with one mentioning it's fun to see the actors.

"An excellent movie. Joel Mccrea was a great actor. To my knowledge he never made a bad movie. I especially enjoy his westerns...." Read more

"...The old west story line, superb acting, and clarity of the movie drew me into the plot from the moment Joel McCrea walks into a bar and pulls out..." Read more

"...Great movie, well done and very good cast. Joel McCrea and Alan Hale are two of my favorite actors in the old movies." Read more

"A wonderful story of faith and understanding with great actors I continue to watch this movie over and over as if it was new today" Read more

17 customers mention "Family value"17 positive0 negative

Customers find this movie fantastic for the whole family.

"Great family movie, Very good cast, before they became famous for Gun Smoke, James Arness was very young and Amanda Blake i.e. Matt Dillion and..." Read more

"...Dean Stockwell (just to name a few of the actors) round out this great family film.90 minutes long and a 5 out of 5 for the transfer to disc...." Read more

"This was a gift for my husband and he loved t. Good family show!" Read more

"A great family movie for all ages. Joel McCrea was the best! Just because its an older film does not mean its out of date. A great message" Read more

13 customers mention "Teaching quality"13 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the teaching quality of the movie, finding it great and wise, with one customer noting how it provides valuable lessons about human character.

"...He's a real man: honest, kind, wise, but flawed. He preaches his first sermon in a bar while holding the patrons at gunpoint. Hilarious!..." Read more

"I enjoyed the story line and the life lessons." Read more

"This movie was one of the best I have ever watched. The good lessons and the morals in the story were fantastic...." Read more

"A wonderful story of faith and understanding with great actors I continue to watch this movie over and over as if it was new today" Read more

12 customers mention "Entertainment value"10 positive2 negative

Customers find the movie entertaining, with one mentioning it holds interest throughout and another noting it has enough action to keep viewers engaged.

"Enjoyable" Read more

"...There's drama, adventure, and laughter too! Take a view and see what GOD will say to YOU!" Read more

"Great movie with good entertainment." Read more

"...rating, great story, very well told, with excellent morals and entertainment value. I highly recommend this wonderful movie." Read more

10 customers mention "Humor"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the movie humorous in places and appreciate its great drama, with one customer noting it has no foul language or immorality.

"...Stars in my Crown has many lessons ready for digestion. There's drama, adventure, and laughter too! Take a view and see what GOD will say to YOU!" Read more

"...Great drama, great humor, and great finish!" Read more

"...Ole Famous is the man.Movie will have you laughing and crying.....support your favorite artists." Read more

"...Nice to see a portrait of an effective pastor. One of a kind movie. Funny, warm and wise." Read more

One of the best examples of good movies made back in the 1940's and early 50's.
5 out of 5 stars
One of the best examples of good movies made back in the 1940's and early 50's.
One of the best examples of good movies made back in the 1940's and early 50's. Whoiesome, clean, and very entertaining. It's about a new preacher (Joel McCrea) who came to a small town sometime after the Civil War. He immediately settles a fight where a bully is humiliating another man. But the movie also has a moral about discrimination of black people and the evils of the KKK. Some have compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. But my most memorable part is the song, "Are There Any Stars in My Crown", a wonderful, beautiful old hymn, that is not heard much any more. It's a catchy tune that will stick in your mind.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • EddieG8R
    5.0 out of 5 stars Any Stars in your crown deserves more than 5 Stars......... well worth your time!!!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is a heartwarming story that shows the value of faith and how unifying and forgiving it can be. I love the last scene when Mr. Isdale enters the church and Parson Grey come down from the platform to greet him exhibiting how his faith and love for his fellow man overcomes all issues and provides a solid foundation for relationships that last a lifetime.
    Great movie and quite frankly has become one of my favorite movies to watch multiple times.
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  • WTM
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great movie.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    This is a warm inspiring movie. Entertainment for the whole family
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  • Samuel
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Gem
    Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2005
    Verified Purchase
    Orson Welles' definition of movies as a "ribbon of dreams" helps account for cinema's special hold on human consciousness. To return to a film that we may remember seeing as children is more than revisiting the past: it's reexperiencing the actual moment of wonder that was ours the first time we saw the film.

    "Stars in My Crown" is a film that has stayed with me since I saw it at Rockford, Illinois' proud Coronado Theater over 50 years ago. It's a first-rate "B" movie by a director who excelled at making such pictures--Jacques Tournier. I suspect that my lifelong attraction to the movie had more to do with the star (Joel McRae, as a tough yet gentle preacher) and the hymn providing the title (after seeing the movie I began to search every church hymnal for "Stars in My Crown," usually with disappointing results) than with the director's resourceful style (only in recent years have I become aware of Tourneur as a creative filmmaker, thanks to Scorcese's praise of him).

    The film's achievement is to combine pastoral elegy (it foregrounds the narrator's memory of a nostalgic time and community) with singular realism in its portrayal of race relations in the South. In fact, it "humanizes" the Klan while making them redeemable. In the film's remarkable climax they're transformed by the power of the "Word" from murderous, rampaging brigands into chastened stars in the preacher's crown.

    But even with its inflammatory racial theme, the more interesting subtext is the story's representation of the conflict between science and religion. The preacher and doctor, in effect, become engaged in rivalry for the town's affections. When the doctor stems the typhoid epidemic, he's embraced by the town as its new hero. Ultimately, however, it is the preacher who reclaims his flock when he identifies the source of the biological plague and then administers to the souls of those affected by the even more threatening disease of racial hatred.

    Apart from narrative specifics, "Stars in My Crown" rises to unmistakable archetypal significance. It's a story of initation and experience, life and death, marriages and funerals, and above all of faith in the human spirit. Certainly no title could be more apt for a little movie that, no matter how you cut it, is a real gem.
    39 people found this helpful
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  • John A Skiba
    5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, the humanity !
    Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Oh, the humanity !

    That's a phrase that has been tied to tragedy, but when taken at face value, as a reference to how we humans as a race deal with one another, our history does indeed cover "the best of times" through "the worst of times.

    This sweet story is a microcosm, depicting life in a small frontier community which does indeed experience the best and the worst, both in the tragedy borne by nature and the evil borne by men led astray by leaders lusting after wealth and power.

    Seemingly bad people, when you get to know them, are revealed to be as good as any others.

    Unlike many such Hollywood products, the conflicts are not resolved by blazing guns in the hands of heroic bigger-than-life men, but rather by ordinary citizens joining together to help neighbors in need, in the barn-raising tradition.

    When actual violence is offered, it is overcome by simple words that expose the senselessness of the hatred that was so willingly adopted when fostered by selfish power-seekers.

    "Make America Great Again" is a phrase that has been widely debated, making the entire concept very fuzzy. This little film makes it crystal clear what America at its' very best once was, and what it could be again.

    Not to mention that it's a very entertaining, well-acted and well-scripted movie.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Highly, Highly Recommend
    Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    When this movie first started, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but I gave it a chance. As I learned the style of movie, a biography about a town with a parson as the major character, I started to quite enjoy the characters. Joel McCrea is a gentle but tough character who could have been a lawman in film also. It was great to see America's pretty t.v. sweetheart Amanda Blake (Kitty in "Gunsmoke") in a different project. The black man's character was endearing and one really felt for his predicament. It was fun seeing James Arness before his "Gunsmoke" role. My how Arness grew as an actor and personality.
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  • Lost Adventuress
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best movies I've seen in forever
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Partway through this movie, I knew it had to be based on a book because it was just that good :). Plot, characters, dialogue, and setting were outstanding. You've never seen a preacher like the one Joel McCrea portrays in this movie! He's a real man: honest, kind, wise, but flawed. He preaches his first sermon in a bar while holding the patrons at gunpoint. Hilarious! He stands up for the oppressed, and there's an incredible scene towards the end dealing with racism and injustice that makes this movie superior even to that phenomenal classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Extraordinary. Where has this movie been all my life?!?
    16 people found this helpful
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  • MarkB
    4.0 out of 5 stars liked this
    Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Good movie, not a "typical" western but enough action to not be boring. Good representation of faith without being "preachy".
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • westernbuff
    5.0 out of 5 stars Old fashioned family film.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird, although this has a western setting it's not really a western, more a drama . I won't spoil the film by outlining the script, just tell you that as this is a Warner Brothers Archive MoD DVD it is region free and will work here in Europe. The picture has been remastered and is good quality for a film that is almost 65 years old, I really enjoyed it and would heartily recommend.
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  • Alex
    5.0 out of 5 stars Chef d'oeuvre !
    Reviewed in France on June 10, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Remarquable western de Tourneur, très original, à voir absolument !
    Les concepteurs de la jaquette DVD auraient quand même pu mettre une photo de Joel Maccrea, et non pas du second rôle (James Mitchell) !
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality
    Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This company sells good quality dvd's! I got it yesterday and watched it. (So it plays in my region:) And it came earlier than anticipated. Out of 1-10 I would rate this company as a 10!
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  • R. C. Kitchen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming
    Reviewed in Germany on May 24, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    A gentle and enjoyable film.
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  • Yves
    5.0 out of 5 stars beau
    Reviewed in France on June 14, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Film méconnu de Tourneur et pourtant l'étoffe d'un classique.
    Dans la lignée d'un "Quelle était verte ma vallée" de Ford. Nostalgie d'une enfance, d'un temps et d'une société évanouis.
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