365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 282 - A Star Is Born

"Hello everybody, this is Mrs. Norman Maine." is one of the best ending lines in Hollywood history. That simple sentence sums up everything that preceded it, in this three hour exquisite musical drama from Warner Brothers.

A Star Is Born was made for Judy Garland and was her come-back vehicle after a four year absence from the silver screen. In A Star Is Born she reaches a pinnacle of acting, singing and dancing. It is without a doubt the most accomplished performance in her entire career. 

Starring with Judy Garland was James Mason as the drunkard matinee idol Norman Maine. Originally Warner Bros. and director George Cukor pursued Cary Grant for the role. Cukor had worked with Grant before and knew that Norman could be a career defining role for Grant too. But Grant declined, partly because he was newly married and wanted to travel with his wife, Betsy Drake, but also because he was hesitant about working with Garland, who had a very troubled reputation. The studio then considered Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and Stewart Granger, until the part finally went to Mason. Cukor later stated he was never happy that Cary Grant declined and felt the picture would have been so much better with him in it. But this is the case where the the last choice was the right choice. Everyone notices Garland in the movie, but it's Mason's haunted performance, his moments of quiet despair as his life slips into oblivion that give the movie the dramatic heft it needs.

A Star Is Born is a masterpiece of film making. The acting, directing, writing, music, songs, art direction and costumes all came together to create a film of near perfection. 

Made in 1953 the film features an inside look at the Hollywood studio system as it was coming to an end. The age of the big independent studios and the actors under contract were in decline. "The money boys" in NY were calling the shots, as films lost money to the encroaching competition of television. In one scene the studio boss Oliver Niles takes a look at TV during a party and he is called a traitor. 

On its original release in NYC and L.A. A Star Is Born received unanimous praise from the critics. The films use of the new CinemaScope standard was hailed as marvelous. The movie was considered a cinch to sweep the Oscars. But.....

The Restoration

As far as I am concerned Jack Warner made to very stupid decisions while running Warner Brothers. The first was casting Audrey Hepburn instead of Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady, thus depriving us forever, of seeing Julie in a role she created and hearing those wonderful Lerner and Lowe songs on film in her incomparable voice.

The other decision was allowing his executives to butcher A Star Is Born for monetary reasons. George Cukor's final cut of the film premiered at 3 hours and two minutes long, without an intermission. This was the version the critics saw and loved. Cukor's intention was to release the film going forward with an intermission break. But the studio was concerned about how many times the movie could be played in a day. By cutting the shortening the film they could squeeze in an extra showing each day and make more money. So without telling director George Cukor, or asking for his assistance, Warner Bros. cut 30 minutes from the film by removing two full songs and removing dialogue scenes that told how Esther and Norman met. The film was gutted and as the film opened across the country none of the reviews matched those from its original release. The film was soon dismissed by many in Hollywood and never achieved the box office dollars it should have. When the Oscars came around  it received six nominations; two for acting Mason and Garland, art direction, costumes, score and best song. It failed to be nominated for Best Picture or Best Director. Garland in the role of a lifetime, lost to Grace Kelly in one of Oscar's most famous upsets and the haunting torch song "The Man Who Got Away" lost to the banal "Three Coins In A Fountain".

The majority of the removed footage was destroyed after it was cut from the film, so in 1981 when film restorationist Ronald Haver undertook trying to restore A Star Is Born to it's original cut, he had quite the undertaking. But he was successful and in 1983 a newly restored version of A Star Is Born opened at Radio City Music Hall to thundering applause and enormous critical acclaim. 

I managed to see the film in a NYC theatre during it's limited run in 1983. I had seen the movie before on local television, but it was butchered by pan & scan, commercials and additional cuts to shorten it's length even more. Seeing it on the big screen was an experience I have never forgotten. I have since seen it during a special run at the Alice Tully theatre in Lincoln center in 1995 and here in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre. I have owned it on RCA Selectivision, VHS, Laser Disc, DVD and now Blu-ray. 

The Blu-ray release is amazing. The vibrant colors and the digital sound make it the best version ever released for home video. 

A Star Is Born is one of my all time favorite movies. I never grow tired of it.

At The Movie House rating **** stars

This concludes my female stars of stage and screen mini film festival.

Stage Door

Sunset Boulevard

All About Eve

Bullets Over Broadway

A Star Is Born