A Star Is Born (1954)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Moss Hart (screenplay)
Dorothy Parker (1937 screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 October 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The applause of the world -- and then this!

Plot:

A movie star helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Plot Keywords:

Fame | Alcoholism | Los Angeles California | Death Of Husband | Alcoholic

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Judy Garland	...	Vicki Lester / Esther Blodgett
James Mason	...	Norman Maine
Jack Carson	...	Matt Libby
Charles Bickford	...	Oliver Niles
Tommy Noonan	...	Danny McGuire (as Tom Noonan)
Lucy Marlow	...	Lola Lavery
Amanda Blake	...	Susan Ettinger
Irving Bacon	...	Graves
Hazel Shermet	...	Libby's secretary
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gloria Lewin	...	Oleander Arms landlady (reconstructed version)

Runtime:

181 min (premiere version) | USA:154 min | USA:176 min (restored version) | Germany:169 min (DVD) | West Germany:177 min (cut version: 120')

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (RCA Sound System) (magnetic prints) | Mono (optical prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:A (original rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | West Germany:12 (uncut version) | USA:Approved (PCA #16751, General Audience) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1983) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl (re-release) | UK:U | West Germany:6 (cut version)

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

WILHELM SCREAM: during the song "Somewhere There's a Someone".

Goofs:

Continuity: Vicki and Norman's house is shown, in the distance, as being on top of a bluff overlooking the ocean, but inside the house, it appears that the house is sitting on the beach.

Quotes:

Oliver Niles: It's a shame you never got to know Norman.
Matt Libby: What do you mean never got to know Norman? I knew Norman. I spent my whole life knowing him.
Oliver Niles: You didn't know him at all. He was quite a guy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Nanny: Val's Boyfriend (#3.18)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

You Took Advantage of Me

Judy Garland at Her Best

The 1954 musicalized version of A Star Is Born is a great film. Judy Garland and James Mason (both Oscar nominated) turn in terrific performance as Esther and Norman. Like its 1937 predecessor (which starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March—both Oscar nominated), the 1954 version follows the ups and down of two people set against the vicious world of Hollywood. The newer version sticks to the basic story but adds some great numbers for Garland, including "The Man That Got Away" and "I Was Born in a Trunk." In a major comeback, Garland had not worked in films since Summer Stock (1950), and her performance here is the best of her career. That she lost the Oscar to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl is one of Hollywood's great inequities. Mason lost to Marlon Brando for On the Waterfront. Garland sings superbly and is a great comic and dramatic actress. Her Esther is more vulnerable than Gaynor's just as Mason's Norman is more pathetic than March's. I love both versions. Charles Bickford and Jack Carson play the other major parts, played by Adolphe Menjou and Lionel Stander in 1937. Two major supporting roles from the 1937 version were cut from the 1954 version: Esther's first Hollywood friend (Andy Devine) and her intrepid grandmother (the great May Robson). But Garland's musical numbers make up for their absence. Oddly, despite the great hullabaloo surrounding A Star Is Born, it was not nominated for best picture, and George Cukor was bypassed in the directing category. One of the best musicals ever made.