A Star Is Born (1954)

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

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Moss Hart (screenplay), Dorothy Parker,

Stars:

Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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:
James Brown	...	Glenn Williams

Storyline

Norman Maine, a movie star whose career is on the wane, meets showgirl Esther Blodgett when he drunkenly stumbles into her act one night. A friendship develops, then blossoms into romance before tensions increase as Esther's career takes off while Norman's continues to plummet.

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Plot Keywords:

career | movie star | fame | alcoholism | marriage | 

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Taglines:

"A BRILLIANTLY STAGED, SCORED AND PHOTOGRAPHED FILM WORTH ALL THE EFFORT!" Life Magazine (original ad - mostly caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nace una estrella

Filming Locations:

Lancaster Hotel - 121 N. Flower Street, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,019,770 (estimated)

Gross:

$4,355,968 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Transcona Enterprises, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

154 min 181 min (premiere) 176 min (restored) 169 min (DVD) 177 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was George Cukor's 37th film, his first musical, and his first full production in color.

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Goofs

Although the interior of Esther's apartment appears to be situated on a hill with a panoramic view of Hollywood, the address she gives Norman is in the flatlands of Hollywood with, at best, a second story view of nearby buildings.

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Quotes

Esther Blodgett: [seeing Norman drunk] Mr. Maine is feeling no pain!

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Connections

Referenced in Green Acres: A Star Named Arnold Is Born: Part 1 (1968)

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Soundtracks

"The Man That Got Away"
(uncredited)
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Performed by Judy Garland

User Reviews

Make sure to watch the Widescreen Version!

In a career of classic performances this may be Judy Garland's best role and one that certainly uses her many talents to the hilt. James Mason gives an Oscar caliber performance as well and I believe in almost any other year that he wasn't up against Brando's "On the Waterfront" performance he would and should have won.

This George Cukor film features gorgeous color and beautiful cinematography, but does suffer from choppy editing that may be the result of restored footage. The project to restore over an hour of missing footage scrapped by the producers after the original length was in excess of four and a half hours may have been done with the best intentions, but is still incomplete and leaves the film disjointed and obviously lacking. I certainly wish the original footage was never scrapped, but this spotty attempt at restoration makes you feel like your watching more of a project than a classic film. Sometimes less is more and definitely in this case.

Whatever you do make sure you see the widescreen version of this film that was originally shot in Cinemascope or you will only see about a third of the actual picture and I assure you, you won't want to miss any of it.