Farm girl Esther Victoria Blodgett yearns to become a Hollywood actress. Although her aunt and father discourage such thoughts, Esther's grandmother gives Esther her savings to follow her dream.
Esther goes to Hollywood and tries to land a job as an extra, but so many others have had the same idea that the casting agency has stopped accepting applications. Esther is told that her chances of becoming a star are one in 100,000. She befriends a new resident at her boarding house, assistant director Danny McGuire, himself out of work. When Danny and Esther go to a concert to celebrate Danny's employment, Esther has her first encounter with Norman Maine, an actor she admires greatly. Norman has been a major star for years, but his alcoholism has sent his career into a downward spiral.
Danny gets Esther a one-time waitressing job at a fancy Hollywood party. While serving hors d'œuvres, she catches Norman's eye. The next day, he gets his longtime producer and good friend, Oliver Niles, to give her a screen test. Impressed, Oliver gives her a contract and a new name, "Vicki Lester". She practices her few lines for her first tiny role.
When the studio has trouble finding a female lead for Norman's current film, titled The Enchanted Hour, Norman persuades Oliver to cast Esther. The film makes her an overnight success, even as cinemagoers and exhibitors continue to lose interest in Norman.
Norman proposes to Esther; she accepts when he promises to give up drinking. They elope without publicity, much to press agent Matt Libby's disgust, and enjoy a trailer-camping honeymoon in the mountains. When they return, Esther's popularity continues to skyrocket, and Norman realizes that his own career is over despite Oliver's attempts to help him.
Norman stays sober for a while, but his frustration over his situation finally pushes him over the edge, and he starts drinking again. When Esther wins the industry's top award (the Academy Award for Best Actress), he interrupts her acceptance speech by drunkenly demanding three awards for the worst acting of the year and accidentally slapping her when he dramatically swings his arms back.
A stay at a sanatorium seems to cure Norman's increasingly disruptive alcoholism, but a chance encounter with Libby allows the press agent to vent his long-concealed contempt. Norman goes on a four-day drinking binge, and he is arrested for drunk driving. In court, the judge sentences him to 90 days of incarceration, but Esther pleads with the judge to put Norman under her care. The judge, who is impressed with Esther's acting success, suspends Norman's sentence and puts Norman's custody into Esther's hands. Esther decides to give up her career to devote herself to his rehabilitation. After Norman overhears her discussing her plan with Oliver, he drowns himself in the Pacific Ocean.
Shattered, Esther decides to quit and go home. Showing up soon afterward is her grandmother, who has heard that Esther is quitting. Her grandmother tells her of a letter Norman sent her when they got married. The letter stated how proud he was of Esther and how much he loved her. Because of her grandmother's words and the reminder of Norman's deep love, Esther is convinced to stay in show business. At the premiere of her next film at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, when Esther is asked to say a few words into the microphone to her many fans listening across the world, she announces "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine."
A Star Is Born was filmed from October to December 1936 with an estimated budget of $1,173,639,[4] and premiered in Los Angeles on April 20, 1937, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[5][6] The film's New York premiere took place two days later at Radio City Music Hall.[7]
It is not known how much Dorothy Parker contributed to the finished script. When she first saw the film, Parker was proud of her contribution and boasted about both the script and the film, but in later life she believed that she had contributed nothing of significance.[8] Early in their careers, Budd Schulberg (then a script reader for David O. Selznick) and Ring Lardner, Jr. (who was working in Selznick's publicity department) were assigned to write some additional dialogue for the film, a collaboration which produced Janet Gaynor's (and the film's) final words: "This is Mrs. Norman Maine." The line was used again in the 1954 remake starring Judy Garland and James Mason.[9]George Cukor, who directed the remake, suggested adding the scene in the 1937 film in which Menjou offers the fading star a supporting role.
Janet Gaynor was given the first Oscar for Best Actress at the first Academy Awards ceremony on May 16, 1929. In the scene in which Vicky Lester wins an Oscar, it is Janet Gaynor's own Oscar she is holding. In a subsequent scene, the same Oscar is seen sitting on a shelf. Fredric March had won the Oscar for Best Actor (1931/32) on November 18, 1932, for the film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (he tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ). Although Norman Maine states that he won an award statue, and the name "Oscar" never is mentioned on screen, it is, presumably, an Oscar. Unlike Janet Gaynor, however, Fredric March's Oscar is never seen.
Some film historians believe that the marriage of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay was the film's real-life inspiration. John Bowers has also been identified as the inspiration for the Norman Maine character and the dramatic suicide-by-drowning scene near the end of the film (Bowers drowned in November 1936). The film contains several inside jokes, including Gaynor's brief imitations of Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, and Mae West; the "Crawford Smear", referring to Joan Crawford's lipstick; and the revelation that the glamorous Norman Maine's real last name is Hinkle. (Henkel was the real last name of silent film star Agnes Ayres, and not far removed from Fredric March's real last name, Bickel). Charlie Chaplin used the name Hynkel to parody Adolf Hitler three years later in his film The Great Dictator.
This film also has many similarities to the earlier film What Price Hollywood? (1932), released by RKO Radio Pictures. The 1932 film's original title was The Truth About Hollywood based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns. St. Johns loosely based her plot on the experiences of actress Colleen Moore and her husband, alcoholic producer John McCormick (1893–1961), and the life and death of director Tom Forman, who committed suicide following a nervous breakdown.[10]
Four years after What Price Hollywood? was released, Selznick approached George Cukor and asked him to direct A Star Is Born. Cukor felt the plot was too similar to What Price Hollywood? so he declined. RKO executives considered filing a plagiarism suit against Selznick International Pictures because of the similarities in the story, but eventually chose not to take legal action. Cukor later directed the 1954 musical remake starring Judy Garland.[11][12]
A common Hollywood myth about the film is that Lana Turner appeared as an extra in one of the scenes in the film. Turner often denied the myth over the years, mentioning that she was discovered several months after the picture had finished production.
Soundtrack
The title theme "A Star Is Born" was recorded by Buddy Clark with the orchestra of Eddy Duchin. The lyrics were written by Dorothy Dick to the music of Max Steiner.
Reception
Critical reception
March in the trailer
Contemporary reviews were very positive. When it premiered at the Radio City Music Hall, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called the film "one of the year's best shows" as well as "good entertainment by any standards, including the artistic, and convincing proof that Hollywood need not travel to Ruritania for its plots; there is drama aplenty in its own backyard."[13]Variety raved: "A smash which unquestionably will rate among the half dozen best of the season ... While the story is somewhat reminiscent of other behind-the-scene yarns, the manner of its telling makes it convincing and distinguished."[14]Harrison's Reports called it "a powerful human interest drama" and "great entertainment."[15]Film Daily said it was "superbly done in all departments,"[16] and John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "a pleasant movie" with "many nice touches."[17]
The film earned $2.37 million in worldwide theater rentals,[3] including $1.43 million domestically,[19] and by the end of 1939 the film had generated a profit of $181,000.[2] It was the first film to show that films about Hollywood could be successful.[20]
At the time of the release of the film, a 15-minute transcription – a pre-recorded radio show issued on 16-inch disc – promoting the film's release was made. The narrated promotional radio show included sound clips from the film. The show was recorded and released through the World Broadcasting System, with disc matrix number H-1636-2.
A Star Is Born has been remade four times, in 1951 (a television adaptation) with Kathleen Crowley and Conrad Nagel; in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason; in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson; and in 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Altogether, the four movies received 25 nominations for various Academy Awards, winning only three: 1937, Best Writing (original story); 1976, Best Music (original song); 2018, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (original song), and also an honorary award in 1937 (color photography).[26][27]
Selznick International Pictures dissolved leaving the film's rights to financier John Hay Whitney. Whitney then sold the film to Film Classics, Inc. in 1943. With declining rerun revenue, Film Classics placed the film up for sale with producer Edward L. Alperson with the intent to remake the film. Instead Alperson sold the film's copyright including film, story, screenplay, and score to Warner Bros. in 1953.[30] Warner in 1954 issued the first remake.[31] In 1965, the film entered the public domain in the United States because Warner did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[32][33][31]
Home media
The film was released on Blu-ray in the US by Kino Lorber Inc. in February 2012, featuring an edition authorized by the estate of David O. Selznick from the collection of George Eastman House.[34]
A second Blu-ray from Warner Archive Collection was released in March 2022 with a 4K restoration from the aforementioned original 35MM nitrate technicolor negative. That release contains the original trailer plus Merrie Melodies cartoon A Star Is Hatched (since Turner Entertainment currently owns the rights for this bonus cartoon feature which was part of pre-August 1948 Warner Bros. Cartoons library under United Artists' shares such as Associated Artists Productions catalogue), and the live-action shorts Mal Hallett & His Orchestra, Taking the Count and Alibi Mark. In addition, two radio Lux Radio Theater broadcasts from 1937 and 1942 are included. Janet Gaynor reprised her role in the 1937 broadcast, and the 1942 broadcast featured Judy Garland who played Esther in the 1954 musical adaption.[35]
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director and producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO's major films, including What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Our Betters (1933), and Little Women (1933). When Selznick moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935) for Selznick, and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936) for Irving Thalberg.
Janet Gaynor was an American film, stage and television actress as well as an accomplished oil painter.
A Star Is Born may refer to:
Fredric March was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s. As a performer he was known for his versatility. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Tony Awards as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and three Emmy Awards.
David O. Selznick was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. He also won the Irving Thalberg Award at the 12th Academy Awards, Hollywood's top honor for a producer, in recognition of his shepherding Gone with the Wind through a long and troubled production and into a record-breaking blockbuster.
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, better known as Billie Burke, was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the MGM film musical The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber, known professionally as Mitzi Gaynor, was an American actress, singer and dancer. Her notable films included We're Not Married! (1952), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), The Birds and the Bees (1956), and South Pacific (1958) – for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical at the 1959 awards.
Nothing Sacred is a 1937 American Technicolor screwball comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March with a supporting cast featuring Charles Winninger and Walter Connolly. Ben Hecht was credited with the screenplay based on the 1937 story "Letter to the Editor" by James H. Street, and an array of additional writers, including Ring Lardner Jr., Budd Schulberg, Dorothy Parker, Sidney Howard, Moss Hart, George S. Kaufman and Robert Carson made uncredited contributions.
"The Man That Got Away" is a torch song written for the 1954 version of A Star Is Born. The song, with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, is performed in the film by Judy Garland. "The Man That Got Away" was ranked #11 by the American Film Institute on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 27th Academy Awards but lost to "Three Coins in the Fountain".
What Price Hollywood? is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett with Lowell Sherman. The screenplay by Gene Fowler, Rowland Brown, Jane Murfin and Ben Markson is based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns and Louis Stevens. The supporting cast features Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Brooks Benedict, Louise Beavers and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over. Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters. It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic historical romance film adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell. The film was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the American South against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era, the film tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, following her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, and her subsequent marriage to Rhett Butler.
A Star Is Born is a 1954 American musical tragedy film directed by George Cukor, written by Moss Hart, and starring Judy Garland and James Mason. Hart's screenplay is an adaptation of the original 1937 film, based on the original screenplay by Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, and from the same story by William A. Wellman and Carson, with uncredited input from six additional writers—David O. Selznick, Ben Hecht, Ring Lardner Jr., John Lee Mahin, Budd Schulberg and Adela Rogers St. Johns.
A Star Is Born is a 1976 American musical romantic drama film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne, and Joan Didion. It stars Barbra Streisand as an unknown singer and Kris Kristofferson as an established rock and roll star. The two fall in love, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline. A Star Is Born premiered at the Mann Village Theater on December 18, 1976, with a wide release by Warner Bros. the following day. A huge box office success, grossing $80 million on a $6 million budget in North America, the film became the 2nd highest-grossing that year. Reviews praised its performances and musical score, but criticized the screenplay and runtime. At the 49th Academy Awards, the film won Best Original Song for its love theme "Evergreen".
The 8th Academy Awards to honour films released during 1935 were held on March 5, 1936, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California and hosted by AMPAS president Frank Capra. This was the first year in which the awards were called "Oscars".
The Prisoner of Zenda is a 1937 American black-and-white adventure film based on Anthony Hope's 1894 novel and the 1896 play. A lookalike has to step in when his royal distant relative is kidnapped to prevent his coronation. This version is widely considered the best of the many film adaptations of the novel and play.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Norman Taurog who had previously directed Huckleberry Finn (1931) with Jackie Coogan and Junior Durkin. The film starred Tommy Kelly in the title role, with Jackie Moran and Ann Gillis. The screenplay by John V. A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel of the same name by Mark Twain. The movie was the first film version of the novel to be made in color.
Ronald Haver was an American film historian, preservationist and author. For over twenty years, he was director of Film Programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Eric G. Stacey was a British assistant director and production manager. He was nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Assistant Director for his work on the Darryl F. Zanuck production of Les Miserables (1935) and the David O. Selznick productions of The Garden of Allah (1936) and A Star Is Born (1937), the last year the Award was given to assistant directors.
The Scarlett O'Hara War is a 1980 American made-for-television drama film directed by John Erman. It is based on the 1979 novel Moviola by Garson Kanin. Set in late 1930s Hollywood, it is about the search for the actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the much anticipated film adaptation of Gone with the Wind (1939). This film premiered as the finale of a three-night TV miniseries on NBC called Moviola: A Hollywood Saga.
1 2 Thomson, David (1993). Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick. Abacus. p.245. ISBN978-0-349-10523-9.
1 2 Schatz, Thomas (2015). The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN978-0-805-04666-3. On its initial release, A Star is Born took in $2.37 million in gross revenues, but returned a net profit to SIP of only $100,000 due to UA's marketing and sales policies, which Selznick found much inferior to MGM's and was determined to correct.
↑ Krämer, Peter; Needham, Gary; Tzioumakis, Yannis; Balio, Tino (2020). United Artists. Routledge, Taylor & Francis. ISBN978-0-367-17898-7. This figure appears to be the world gross for A Star is Born, in the DOSC SIP distribution files, Star grossed $1,438,283.31 as of 29 March 1938 (figure from memo penned by Lowell V. Calvert to David O. Selznick) while another memo from Selznick and John Wharton dated 22 September 1937 detailed the estimate of a worldwide gross of $2.5 million (with domestic being at $1,650,000).
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