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A Star Is Born
review by Anthony D.
Studio: Warner
Running Time: 129 minutes
Starring: Judy Garland, James Mason, Tom Noonan, Jack
Carson
Written by Moss Hart
Directed by George Cukor
Retail Price: $29.99
Features: Trailers, Hollywood Premiere Network
Telecast Post-Premiere Party Highlights Shot at the Cocoanut
Grove, 3 Alternate Filmings of The Man That Got Away,
Incorporating Additional Original Recording Session
MusicDeleted Musical Number, When My Sugar Walks Down the
Street
A legendary film, featuring the talents of a legendary
performer is brought back from near-oblivion by the massive
efforts of Ronald Haver and the Warner Brothers Archives.
It's an age-old Hollywood tale, filmed twice previously, of
love and triumph in La La Land.
Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) is a big-time talent on
the rise. She meets drunken, nearly on the skids popular
actor Norman Maine (James Mason) when he drops into her act
at a celebrity benefit. Esther makes the most of Norman's
drunken behavior, making it believably a part of her act.
Not one to forget such a random act of kindness, Norman
seeks Esther out and promises her a screen test. But
promises made in the dark are forgotten as dawn breaks and a
hungover Norman is shipped out to sea for on-location
filming; and Esther is forced to use her talents to be a
jingle singer, advertising products such as coconut shampoo
and fast-food burgers. Hearing Esther's voice promoting
these products, Norman remembers his promise, and Esther's
screen test results in a contract with the studio. As Vicki
Lester, as Esther has been renamed by the studio, and her
career ascend, Norman descends into the depths of alcoholism
and loses his contract with the studio. In his personal
life, Norman becomes known as "Mr. Vicki Lester," which is
not good for his frail ego. Through it all, Esther continues
to love and care for Norman, even after a shocking incident
at the televised Academy Awards Ceremony where Norman
literally begs Hollywood to give him a job, and accidentally
slaps Esther on camera. Both Norman and Esther make
sacrifices for each other in the name of true love, and when
the ultimate sacrifice is made, life goes on for still
another day in La La Land.
The restoration speaks for itself, Ronald Haver
successfully managed to track down all but five minutes of
Warner Brothers first CinemaScope release, "A Star is Born."
In an attempt to squeeze in more theatrical showings per
day, the powers-that-be took editors' scissors and whittled
down the film's running time to a little over two hours, NOT
the nearly three-hour drama George Cukor had fashioned.
Musical numbers were deleted, a major plot development went
onto the cutting room floor and Judy Garland's chance at the
Academy Award was stifled buy the cruel and haphazard studio
editing. Nearly fifty years later, film historian took it
upon himself to track down the missing elements of "A Star
is Born," and in director George Cukor's lifetime, was able
to present the film on the silver screen once again in
nearly the condition it was seen in on its opening night in
1954. The few missing scenes, as in its theatrical
re-release, are represented on the disc with still photos
accompanied by sound, and a film is reborn.
This was not only Warner Brothers' first attempt at
widescreen photography, it was George Cukor's initial use of
the CinemaScope format. Faithfully framed, in an anamorphic
transfer, at a very wide 2.55:1 aspect ratio, "A Star is
Born" looks quite good. Cukor worked with a design meant to
be only semi-realistic, but not-quite impressionism thus "A
Star is Born" is awash with muted colors. As reflected on
the first dvd-18 format from Warner Home Video, the fidelity
is natural, nearly true. The excessive make-up used by the
studios in the 1950's is, for better or worse, all the more
noticeable in the digital domain. The image is sharp, colors
bold when they need to be (the entire "Born in a Trunk"
Sequence, given a whopping SEVEN Chapters!) Contains the
most three-dimensional use of the color red that I have ever
experienced as layer upon layer of roses arise behind Judy
Garland's tiny frame. There is a very small amount of film
grain, but given the film's age, and its tragic history, the
quality is surprisingly pleasing.
"A Star is Born's" soundtrack has also been given a
thorough remastering reflecting the film's era's use of
directional sound, mostly stereophonic up front, with subtle
use of rears. This Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack allows the
.1 LFE to kick in from the lower frequencies of the music
(Chapter 26, Black Bottom). It's a delightful listening
experience! Technically, a drama with music, the dvd shines
when the musical numbers begin: "The Man That Got Away" has
never sounded so full-throttled and melancholy, "Gotta Have
Me Go with You" makes the most of its swingin' big band,
while at the opposite end of the spectrum the intimacy which
had never been afforded "It's a New World" now pulls the
listener as close to Garland as is possible.
Though not labeled as a "special edition," Warner Home
Video has loaded the second side of "A Star is Born" with
quite a bouquet of extras. Kinescopes of the Hollywood
Premiere in black and white, text Production Notes and
Talent Files, a deleted song (part of the "Born in a Trunk"
Sequence) and three trailers - -one for each incarnation of
"A Star is Born." The technicolor trailer for 1937's Janet
Gaynor drama leaps off the screen in its window-boxed glory
raising hopes for a dvd edition; while the Barbra Streisand
1976 treatment gets an annoyingly ludicrous trailer. Best of
all are the three alternate filmings of "The Man That Got
Away," each accompanied by text explaining the whens, wheres
and whys each version was discarded in favor of the now
classic scene in the film.
Judy Garland returned to the screen following a
self-destructive four year absence. After her dismissal from
M-G-M, following the aborted "Annie Get Your Gun," and the
lackluster "Summer Stock," Judy's stock as a performer had
declined so far that pundits doubted that her career could
ever be salvaged. Working with top-drawer talents
(screenwriter Moss Hart, tunesmiths Ira Gershwin and Harold
Arlen, director Georger Cukor) Judy's comeback role, that of
Esther Blodgett in "A Star is Born" finally gave her a role
worthy of all of her remarkable talents. To watch "A Star is
Born," is to watch a major talent at the zenith of her
onscreen career in a role which unquestioningly SHOULD have
won her the Academy Award. This is the Judy Garland as
"Performer" role, and the joy she possesses through
performance is evident in every frame that she is in.
Thankfully Warner Home Video has given the film, and the
performer, a DVD worthy of the legend: to have three
alternate takes of the classic Judy moment, "The Man that
Got Away," is a godsend to Judy Judy connoisseurs
everywhere. Lovingly restored to almost its original running
time by Ron Haver - - whose book "A Star is Born: the making
of the 1954 movie and its 1983 restoration" is a must-read
for fans of this film, "A Star is Born" is finally the
ultimate tribute to Judy Garland in her finest three hours
on film.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (3.5/5)
(3.5/5)
 (4.5/5)
(4.5/5, NOT an average)
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