Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: A Star Is Born (1937)

10/19/2013

A Star Is Born (1937) - The Hollywood melodrama landmark

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The rising star and her moody husband stand out on this colorful poster for William A. Wellman's A Star Is Born

A sincere, good country girl has only a single thing on her mind: Hollywood. That magical place, where a person becomes a celebrated star. But when she pursues her dream, she learns that indeed very many share that very same dream. Her success comes nonetheless, (as the title indicates), but her worries do not end for that reason.

A Star Is Born is a wonderful story, and its description of the hard-elbowed, unusually tough movie business is still incisive.
The acting is excellent; Janet Gaynor's face is a perfect mold for the melodrama deluxe that takes place here, and Lionel Stander (New York, New York (1977)) has a marvelous role as a cynical PR-agent.
A Star Is Born is a first-rate romantic melodrama with an early Hollywood portrayal of alcoholism and a fine morale about loyalty, being true to one's feelings and coming back after a terrible loss.
It is directed by William A. Wellman (The Public Enemy (1931)), with uncredited sequences directed by Jack Conway (Saratoga (1937)) and Victor Fleming (Captain Courageous (1937)), and written by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell (Suzy (1936), both) and Robert Carson (Western Union (1941)), with producer David O. Selznick (Dracula's Daughter (1936)), Ben Hecht (Cleopatra (1963)), Ring Lardner Jr. (Laura (1944)), John Lee Mahin (Test Pilot (1938)), Budd Schulberg (Nothing Sacred (1937)) and Adela Rogers St. Johns (The Red Kimona (1925)) contributing uncredited writing.

Watch the original trailer here

Budget: 1.1 mil. $
Box office: 2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Box office success (returned 1.81 times its cost in North America alone)

[A Star Is Born premiered 22 April (Los Angeles) and runs 111 minutes. The story was reportedly inspired by Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay's marriage and upon John Bowers. Fredric March (Bedtime Story (1941)) was paid 125k $ for his performance. Shooting took place from October - December 1936 in California, including Los Angeles. The film had reportedly turned a profit of 181k $ by the end of 1939. It was nominated for 7 Oscars, including the first ever nomination of a color film as Best Picture. It won Best Writing, Original Story and an honorary Oscar for cinematographer W. Howard Greene (Night in Paradise (1946)) for the film's color photography. It lost Best Actor (March) to Spencer Tracy in Captain Courageous, Actress (Gaynor) to Luise Rainer for The Good Earth, Assistant Director to In Old Chicago, Director to Leo McCarey for The Awful Truth, and Writing, Screenplay and Picture to The Life of Emile Zola. It also won a National Board of Review award. It has been remade theatrically 3 times with the same title, in 1954, 1976 and in 2018. It has fallen into public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Wellman returned with Nothing Sacred (1937). March returned in Nothing Sacred; Gaynor in The Young in Heart (1938). A Star Is Born is fresh at 100 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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10/19/2013

A Star Is Born (1937) - The Hollywood melodrama landmark

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