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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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

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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

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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.

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10/19/2013

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

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