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A Star Is Born Details

1954 Certificate U
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 1122 members

A STAR IS BORN was conceived as a comeback vehicle for Judy Garland, who gives a fascinating and heartrending performance in perhaps the finest work of her career. This film was director George Cukor's first musical and first color picture; the tale of a doomed Hollywood couple, it was a remake of the 1937 William Wellman movie .. Read more

Starring Judy Garland, James Mason, Charles Bickford, Jack Carson
Director George Cukor
Genres Music/Musical

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A Star Is Born cover art

A Star Is Born

A STAR IS BORN was conceived as a comeback vehicle for Judy Garland, who gives a fascinating and heartrending performance in perhaps the finest work of her career. This film was director George Cukor's first musical and first color picture; the tale of a doomed Hollywood couple, it was a remake of the 1937 William Wellman movie with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. Garland plays young singer Esther, who saves Norman Maine (James Mason), a famous star, from making a fool of himself onstage. Maine is an alcoholic whose career is on the wane but who manages, nonetheless, to acknowledge Esther's talent and help her jump-start a career in Hollywood. But as her star rises and his declines, Maine's misery grows. Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin provided Garland with songs that would become standards in her concert repertoire, including "The Man That Got Away," which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Song.

Starring Judy Garland, James Mason, Charles Bickford, Jack Carson, Tom Noonan, Amanda Blake, Lucy Marlow
Director George Cukor
Studio WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 49 mins
Certificate Certificate U
Genres Music/Musical
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 10 Feb 2003
Production year: 1954
Format DVD

A Star Is Born (2 discs) (1954)

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  • Critics' reviews of A Star Is Born

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  • 3 stars out of 4

    Musical version of the 1937 movie, which begins very strongly and has two splendid performances, but suffers in the second half from a lack of writing strength and heavy post-production cutting. The numbers add very little except length.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of A Star Is Born

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    restoration is born..... questionably....

    Restoration- a wonderful concept, but once put into practice on this film specifically, it turns what i am sure was once quite a beauty into a long, wordy, and drawn out piece of Cinemascope.

    For example, putting a running soundtrack over stills in the middle of the movie may have seemed like a great idea to recapture some sort of 50's magic, but it doesnt do much for the flow of the movie. And after witnessing the restored footage , one can evidently see that the studio's cutting instincts were bang on the mark.

    But dont get me wrong, the film itself falls quite wonderfully into the beauty of the period, and Garland gives a fine performance, and so does Mason- although maybe more sporadic.

    I would recommend this movie to witness a piece of movie history, but, like history, it's not all a bed of roses.

      • A customer from Liverpool, UK
      • Posted 22 Jul 2004 12:49

  • Most recent members' review of A Star Is Born

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    restoration is born..... questionably....

    Restoration- a wonderful concept, but once put into practice on this film specifically, it turns what i am sure was once quite a beauty into a long, wordy, and drawn out piece of Cinemascope.

    For example, putting a running soundtrack over stills in the middle of the movie may have seemed like a great idea to recapture some sort of 50's magic, but it doesnt do much for the flow of the movie. And after witnessing the restored footage , one can evidently see that the studio's cutting instincts were bang on the mark.

    But dont get me wrong, the film itself falls quite wonderfully into the beauty of the period, and Garland gives a fine performance, and so does Mason- although maybe more sporadic.

    I would recommend this movie to witness a piece of movie history, but, like history, it's not all a bed of roses.

      • A customer from Liverpool, UK
      • Posted 22 Jul 2004 12:49

  • News and features

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    A Star Is Born

    Spacey drops Star production

    • 30 Jan 2009

    Kevin Spacey has reportedly dropped plans to star in a West End production of A Star Is Born. The Hollywood actor was set to play the role of washed up star Norman Maine in a new stage adaptation of the famous film, to be hosted at London's Old Vic theatre, where Spacey is artistic director. But Spacey has now reportedly pulled out of the project, which was due to be staged this autumn (09). The play will instead go ahead in New York with a different cast, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. Read more

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Rating breakdown

1,122 Member ratings
  • 100
164
  • 90
112
  • 80
206
  • 70
177
  • 60
177
  • 50
98
  • 40
72
  • 30
49
  • 20
49
  • 10
18

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      • A STAR IS BORN was conceived as a comeback vehicle for Judy Garland, who gives a fascinating and heartrending performance in perhaps the finest work of her career. This film was director George Cukor'...