A Star is Born (1954)

Saw the 1954 version of A Star is Born. It was a slightly hysterical show-biz film. It stars a struggling chorus-girl who is capital-N-Noticed by a drunken movie star at the height of his profession. She is talked into pursuing her dreams and a whirl-wind star-manufacturing montage follows. That montage, by the way, is pretty fun. It gives a sense of smallness to the protagonist and the anonymity of being cared for by professional servants for whom you are just another mouth to feed. Anyway, she falls in love with her drunken leading man and makes it big while, simultaneously, the leading man's boozing catches up with him and he loses popularity.

The film is very, very schmaltzy. It gives the viewer a vague sense of seeing behind the curtain, where hopeful starlets are regarded as disposable, and where movie stars are seen behaving badly. Of course, this film came out of both Hollywood and the 50s so of course none of this is dwelt upon. The film is the sort of show-biz spectacle where an Oscars ceremony provides a sort of climax. At one point, the drunk leading man is feeling down without work, so the actress puts on a lavish, impromptu musical number, involving props and dance numbers. The film is trying to establish her as a workhorse, valiantly combating his depression, but I feel that if I were moping around and feeling sorry for myself, that a huge, elaborate, "cheer up" song and dance would be about the worst thing. Just give him a hug and sit with him for a while, lady.

That depression (under the guise of alcoholism) is even brought up at all is pretty amazing, considering the time and genre of the film. Of course it is handled in this very goofy way, but we must count our blessings. As the film progresses, it hits all kinds of treacly notes before ending on a hopeful note, smiling bravely through its tear-streaked mascara. I really hate show-boating theater-films, but even so I was pretty suckered by its emotional hysterics. Someone less in love with melodrama might not take this film so well. It swoons and climaxes, but don't be embarrassed if all of this fails to dazzle you.

The protagonist is played by Judy Garland who is spectacular. She has personally battled many of the issues faced by her on-screen husband and (if wiki is to be trusted) this film sparked a comeback for her career. I'm not really interested in the mythology of Hollywood, but this is an interesting little tidbit to puzzle over while watching the film. It's a very long film, made longer by the odd, remastered version I saw. It had still shots for many key scenes, with the actor's recorded dialog playing over them. These scenes seem very pivotal however and I'm not sure why they were cut/lost. There's another story here, I guess. Over all, I liked this film, but I feel like its melodrama is stuck playing second-fiddle to an imagined and guessed-at story playing out behind its own scenes.