Sorry, but I can't get on the bandwagon here of glowing adjectives to describe A STAR IS BORN with mousy Janet Gaynor in the Esther Blodgett role--a girl swept into big time stardom by a man whose own career is on the descent.
FREDRIC MARCH plays the alcoholic Norman Maine (modeled after someone like John Barrymore) who meets Gaynor at a party, is presumably dazzled by her enough to get her a screen test, and that's how the career of Esther Blodgett starts. This would make sense if Gaynor had the sort of charm and personality suggesting she could be turned into a major star and win an Academy Award. Gaynor's screen persona here is dull and naive. Period.
But somehow, that doesn't matter as much as it should because all the other characters are much better realized. The second half of the movie builds up some dramatic intensity completely missing in the dreary first half. And for some reason, the Technicolor improves as the film goes on. The interior scenes in the first half are darkly lit and look like primitive use of color.
The touching ending is well handled, but I can't believe Janet Gaynor in the role of a girl whose talent is so arresting that she immediately is scooped up into the frenzy of film-making. The role should have been played by a girl in her early twenties who looks the part and has the out-sized talent needed to convince us she could be molded into a star of Vicki Lester proportions.
Summing up: Disappointing, especially when compared to the Garland/Mason version, but worthwhile for Fredric March's performance as Norman Maine.
FREDRIC MARCH plays the alcoholic Norman Maine (modeled after someone like John Barrymore) who meets Gaynor at a party, is presumably dazzled by her enough to get her a screen test, and that's how the career of Esther Blodgett starts. This would make sense if Gaynor had the sort of charm and personality suggesting she could be turned into a major star and win an Academy Award. Gaynor's screen persona here is dull and naive. Period.
But somehow, that doesn't matter as much as it should because all the other characters are much better realized. The second half of the movie builds up some dramatic intensity completely missing in the dreary first half. And for some reason, the Technicolor improves as the film goes on. The interior scenes in the first half are darkly lit and look like primitive use of color.
The touching ending is well handled, but I can't believe Janet Gaynor in the role of a girl whose talent is so arresting that she immediately is scooped up into the frenzy of film-making. The role should have been played by a girl in her early twenties who looks the part and has the out-sized talent needed to convince us she could be molded into a star of Vicki Lester proportions.
Summing up: Disappointing, especially when compared to the Garland/Mason version, but worthwhile for Fredric March's performance as Norman Maine.