A Star Is Born (1937 film)
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| A Star Is Born | |
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 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | William A. Wellman |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Written by | William A. Wellman Robert Carson Dorothy Parker Alan Campbell |
| Starring | Janet Gaynor Fredric March Adolphe Menjou |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | W. Howard Greene |
| Distributed by | Selznick International Pictures United Artists |
| Release date(s) | April 20, 1937 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,173,639 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Star Is Born (1937) is a romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring actress who travels to Hollywood to become a movie star. Other members of the cast include Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine and Lionel Stander.
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[edit] Plot Synopsis
Vicki Lester, played by Janet Gaynor, meets actor Norman Maine (Fredric March) and they marry but soon after his career develops difficulties while hers flourishes.
[edit] Production
A Star Is Born was filmed from October to December 1936 with an estimated budget of $1,173,639, and premiered in Los Angeles, California on April 20, 1937. The scene in the film where Menjou offers the fading star a supporting role was added at the suggestion of George Cukor, who directed the 1954 remake.
Early in their careers, Budd Schulberg (then a script reader for David O. Selznick) and Ring Lardner, Jr. (who was working in Selnick's publicity department) were assigned to write some additional dialogue for the film, a collaboration which produced Janet Gaynor's final words, "This is Mrs. Norman Maine." The line was used again in the 1954 Warner Bros. musical remake starring Judy Garland.[1]
[edit] Background
Some cinematic theorists believe that the marriage of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay was the film's real-life inspiration. John Bowers has also been identified as inspiration for the Norman Maine character and the dramatic suicide by drowning scene at the end of the film (he drowned during November 1936). The film contained several inside jokes, including Gaynor's brief imitations of Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo, the "Crawford Smear" (referring to Joan Crawford's lipstick), and the revelation that the glamorous Norman Maine's real last name was Hinkle. (Hinkle was the real last name of silent film star Agnes Ayres.) The film also has some similarities to the earlier film What Price Hollywood?, whose creators actually considered suing, but never did.
[edit] Academy Awards
The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning the award for Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (March), Best Actress (Gaynor), Best Assistant Director, and Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay. It won a special Academy Award for its Technicolor cinematography for W. Howard Greene.
[edit] Remakes
A Star Is Born has been remade twice, in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, and in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. The financial and critical failure Glitter heavily borrowed plot elements from this film.
[edit] External links
- A Star Is Born (1937) at the Internet Archive, downloadable in various formats.
- Watch the film in full at liketelevision.com
- Watch the film in full at moviesinyourhome.com
- A Star Is Born at the Internet Movie Database
- A Star Is Born at Allmovie
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