A Star Is Born (1937)
Composite Score: 84.3
Starring: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, Elizabeth Jenns, and Edgar Kennedy
Director: William A. Wellman
Writers: Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson, and William A. Wellman
Genres: Drama, Romance, Hollywood
MPAA Rating: Passed
Box Office: $2.37 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
A Star Is Born (1937) is William A. Wellman’s film about a girl who comes to Hollywood, dreaming of becoming a movie star, and falls in love with an actor on a downward spiral due to alcoholism and the consequences of their interaction. The film spawned three other remakes down the line (1954, 1976, and 2018) with similar plot lines and added musical numbers. This original iteration stars Janet Gaynor as Esther Victoria Blodgett, or Vicki Lester as she is known on the screen, and Fredric March as Norman Maine. It explores the sacrifices and pressures of stardom, the heartbreak that must be suffered to achieve one’s dream, and the impact of alcoholism on one’s career and personal life against the backdrop of a classic Hollywood romantic drama. The film was nominated for seven total Oscars (winning one for Best Original Story and an honorary Oscar for its color photography), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress (Gaynor), and Best Lead Actor (March). It’s a solid look at early Hollywood’s perception of itself and a deeply influential film in terms of its overall reach, certainly worth checking out.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
For starters, there’s three other films that explicitly have the same plot. Sure, there’s tweaks here and there, like making the 1976 and 2018 films about the music industry instead of Hollywood or adjusting and/or adding the roles of the supporting cast or different music/musical numbers, but overall, there are four films that all tell the exact same story. As far as the different interpretations and iterations go, for me, the best one remains the 2018 Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga version. It’s got the most compelling characters, the best music, and the most devastating ending of any of the versions. If you only watch one of these films, that’s the one to see. The original doesn’t do any of its parts poorly, and it is in fact very entertaining, but it’s hard not to compare with these films, and it’s just not the new one.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
For all of the success of its successors, without this 1937 version of A Star Is Born, we don’t get the rest. Its story about chasing your dreams and the devastating reality of being a star and the damage that is done by comparison (and alcoholism) in relationships touches on something universal within the audience. It touches on our desire for greatness and our fear of loss and the paralysis that often comes when we dwell too much on the two together. It’s fun for us to see someone achieving success by chasing their dreams but sobering when we see the tragedy she has to endure as a part of it. The encouragement from Esther’s fellow participants in showbiz and from her own grandmother is the encouragement we all need to follow our dreams – heartbreak will come, but that doesn't make our dreams any less important or necessary. At the same time, we have to feel the heartbreak and live in it for a moment, as Esther does, to maintain our humanity. It’s nice to be reminded of the humanity of the stars, and unfortunately, tragedy is the piece that so often brings that to the fore. The funeral scene at the film’s end does a good job of bringing that point home, even as the crowd has dehumanized Vicki the actress, the audience knows the humanity of Esther the woman – it’s a disturbing but powerful scene of human emotion and connection.
Lending assistance to the film’s universal themes and story are the leading performers. March’s Norman Maine is every bit the washed-up alcoholic actor – unaware in so many ways of his own shortcomings while also being acutely aware of the public’s perception of his persona. He plays Norman in a deeply sympathetic way, urging the audience to root for him, even though we know how his story will probably end. Likewise, Gaynor’s performance carries the film. This is a role that allows her to show of her acting chops by playing an actress who is in many ways the “every woman”. Her imitations and mimicries immediately evoke the actresses and films that she’s meant to be aping, but it’s her more vulnerable scenes that really seal the deal. Her mourning at the film’s end, her infatuation in the film’s middle, and her dauntless hope at the film’s start endear the character of Esther to the audience at every turn, making her a powerful film heroine, earning Gaynor that Oscar nomination.
In what is the first of many films of this name, A Star Is Born (1937) establishes its universal story of hopes, dreams, love, addiction, and heartbreak with the help of two fantastic leading performances from Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, earning the film a spot among the Greatest Films of All Time. The success and improvements of its future iterations do make this one feel not quite as good as it could if it stood alone, but it does stand strong, nevertheless. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video for anyone who would like to watch it for themselves.