Search - A Star Is Born on DVD

Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1937 DVD Release: 05/29/1998 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 51 mins Studio: Peter Pan Total Copies: 23 Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Marriage Drama, Showbiz Drama See Also: A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born, A Star Is Born

A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Janet Gaynor - Esther Blodgett
Fredric March - Norman Maine
Adolphe Menjou - Oliver Niles
May Robson - Lettie
Andy Devine - Danny McGuire

The original 1937 version of A Star Is Born is one of the greatest dramas of its decade, and one of the more piercing pieces of self-examination ever to come out of Hollywood. The story of the rise of small-town girl Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) to screen stardom and the decline of her mentor and husband Norman Maine (Fredric March) is so familiar, thanks to this movie and two remakes, that it scarcely bears repeating. The original film has lost some of its luster over the decades as a result of its having fallen out of copyright and, in the process, becoming a victim of hundreds of inferior editions made from poor nth-generation copies. Kino On Video was the first distributor to track down archival quality materials and restore the movie to its proper look. The results on the screen are just a little short of spellbinding -- the original two-color Technicolor glows with extraordinary richness and depth, and is almost a revelation in the wake of decades of substandard prints shown on television. The flesh tones are stunning, and even the night scenes reveal detail, which is notable since the participants are sometimes dressed in dark clothing. The audio is also a pleasure to absorb, cleanly mastered at a respectable volume. Not only are there some gorgeous shots of Hollywood and the surrounding southern California coast, but also of the the performers' faces -- a startlingly good and realistic-looking lot, with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in two of the best roles of their respective careers and Andy Devine and Lionel Stander in a pair of memorable character parts. The movie is divided into 25 chapters that are well chosen and easy to index and identify, and as a supplement, the producers have included brief silent footage of a Technicolor costume test from the production, which is programmed to play immediately after the end of the film. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide