A star is rising
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A star is rising |
| Original title | A star is born |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 111 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | William A. Wellman |
| script |
Dorothy Parker Alan Campbell Robert Carson Adela Rogers St. Johns |
| production | David O. Selznick for Selznick International Pictures distributed by United Artists |
| music | Max Steiner |
| camera | W. Howard Greene |
| cut |
James E. Newcom Anson Stevenson |
| occupation | |
| |
A Star Is Born (original title: A Star Is Born ) is an American feature film by William A. Wellman with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the year 1937. The film is based in part on What Price Hollywood? from 1932 and was later remade three times.
action
Esther Blodgett lives with her family in North Dakota , but dreams of a career as a film star in Hollywood . Her aunt mocks her for it, but Esther's grandmother encourages her to follow her dreams and finances her granddaughter's trip to Hollywood.
However, there she ends up on the hard ground of reality, she cannot even approach extras because there is too much competition. Esther's friend and roommate in her pension, assistant director Danny, gets her a little job as a waitress at a Hollywood party. Here she meets the film star Norman Maine, who has always been adored by her, but who is an alcoholic whose antics can only be hidden from the press with great difficulty. Norman falls in love with her and most of all recognizes her talent. With his help, Esther is allowed to make a test recording with the producer Niles and thus comes to a studio contract that brings her first small roles. Esther has to take voice and posture lessons, her appearance is changed, and finally she is given the more attractive-sounding stage name Vicki Lester .
When no suitable female leading actress could be found for Norman's new film, he came back to Vicki and convinced Niles to cast her despite little experience. The film becomes a huge success and makes Vicki a new star. The two get married and happiness seems perfect. But even though Norman did not drink alcohol for Vicki, his last acting performances were poor and his star is already falling. After a few flops , Niles fired him and Norman's career came to an end.
While Vicki rushes from success to success, Norman, sitting alone in the villa and dwarfed by his young wife, starts drinking again. When Vicki receives an Oscar , the completely drunk Norman embarrasses himself with an improvised speech. He also turns down Niles' friendly offer to play a supporting role and get back to work out of pride. Norman tries to get rid of alcohol in a sanatorium, but the ridicule and malice of his former colleagues and friends drive him to drink again.
When Norman is to be sentenced to 90 days in prison for drunk driving, Vicki can only just prevent this with an urgent request to the judge. From then on she officially has custody of her husband and wants to give up her acting career for it. When Norman found out about this and heard her crying over the end of her dream, he passed away voluntarily. The devastated Vicki then wants to return to her home country, but her grandmother convinces her that Norman would have wanted her to pursue her dream. When Vicki's first film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater after Norman's death , she greeted her fans on the microphone of a radio broadcast with the words: “Hello everyone. This is Mrs. Norman Maine. ”(" Hello everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine. ") .
background
Producer David O. Selznick had already shot a similar plot with Constance Bennett in 1932, while he was still at RKO Pictures : What Price Hollywood? also dealt with the rise of a stranger through marriage to a successful Hollywood person who suffers from alcohol problems. Selznick had been preoccupied with the idea of a remake since he started his own business with Selznick International Pictures in 1936 and he tried for a long time to get a suitable script. After several quarrels and the usual long memos for which he was famous and notorious, a version was created that focused more on the rise of the young woman and away from the tragedy of the falling star. In addition to main director William A. Wellman , Jack Conway directed several smaller sequences, but was not mentioned in the opening credits.
The film was inspired by fallen silent film stars such as John Gilbert and John Bowers , who both died almost forgotten under sad circumstances in 1936. So Selznick changed the basic character of the male main character, who was still a director in the original version, to a formerly celebrated actor. The character got more than just one trait from John Barrymore . The relationship between the two main characters is also said to have been inspired by the tumultuous marriage between Barbara Stanwyck and entertainer Frank Fay . The silent film star Owen Moore , who had also lost notoriety and suffered from alcohol problems, can also be seen in a supporting role as a director in A Star is Born . It was the last role for Moore, he died just two years later.
The casting of the main roles was not easy. While it was relatively easy to agree on March, the female performer was harder to find. Selznick had initially thought of Elisabeth Bergner , but then favored Margaret Sullavan . Eventually he came across Janet Gaynor , whose career had been steadily slimming since 1934. Selznick had the film shot in Technicolor .
At 1,200,000 US dollars, the budget for the film was relatively high by the standards of the time; at the box office, it brought in almost 2,400,000 US dollars, a high amount for the time. This made it one of the first successful films using the fourth Technicolor process .
This was followed in 1954 with Ein neue Stern am Himmel and Judy Garland and James Mason , in 1976 under the title A Star Is Born with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson , and in 2018 with A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper further adaptations of the topic. In all three remakes, the main female character was made into a singer in order to give the leading actress the chance to sing.
Reviews
At Rotten Tomatoes , A Star Goes On , based on 16 reviews, has a positive review rating of 100%. The Heyne Film Lexicon wrote in 1999 about A Star is Born : “Satirical settlement with the film business, which unjustifiably enjoys less popularity than Cukor's 1954 remake.” The film service judges the film to be “more convincing in the satirical swipes at Hollywood juggernaut than in the melodramatic sequences ”. Nevertheless, a star goes on to be "a worth seeing entertainment film from classic Hollywood cinema, staged with care and taste."
Awards
At the 1938 Academy Awards , the film received a total of seven nominations and won one of the awards:
- Best Original Story - William Wellman - won
- Best movie
- Best Actor - Fredric March
- Best Actress - Janet Gaynor
- Best Director - William Wellman
- Best Assistant Director - Eric Stacey
- Best Adapted Screenplay - Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson
In addition, W. Howard Greene received an honorary Oscar for his color photographs.
Web links
- A Star Is Born at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- detailed synopsis, set photos
- A star is born in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ron Fassler: FABLED AND FORGOTTEN FRANK FAY. In: Ron Fassler. September 25, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2018 .
- ↑ A Star Is Born (Rotten Tomatoes). Retrieved October 5, 2018 .
- ↑ Just, Lothar R. et al .: Heyne Filmlexikon. 3. Edition. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1999. ISBN 3-453-15747-8
- ↑ A star rises. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 4, 2018 .