A Star is Born

Movie Review: A Star is Born

Year of Release: 1954
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford

Plot outline: A movie star helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral (IMDb).

A Star is Born is a generally entertaining and surprisingly tragic musical that is never quite as captivating as it could have been. Unlike many other movies that were being made at roughly the same time, which are often painfully cheerful and falsely sentimental, A Star is Born is pervaded with a sense of profound loss and sorrow. While the beginning of the movie is filled with hope, with a sense that something wonderful is awaiting the protagonist, there are, even in these scenes, elements which make the viewer aware that her happiness is linked to Norman's and that his life cannot but end badly. The joy the moviegoer feels while watching the movie's earlier scenes is, consequently, mingled with an anticipation of terrible sufferings to come. When these fears are realized, when Norman's drinking does eventually destroy his life, feelings of despair and regret come to dominate the movie. The viewer is thus able to experience both Vicky's sadness and the tragedy of her husband's gradual decline with a real poignancy. Instead of succumbing to a shallow, unaffecting optimism, A Star is Born is a genuinely dolorous movie. The movie is likely to thrill Judy Garland's admirers. Not only does she acquit herself well as an actress, but she also performs a number of songs over the course of the movie, all of which are pleasant to hear. Regrettably, A Star is Born is by no means without flaws. It is somewhat too long and does, frankly, occasionally grow tiresome. A few themes are simply allowed to play out at far too great a length and do bog the story down. Norman's efforts to rehabilitate himself, for example, are so extensively presented that they interrupt the flow of the narrative. These scenes should have been considerably shortened. The movie is rarely boring, but its pacing may test many viewers' patience. Even though A Star is Born never attains greatness, it is a well made, affecting, and entertaining movie. (KA)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars