Wednesday, July 27, 2022

A Star Is Born (1954)

A Star Is Born is the 1954 George Cukor film starring Judy Garland and James Mason. I'm posting this in memory of Mason, who died of a heart attack on this date in 1984 at the age of 76. Mason is one of those actors I look for. If he's in a movie that's reason enough for me to watch it. I watched this on HBO Max.

trailer:



Film Site opens with this:
A Star is Born is the superb 1954 dramatic musical and tearjerker, acclaimed by many as the greatest Hollywood musical ever made. Judy Garland's intense performance as the main character, probably the finest of her entire career, ...
Roger Ebert's site says it's still the best of the 5 films telling this story. 98% of Rotten Tomatoes critics reviewing this film gave it a positive review.
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16 comments:

  1. My name is Erika.4:20 AM

    I've only seen the Streisand Kristofferson version. I'm guessing they are similar?

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    1. Divers and Sundry8:02 AM

      Yes, the plots are very similar. There are 5 films that tell this story. This is generally considered the best. The first was in 1937 and starred Janet Gaynor and Frederic March. The Streisand/Kristofferson version often places last in rankings of the film adaptations.

      Delete
  2. Tom4:22 AM

    ...Judy Garland lived such a tragic life!

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  3. CJ Kennedy4:48 AM

    I've never seen this or the remake. I do like James Mason

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    1. Divers and Sundry8:03 AM

      This one's the best of these stories, and James Mason is always worth watching.

      Delete
  4. Jenn Jilks5:41 AM

    :-)

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  5. Jeanie8:04 AM

    This is my favorite of the many remakes of this (Gaynor, Streisand, Gaga) -- can't beat Judy!

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  6. Iris Flavia2:06 AM

    Quite a tribute.

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  7. Mae Travels11:39 AM

    So many "greatest of all times" films. This is another one that I have never seen. I'd like to see a list of all those labeled "Greatest." Starting with Citizen Kane, which used to be proclaimed the greatest.Or "The Wizard of Oz. Or "The Godfather," also so-called. It's a genre!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Divers and Sundry2:00 PM

      The "greatest" is usually a list voted on by certain groups -directors or critics, for example, or sometimes just the result of popular polls... This one is often called "greatest Hollywood musical" but is never on lists of greatest films -at least not on lists I've seen. AFI still lists Citizen Kane as #1 on their list of top 100, but their most recent list seems to be from 2008:
      https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies-10th-anniversary-edition/
      Wikipedia has an article about all the lists:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_considered_the_best

      Delete
  8. Let's Art Journal9:06 AM

    Loved the Judy Garland version and musicals are one of my favourite too - perfect 😀. Happy wishes! Hugs Jo x

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