Comparing Every Version of A Star Is Born

if you're like me you used the newest version of stars born as an excuse to revisit the other ones 1937 1954 and 1976 what interests me about this franchise is that the skeleton of the plot is actually really flexible each movie-going generation molds it to reflect an evolving perspective on stardom even though major plot points stay the same little things give us clues about our cultural and cinematic history I couldn't really pass up the opportunity to talk about all of this in the year of a new star is born so strap in because in this video I'll chart some of the things that differentiate and connect these films and then I'll get into some history some analysis and hopefully this will contribute to your understanding of the new film let's get started so the specifics of each film varied but the storyline basically adheres to this plot Esther Blodgett wants to break into show business she meets Norman Maine a very famous and successful entertainer totally by chance he's taken with her and helps her launch her career Norman meanwhile suffers from alcoholism which in turn is ruining his career they get married Esther's career takes off she becomes Vicki Lester and her Fame eclipses his she wins a major award but Norman ruins the evening by interrupting her speech he goes to rehab but it doesn't take and he gets into more trouble he overhears Esther consider quitting her career to focus on him and his recovery he can't stand this and commit suicide Esther returns to the stage to honor her husband's memory and continue her career [Music] 1937 a star is born stars Janet Gaynor and Frederick March the first version of a star was born is probably the most underrated likely because Janet's hold on modern pop culture is considerably lighter than Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand's but it's sweet and raw and most importantly precise avoiding the excesses of its later iterations it's also a time capsule of a very specific era in Hollywood history 1937 was an interesting time the worst of the depression was over war wasn't quite imminent and the studio's had a ton of power over their image and employees Hollywood had room to be hopeful and self-reflective in kind a star is born both acknowledges Hollywood's veneer and endorses it it's a send-up a propaganda piece and a sincere tribute rolled into one we mean Esther in North Dakota she's antsy because she wants to go to LA to follow her dreams she has an indestructible quality she knows exactly what she wants and you never have the sense that she won't get it the North Dakota origin Ark from nobody to movie goddess helps create a compelling narrative but it's also really important because in 1937 you don't become a star without an origin story so it would have seemed incomplete to leave one out here's how you become a star in 1937 someone from the studio sees you it could be literally anywhere in the chorus or at a soda fountain you do a screen test if you have star quality you're signed you get a new name that sounds better than your real one they change your appearance to make you prettier and then they give you an origin story to make you interesting and brand you as a type this really happened in Hollywood and this is exactly what happens in the movie Esther Blodgett becomes Vicki Lester just to have to death to Lester pickle Esther oh I like that she gets a new story no I was going to film one North Dakota oh no grace saw a light of day in a mountain cabin a Trappist hut high up in the Rockies this wasn't an expose as Jeanine Basinger wrote quote the star machine was never a secret Hollywood wasn't concerned about the public discovering that their favorite darlings were manufactured end quote instead they took ownership of it told the public all about it and then glamorized it the message was this could be you sure you're a normal girl from Montana but so was Myrna Loy this version frequently reminds us that the stars everyone knew and loved went through this exact process come on I don't be foolish they already goes was Harlow Lombard Myrna Loy and now after blodger when Esther first arrives in Hollywood she's immediately starstruck it doesn't matter that Esther is Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor because the audience connects immediately to her sense of awe they love Shirley Temple - they could become movie stars - also three cheers for Janet Gaynor's impressions like OnPoint will you have two more days you do not go dad don't you the studio system is doing here what it does best promoting an image this part of the star is born' makes becoming a movie star look really cool and accessible but the movie also makes becoming a star look really terrible and nobody knew that dark side better than Judy Garland the process of making 1954 a star is born it was kind of nightmarish some of which I detail in another video which I'll link to somewhere and some of which you're better off just reading about it in Ron Havers book about this film but needless to say literally nothing went smoothly and despite this the results are pretty great cuecore and screenwriter Mosshart made some key changes that transforms the 1930s melodrama the most obvious is it's a musical now from 1947 to 1951 the number of people going to movies twice a week went from 90 million to 54 million thanks to TV so movies had to be increasingly big and colorful to sell and musicals did this really really well and since Judy Garland was looking for a comeback vehicle seemed like the perfect fit by 1954 Hollywood didn't care to talk about where stars came from because the star system was on its way out so goodbye North Dakota origin story this ester is origin lists and has a vague goal to become a successful singer record will become number one on the hit parade we played on the jukeboxes all over the country and I'll be made command of dream has any one thing wrong with that I know it won't happen heart smartly uses this as his means of creating the musical every song in the star is born is diegetic which means it's performed in front of a fictional audience that knows it's watching a performance in other words there's no Judy wistfully singing to herself out of a window the context of each song charts her progress from anonymous chorus girl to main attraction norman first meets ester when he stumbles drunkenly on stage as he performs at a benefit concert having norman witness esther perform makes his immediate infatuation and subsequent career assistance a little easier to buy as opposed to running into her when she's working at a party this is one of the many genius moves Mosshart contributed to this version another was how thoroughly he unpacks Esther and Norman here is played by James Mason Norman is on the whole and much more sympathetic character in 1954 he's refined and intelligent and self-aware the 1937 mane was a charmer but hoarse and not very self-reflective the most obvious barometer of Norman's growth is the oscar debacle March is angry boorish and aggressive gentlemen of the Academy and fellow suckers I got one of those once for a best performance they don't mean a thing Mason gives a desperate plea well I need a job now I need a job his sincerity makes the speech more painful Vicky's love for him more tragic and therefore the climax more effective Judy's Esther is more vulnerable and uncertain of her talent than Janet's even though she lives for singing really she's just happy to be here you don't know how many years it's taken me to get this far I'm doing fine mr. man just great what their comparative vulnerability is most pronounced in how they deal with Norman's alcoholism take the scene where Esther explains her marital troubles to her producer in 1937 it's pretty short and reserved Tunnel II it fits the movie it's sad but it doesn't really overwhelm her in 1954 this monologue completely unravels into a heartbreaking confession because he tries he does hate me this stands out for a lot of reasons one again a great choice by Mosshart to unpack Esther's feelings and raise the stakes for Norman's downfall to judy acts the hell out of this scene qguar acknowledged that he pushed her to draw from personal experience here because in a lot of ways judy was Norman Maine she struggled with substance abuse didn't always have an easy time finding a job spent some time in rehab and ultimately albeit accidentally ended up killing herself three it tonally subverts it's John rrah Jane foyer points out that a star is born critiques the dominant syntax of movie musicals from the 1950s singing in the rain and American in Paris Guys and Dolls The King and I etcetera they all have a lot of depth but they aren't somber experiences this scene and those that follow a VOC account of post-war psychological intensity that's more similar to dramas like on the waterfront or East of Eden it's an arresting reminder that while a star is born does have its glittery moments it is a tragedy and that's subversive in its own way in her first public appearance after her husband's death she introduces herself as not Vicki Lester but as mrs. Norman Maine this is supposed to be a sweet moment where she acknowledges how much he meant to her and how much he's still part of her life and it is that it is also very much how someone would express that feeling in 1954 something the next ester would push back against [Music] once again production on a star is born' was a nightmare director Frank Pearson wrote a whole op-ed about it which was awkward the film was poorly reviewed but did very well financially the studio mandated that it be a musical which Barbara didn't like at first but a good for her because she ended up being like the only person to ever win an Oscar off of this franchise so far screenwriters Joan Didion and John Gregory done being the geniuses that they are made a significant and brilliant change now Esther and Norman are rock stars this is the best change for three reasons one it allowed them to keep the same format as the original movie musicals weren't as popular in 1976 as they were in the 50s so a movie about a woman building her entire career on movie musicals would have seemed out of place Barbara herself hadn't even been in a musical for six years so you can keep the music and remain diegetic by becoming a rock star this kind of tricks the audience into watching a musical because they feel like they're at a concert - it felt more modern the landscape of pop culture changed and so did its music in 1954 many mainstream pop artists were also stars of movie musicals Doris Day Frank Sinatra Eddie Fisher the music could simultaneously reflect a theatrical sensibility and contemporaneous pop and then rock happens the Grammys began in 1959 and pop music becomes exclusively musicians the Eagles L john joni mitchell there's Woodstock Monterey Pop etc etc Diddy and and done smartly realized that this story necessitated new framing to feel relevant three self-destructive entertainers looked different in 1976 a new type of celebrity bred its own legends of success and failure audiences didn't see John Barrymore as the poster child for self-destruction they had Jim Morrison Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin John Norman has a very 70s down resulting in his potentially accidental death Barbara's boyfriend wanted it that way shrug but the most interesting thing is Esther's very 70s reaction this Esther is living through the women's movement title nine roe v-- wade the Equal Credit Opportunity Act the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the outlawing of marital rape all passed within five years of this film the UN declared 1975 International Women's year as a woman of the 70s Barbara's Esther reflects the freedom and confidence her peers would have had or at least were fighting for she's the most confident of the four nothing will stand in her way and more than any other Esther she has command of her art and it's presentation she also played with gender norms of the time it was edgy to put makeup on John then five minutes later to wear a suit and order men around Esther proposes to him and make sure to say this at the ceremony for good measure anyway obey is out you know at the dawn of a new century in the end she hyphenates her last name rather than taking his completely a lot of this probably has to do with Barbara herself who exerted a lot of creative control on the project to the point that she brought in her own wardrobe and credits herself for it too so if you haven't seen the newest star is born yet here is your chance to turn back before spoilers if you have seen it or at least a trailer you know the most recent iteration keeps the 1976 rock star slash Grammys element it largely adheres to the major plot points of the other versions except now it's 2018 and you can say [ __ ] every two minutes and watch YouTube it's most important adjustment is that Norman now Jackson played by Bradley Cooper has an extensive backstory I think this actually follows a path laid out since 1954 as I mentioned earlier James Mason's Norman is a kinder more sympathetic character Kris Kristofferson builds on this in 1976 he has a goal to own his own record company he loves Esther but he just can't deal with the industry and as much as those versions give that character more depth you don't know much about him at all like Esther he was origin las' but now we're in the age of the anti-hero there are plenty of examples of guys who do bad things who we just still like because we get them and really underneath they're good people in this landscape where you can unpack one character over the course of six seasons context is key and Jackson gets a lot of context now he has a family and a ranch and a history of mental illness these things propel his downfall more than his career or male fragility and thank God they updated Jackson's ego the previous Norman's can't handle losing their identity when they're called mr. Lester which would not work in 2018 again we can use the awards show as a barometer of his growth his Grammy scene is not a struggle with his position of power it indicates a real honest struggle with substances all of this makes Jackson the most fleshed out character of the four and gives him a lot more screen time to the point that the movie is kind of more about him than it is about her the ester character here is named Ali because no one is named ester anymore and because we love origins again Ali has roots like in the 1937 version they go to great lengths to give her a home life but also no last name so I guess no hyphenated option for the end they also modernize her by making her a pop artist in the conventional sense with dancers costumes and songs about ass although Ali is an echo of Barbara's version she doesn't have the same agency as Barbra instead her characterization harkens back to 37 and 54 we're right back to that star making system think of her dyeing her hair accepting the dancers and worrying about her appearance as the 2008 teen version of sitting in that studio makeup chair it's just a different way of willingly molding yourself into what someone thinks of as are again the concerns are the same but they take different shape to speak to contemporary audiences Sam Elliott's character in the 2018 version says that music is how different people see and interpret the same 12 octaves that's really what these films are and that's why they're continually compelling to truly compare each of these films down to the mind new show would be a lot there's millions of things that I've left out that I could still write a thesis about each production had insane behind-the-scenes stories I don't know do you want a video about that what do you think of the new one I have a lot of thoughts let me know in the comments and obviously check out my channel if you like stuff like this thank you for watching

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 2,515,068

Rating: 4.9242859 out of 5

Keywords: lady gaga a star is born, a star is born, bradley cooper, 2018, musicals, judy garland, barbra streisand, janet gaynor, frederic march, kris kristofferson, james mason, a star is born oscars, the man that got away, evergreen, 1954, 1937, 1976, lady gaga, stefani germanotta, esther blodgett, norman maine, ally, hollywood

Id: akaPSGMi03k

Length: 18min 9sec (1089 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 06 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/deville66]

It's funny. When the restored version of the 1954 version of A Star Was Born was shown in 2010 on AMC, I began watching it thinking I was going to see a film that was in every way a Judy Garland vehicle. I mean, the AMC documentary and backstory they sold, seemed to describe it that way. But as I watched ASIB, it was the Norman Maine character, this bumbling faded English gentleman, who's life you watch just fall to pieces, one drink at a time.... that stuck with me. The performance given by James Mason absolutely rips your guts out. I will never get over his eyes when he realizes just what he has done to his wife's career. I hope Cooper does justice to the role because I don't think Mason's can be topped.

[u/AkashicRecorder]

No Aashiqui 2? (lol)

[u/specfreader]

I haven't seen the new movie yet but the Judy Garland version is one of my favourite movies. This essay compares the four versions and show how they were updated to keep up with changes in society