Friday, April 29, 2011

The Star (1952).


The Star(1952). Directed by Stuart Heisler. Cast: Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden and Natalie Wood. Bette Davis received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The story begins when, Oscar Award winning Margaret Elliot, a bankrupt movie star, has to sell all her beautiful possessions at auction. She believes with all her heart, that one good part she can rebuild her career.

After another disappointment, she gets drunk and is arrested for DUI, and spends a night in jail. She is bailed out by Jim Johannsen, a young actor who she helped in the past.

Jim, tries to make Margaret see that her acting days are over. She does manage to get a screen test for a role in a film she’d always wanted to play. She decides to play the part as a sexy young woman but she ends up looking like a fool.

Later, at a Hollywood party, she is offered a role in a new film about a fading star who can’t face when their career is over. Will this script open Margaret's eyes to the truth.

The film, "The Star", is a look behind the scenes of old Hollywood. Bette, gave what I thought to be a realistic performance. Natalie Wood, gave a wonderful, bubbly performance as her daughter.



Classic movie snippets: The Star (1952) , movie review.



Barbara Lawrence (born February 24, 1928). She began her career as a photographer's model and performed in her first film, Diamond Horseshoe (1945). She also performed in the film, Captain from Castile(1947) with Tyrone Power. While finishing her studies at UCLA, she caught the attention of talent scouts and Lawrence was soon co-starring in 20th Century Fox movies: A Letter to Three Wives, The Street with No Name, Thieves' Highway and Here Come the Nelsons.

After her move to MGM, Lawrence starred in, Her Twelve Men. Lawrence, also played the major role in the film, Oklahoma!, in which she gets into a fight with Gloria Grahame.





7 comments:

  1. Dawn,
    I'm glad you did a review of this one. Bette was good and I enjoyed her take on the older Hollywood starlet. It's no "Sunset Boulevard" but it worked and was more enjoyable than Bette in Hush Hush or Baby Jane making a fool!
    Well done!
    Page

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  2. I recently did a review on this one as well. It's not on par with All About Eve or Sunset Boulevard, but it's very good. Bette is her usual brilliant self. I just totally love her!

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  3. I saw "The Star" for the first time recently. It might be a "minor" Bette Davis film, but her performance isn't minor (they never were). Recently read David Thomson's great 2009 book, "Betty Davis" (one of a series on iconic stars) and as I watched the beginning of the clip above, I thought of something he wrote about her. He said that she became convinced that movement and gesture were key to acting and he added "Davis often moves like a beast fearful of being leashed." Few are in her league. Very, very few.

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  4. Page, Thank you. I just recently added Bette Davis DVD movie collection, to my own collection and found this little gem of a movie.. I agree... it is no, Sunset Blvd. But still a wonderful movie.

    Patti, I will run over and read your review. Then I will add it to the bottom of my review.

    Eve, Thank you for sharing David Thomson's, thoughts from his book. Next time, I watch a Bette Davis film, I will watch it with his theroy in mind.

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  5. Dawn, only Bette could bring just the right mix of sadness, anger, denial and courage to a role like this. I got the Bette Davis collection that has this one too. No, it isn't a great film, but she is always great. Good review. Also, I remember Barbara Lawrence best from Oklahoma. That awful screechy laugh! She stood out in that one. Good review, Dawn!

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  6. Oh, I forgot. Sterling Hayden was not classically handsome, but he is so masculine! What a man!

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  7. Becky, Thank you. Off the top of my head.. I do not remember Sterling Hayden, in another film. I will have to look him up.

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