Review of A Star Is Born (1954) by Harry W — 23 May 2013

The actual viewing pleasure of A Star is Born is damaged due to the loss of much of the film's original footage and the fact that it attempts to make up for the story with pan and scan of production stills, accompanied by the restored dialogue, and this fails to successfully convey what plot dynamics are actually occurring and so the actual entertainment from the film is damaged by the poor reconstruction, although the editors should be credited for trying.

But ignoring all of that, A Star is Born succeeds at being the musical extravaganza it intended to, since the production values of the film are great and the musical numbers are very jaunty and colourful venture with memorable music and an utter sense of charm to it.

The handling of the serious story is done gently and doesn't make it an emotionally manipulative story, and since its a nearly 3-Hour long film I'm glad since that makes it easier to sit through and doesn't make the story damaged if you look away for a second. It really is a strong spectacle, even being emotional and complex at times without deviating too far away from the fun of the splendour of a business, even though its hard most of the time.

The majority of the praise goes straight to the magnificent Judy Garland for her charismatic and beautiful lead performance. A Star is Born is the absolute perfect role for her because much of the story parallels her real life struggles, being mainly that she was constantly treated as if she wasn't attractive and forced to have her appearance manipulated by studios to fit their ridiculous criteria, but even that doesn't get her down because Judy Garland has never looked so beautiful as in a star is born because the mix between her beauty of facial gestures and body movement next to the fact that she pours her heart out to sing and dance with so much passion that she gives a performance dedicated and loved by her so much that its impossible for the audience to love her any less. Judy Garland was absolutely magnificent and gave one of the best performances in musical film history in A Star is Born, and I will never forget the glorious image of her dancing around a room in regular clothing giving birth to the inner beauty that was held back by studios for so long. She was absolutely magnificent and beautiful and many other things in A Star is Born and that's the whole reason that the film is an unforgettable spectacle.

James Mason also gave a good lead opposite Judy Garland because as well as convincingly holding his own in a strong performance as a declining actor, he have great determination to Judy Garland's character and kept the story in motion constantly, and he was very convincing in the part.

So the two leads never let the viewer down with A Star is Born, neither do the magnificent musical numbers or plot dynamics. Only the poor reconstruction and occasional confusion did that, but it couldn't stop be from loving the magnificence of one of film history's finest remakes, A Star is Born.