Synopsis
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Janet GaynorEsther Blodgett / Vicki Lester
- Fredric MarchNorman Maine
- Adolphe MenjouOliver Niles
- May RobsonLettie Blodgett
- Andy DevineDanny McGuire
- Lionel StanderMatt Libby
- Owen MooreCasey Burke
- Peggy WoodMiss Phillips
- Elizabeth JennsAnita Regis
- Edgar KennedyPop Randall
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
A Star is Born captures wonderfully the hustle of Hollywood. - 90
The New York Times
The original beauty. Not as glittery as Garland-Mason but in some ways even more golden. - 90
Variety
Although not the first film which has attempted to capitalize the international reputation of Hollywood, it is unquestionably the most effective one yet made. The highly commendable results are achieved with a minimum of satiric hokum and a maximum of honest story telling. - 75
Slant Magazine
William Wellman’s 1937 version of this oft-told tale, of the rising starlet and the plummeting alcoholic has-been she refuses to cast aside, is usually regarded as the second-best of the lot, a few steps behind George Cukor’s 1954 remake, which has the unfair advantage of being one of the unimpeachable masterpieces of American film. - 50
The New Yorker
The film is peculiarly masochistic and self-congratulatory.
