A Star Is Born

The length of the filming period, the need to reshoot large portion of the material (the studio demanded the film be shot in Cinemascope format), the re-editing of the footage without the director’s knowledge: it seems that if A Star Is Born were made today, it would have shared the fate of many other never-completed masterpieces. But in old-school Hollywood, it had to be finished, and it was undoubtedly worth it: Cukor’s ability to portray the female experience combined with Judy Garland’s unique talent brought about one of the most moving musical performances of all time. It is the classic story of the birth of one star (Garland in an almost autobiographical role) and the implosion of another (James Mason’s older, alcoholic actor). Cukor manages to portray the full spectrum of emotions – from overwhelming joy to agonizing pain. Extremely stylish and brimming with visual splendour,  A Star is Born – celebrating its 70th birthday this year – remains the best version of this story, and The Man That Got Away allowed Garland’s star to shine brighter than ever before.

Patrycja Mucha

George Cukor (1899–1981) was a Hollywood director with a long and successful career. One of his earliest films was What Price Hollywood? (1932), which served as a template for all subsequent versions of A Star Is Born. He had a reputation as a “women’s director”, although personally he resented the term. Nonetheless, it was probably no accident that he directed the first Hollywood film with an all-female cast, The Women (1939). His other films include Dinner at Eight (1933), Gaslight (1944) and Adam’s Rib (1949).