IMDb > The Star (1952)
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Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   916 votes
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Director:
Stuart Heisler
Writers:
Dale Eunson (screenplay) and
Katherine Albert (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Star on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
11 December 1952 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
The story of a woman...who thought she was a star so high in the sky no man could touch her!
Plot:
A washed-up movie queen finds romance, but still desires a come-back. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. more
User Comments:
"I Know Lance Garfield, pretty well...you don't know HOW well I know your brother". more (21 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)

Bette Davis ... Margaret Elliot
Sterling Hayden ... Jim Johannson aka Barry Lester

Natalie Wood ... Gretchen
Warner Anderson ... Harry Stone
Minor Watson ... Joe Morrison
June Travis ... Phyllis Stone
Paul Frees ... Richard Stanley
Robert Warrick ... R.J., Aging Actor at Party
Barbara Lawrence ... Herself
Fay Baker ... Margaret's sister
Herb Vigran ... Roy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Alpert ... Keith Barkley (uncredited)
James Anderson ... Actor playing Jed Garfield in The Fatal Winter (uncredited)
Florence Auer ... Old Biddy in Store (uncredited)
Marie Blake ... Annie, Stones' Maid (uncredited)
Claire Carleton ... Jailbird (uncredited)
Byron Foulger ... Druggist (uncredited)
Gil Frye ... George, Assistant Director (uncredited)
Sam Harris ... Party Guest (uncredited)
Al Hill ... Cameraman (uncredited)
John Indrisano ... Projectionist (uncredited)
Marcia Mae Jones ... Waitress (uncredited)
Lorin Raker ... Somers (uncredited)
Kay Riehl ... Mrs. Adams, Landlady (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell ... Auctioneer (uncredited)
Dorothy Vaughan ... Annie's Friend in Department Store (uncredited)
Katherine Warren ... Mrs. Ruth Morrison (uncredited)
Barbara Woodell ... Peggy Morgan (uncredited)
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Directed by
Stuart Heisler 
 
Writing credits
Dale Eunson (screenplay) and
Katherine Albert (screenplay)

Produced by
Bert E. Friedlob .... producer
 
Original Music by
Victor Young 
 
Cinematography by
Ernest Laszlo (director of photography)
 
Set Decoration by
Edward G. Boyle  (as Edward Boyle)
 
Makeup Department
Del Armstrong .... makeup supervisor
Jane Romeyn .... hair stylist
 
Production Management
J. Paul .... production supervisor
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Vreeland .... assistant director
 
Art Department
Boris Leven .... set designer
 
Sound Department
John R. Carter .... sound engineer (as John Carter)
 
Special Effects by
David Commons .... special effects
Jack Rabin .... special effects
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bill Edwards .... wardrobe (as William Edwards)
Orry-Kelly .... gowns: Miss Davis
Ann Peck .... wardrobe
Sam Benson .... wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)
 
Editorial Department
Otto Ludwig .... editorial supervisor
 
Music Department
Sidney Cutner .... orchestrator (as Sid Cuttner)
Leo Shuken .... orchestrator
Victor Young .... conductor
 
Other crew
Bert E. Friedlob .... presenter
Weslie Jones .... script supervisor
Leo Taub .... assistant to producer
 
Crew believed to be complete


Production CompaniesDistributors
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
89 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
USA:Approved | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG
Filming Locations:
Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA more
Company:
Bert E. Friedlob Productions more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Fox starlet Barbara Lawrence's presence is felt even though her actual screen time is brief. Besides her fleeting cameo appearance, she is referred to at least five other times as the young nemesis to Bette Davis' aging star. She is mentioned as an up-and-coming prospect by an agent, a drunken Davis drives by her house in a mock tour of stars' homes, her image appears in a drugstore ad that confronts Davis, Davis stops to stare at a huge portrait of Lawrence before entering her prospective producer's office, and she spitefully uses Lawrence's vacant dressing room to change alter her make-up before her screen test. For added Hollywood verisimilitude, references are made to other contemporaneous Fox stars including Victor Mature, Debra Paget, Mitzi Gaynor, and Jeanne Crain. Curiously there is a reference to an actor named Ralph Bellows, who's playing the rich, stuffy second lead. This is an obvious reference to the screen persona of Ralph Bellamy, who was not under contract to Fox at the time. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Margaret visits her ex-husband's home, a handkerchief appears and disappears from coat pocket throughout scene. more
Quotes:
Peggy Morgan: Is it money? Do you want more from John?
Margaret Elliott: More money? I never asked Johnny for money.
Peggy Morgan: He's given you $2500 over the past two years.
Margaret Elliott: Well, I gave gim $ 25.000 when I divorced him so he could marry you.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "This Is Your Life: Bette Davis" (1971) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful.
"I Know Lance Garfield, pretty well...you don't know HOW well I know your brother"., 16 March 2002
9/10
Author: algernon4

I loved this movie! I campaigned 20th Century Fox to bring it out on video because my copy was on BETA and my Betamax has long since broke. What's interesting about this movie is that it was first offered to Joan Crawford who turned it down flat. At the same time, "Sudden Fear" was presented to Davis, who didn't like the script. Davis also turned down "Come Back, Little Sheba". Well, guess what? Davis accepted "The Star", Joan accepted "Sudden Fear" and Shirley Booth got the chance to repeat her stage success in "Sheba" and all three got nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in 1952! Amazing.

Bette Davis did everything but hit the ceiling in "The Star". She was trying her best to give an Academy Award-type performance. And it was. Margaret to her agent: "You can do everything but get me a picture, can't you?! Harry Stone, the big star-maker, the gentleman agent, my friend!" That was one of the early great lines uttered by has-been movie queen, Margaret Elliot. There were many more to come. Davis turned in a realistic performance as the aging star and conveyed the frustrations that many older performers feel when they realize the truth about their failing careers.

Margaret is torn between her fear of age, her devotion to her young daughter and her drive to be "put back where I belong." She is saddled with a family that she had cared for, financially, since she became a star and their inability to understand that she was no longer a rich and famous actress. I loved the scene when she throws out her sister and brother-in-law in a fit of screaming anger, then grabs her Oscar and takes a drunken ride through the streets of Beverly Hills. After her arrest, Margaret pays a visit to her agent's office. He tell her that she's had his office "running around in circles". Margaret retorts, "Well I'VE been 'running around in circles', too! But not MARGARET ELLIOT circles!"

When Margaret gets the chance to tryout for a movie ("The Fatal Winter") she's wanted for years, she's informed that she is not reading for the lead, but the lead's older sister, Sara. Elliot plots to convince the producers that she should play the younger part by botching the screen test, playing the older sister like a young siren.

Sara: "It isn't like you to pay a social visit, Jed Garfield, what are you doing here?" Jed: "You got it fixed up real nice, Sara, real nice". Sara: "I like things nice. What do you want?" Jed: "You used to be quite a girl, you still think you are, don't you?" Sara: "I still know what's right from wrong." Jed: "You think it's right to tell folks you were in the lane the night of the murder?" Sara: "I was there, Jed Garfield, you KNOW I was there..." Jed: "Well, if you was there, what was you doin' there?" Sara: "None of your business what I was doing there." Jed: "Well, it's my business if you're tryin' to ruin my brother." Sara: "Maybe I was thinking what he tried to do to me." Jed: "You don't know Lance, when he's crossed." Sara: "I know Lance Garfield, pretty well! You don't know HOW well, I know your brother."

She played this like a flirting, young teenager and the test was awful. But it was wonderful ACTING by Miss Bette Davis!

For those who expect to see Margo Channing of "All About Eve", they won't see her here. Davis IS Margaret Elliot! When she said to the old women at the department store, "I AM Margaret Elliot, and I intend to STAY 'Margaret Elliot'!" she meant it.

I am crazy about the entire movie. The ending is contrived, but so what? This is what Davis herself described: A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED BETTE DAVIS MOVIE! Pop some corn, get a candy bar and a big soda and watch this on a very rainy day.

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