The Star (1952)

Director:

Stuart Heisler

Writers:

Dale Eunson (screenplay) and
Katherine Albert (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 December 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

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.

Plot Keywords:

Career | Hollywood | Shipyard | Screen Test | Actor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

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

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

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

Company:

Bert E. Friedlob Productions

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.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Late in the movie there is a scene at the home of Harry Stone, Margaret's agent. As he is telling his wife, Phyllis, about the poor results of Margaret's screen test, the two are walking through the house. The shadow of the boom mic can be seen on the wall behind them as they are walking.

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.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV)

Whatever happened to Margaret Elliot?Going,going gone!

Another movie where the director does not matter much.It's the actress who makes the movie.And when the actress is none other than Bette Davis ,the pleasure is intense.

Although not as good as "Sunset Boulevard" ,which it often recalls,"the star" is a solid absorbing melodrama.Davis was one of the few actresses who had the guts to play her "days to come" ;it was even more stunning in Aldrich "Whatever happened to Baby Jane?" during the following decade.And deservedly,Davis never really grew old-fashioned ,in 1981,she had even a song dedicated to her eyes.

"The star" has two great moments.The first one happens when Davis is walking down the street and when relics of her heyday are sold by auction:going,going,gone!;the second one when she watches her test and cries over the dismal results.Davis was so gifted an actress she could "play badly" and remain fascinating: the test was her last fight to regain a youth which eluded her.As Holden told to Swanson in Wilder's opus:"Being fifty is nothing tragic when you do not pretend you are thirty".