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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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11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
C'mon Oscar, let's you and me go get drunk!, 9 March 2001
8/10
Author: Boyo-2

Bette Davis is doing a dry-run/out of town opening for her own future in "The Star". Playing a actress down on her luck and getting it from all sides (creditors are selling her possessions, her ex-husbands' new wife is constantly condescending and her sister is always at the door for a crisp $20.), her only refuge is her daughter, played by Natalie Wood in what appears to be her gawky, teenage phase.

Bette smokes as much as usual, completely blows her top at least five times, and in the most memorable scene, takes her Oscar on a drunken tour of all the young actresses houses - good thing they all live on the same street!

This character is a step below Margo Channing, well on her way to Baby Jane Hudson. Davis received her second-to-last Oscar nomination - her last being for "Baby Jane". She owns the screen because she brings a humanity to the character - she still has her pride, even though that doesn't get you very far in a town with a short memory.

I believe the Oscar used was one of Bette's - at least they didn't use one of those phony ones. Its a symbol in the movie of what once was.

I give Davis a lot of credit for playing characters close to her own life ( I would imagine even she felt the ageism of Hollywood ) and when she says that she's directed more than one director, you can tell she knows what she's talking about.

Its also poignant and a little disturbing to see Natalie Wood on a sailboat at one point.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Davis makes the most of substandard material, 12 June 2005
6/10
Author: Nick Zegarac (movieman-200) from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Hollywood actress, Margaret Elliot (Bette Davis) is a has-been – only she refuses to believe it. After a career, par excellence that made her the toast of two continents, Margaret's fame and fortune is reduced to a pick and save garage sale and public auction to help raise money. She's broke – with no prospects of regaining her illustrious toe-hold in the land of make-believe. However, if living in the past agrees with Maggie, it certainly doesn't do anything for her beaux, Jim Johannson (Sterling Hayden) or adult daughter, Gretchen (Natalie Wood). But this can't be the end…can it? Is there life after fame? These are just two of the questions that director, Stuart Heisler attempts to answer in his interesting – if a tad stoic – reliquary of mumbo-jumbo that sadly, gets mired in a bit of heavy handed melodrama before the final fadeout. What is interesting about "The Star" (1952) is that, for the most part, it might have best been re-titled as "Bette Davis: My Life So Far." By 1952 Davis had lost the supremacy of acquiring plum roles for herself over at Warner Bros. In fact, her studio contract had been canceled. She had made a resounding comeback with "All About Eve" (1950) but had not been offered any more tour de force parts to aid in that upswing. By all accounts, Davis was a has-been. It is that underbelly of life imitating art that adds layering to a tale that otherwise would not be there for the asking.

Warner's transfer on "The Star" is rather good, exhibiting a very pristine characteristic with solid blacks, clean whites and a minimal amount of film grain. Fine details are nicely realized throughout the film without the appearance of edge enhancement. The audio is mono but has also been very nicely cleaned up. We also get a brief, but adequate featurette "How real is the Star?" that is a succinct summation of both Davis' status at the box office and the overall impact of the film itself. Not bad, but one wishes that Warner Brothers had had the courage to remaster some of Bette Davis' more lucrative and popular endeavors which made her a star in the first place.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Hollywood Under The Microscope, 14 August 2006
9/10
Author: Hal-900 from WA, USA

"The Star" is an honest, unflinching look at the old Hollywood machinery. Bette Davis stars as Margaret Elliot, an Oscar Winning actress whose career has come to an abrupt end. Elliot is broke and unwanted, desperate for a role that could put her back on top again. It is a pungent exploration of a profession where only the toughest survives. Davis was well aware that her role was based on Joan Crawford and I'm sure she relished the opportunity to ridicule everything Crawford stood for; the senseless vanity that movie actresses like Crawford were famous for. But I'm not so sure Davis realized that she herself had more than a few things in common with her character. In any event, a few scenes contain some of Davis' best work ever. The moment her character realizes that she has sabotaged her own screen test and the screen test itself, demonstrate that very few actresses can match Davis' range. It is a mystery that this film is never mentioned when people talk about Davis' best roles. It is also strange that no one mentions this movie when "films about making films" are discussed. It is right up there with "The Bad and the Beautiful" and "Sunset Boulevard". Sterling Hayden is a perfect leading man for a tough actress like Davis. Natalie Wood is sweet as Davis' daughter. Ernest Laszlo's camera gives the film a gritty, documentary-like look. I cannot recommend this film enough!

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Solid Good Stuff, 28 July 2000
Author: ivan beshkov (ivanbeshkov@msn.com) from Los Angeles

The story of a washed up and penniless movie actress who doesn't want to give up her hope of making a comeback. The critics hated it, but I knew I would love it, and sure enough, it was one of the best films I have ever seen, simple, unpretentious, human-scale, full of compassion, eloquence and BEAUTY. This is one of the most BEAUTIFUL films ever made, visually ravishing in its simple and unobtrusive way. It instantly draws you in. The camera is warm and friendly. It doesn't browbeat you.

Unlike "Sunset Boulevard", this film does not put on artistic garb, but it triumphs as a work of art. The story, though similar, is far more interesting. In Sunset Boulevard the faded star is wealthy, and money is no object. That impoverishes the plot. Movies about the rich are invariably poor.

It is most sad that such wonderful films are almost never shown. This is one of Davis' best films and performances. Several scenes are memorable. Davis' sister remarks, she can't imagine where all the money went. Davis is justifiably furious at such ingratitude, and throws her out of her room, after reminding her that she spent countless thousands helping her. In another scene Bette has been talked into giving up "chasing rainbows" and works as a sales clerk at a department store. Two elderly women recognize her, and she overhears one of them say: "What a disgrace they hired a jailbird". Davis loses her temper and quits yelling: "The disgrace is that I am waiting on two old bags like you!!!".

Although Davis has her flaws, you have to give her credit for selecting so many good films. There are many famous actors who do not have a single solid film to their credit.

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All about Bette, 2 October 2009
8/10
Author: jotix100 from New York

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Aging in the movie business is one of the worst curses an actress must endure after reaching her forties. The indignities which Margaret Elliott must go through can destroy women that find themselves ignored by the same people they helped getting started. Margaret finds herself in a quandary because she is broke and has no prospects of ever working in pictures again. To add to the terrible situation she is facing, Margaret finds herself thrown out of the small apartment where she has been living in almost poverty because she cannot come up with the money owed to the corporation that owns the building.

As we come to meet her, Margaret Elliott is passing by the auction place where most of her belongings are offered to any bidder in order to repay some of her debts. To make matters worse, she is confronted by her sister and brother-in-law, who have taken a lot from her, giving her nothing in return. At the height of her desperation, she gets drunk and is jailed for a night. Margaret is horrified by the scene she finds, even as drunk as she must be. The bail is paid by Jim Johansson, a kind man that feels he owes Margaret for her pushing him to be in movies, something that he was not comfortable with. Now he has his own business; he asks her to stay with him in the place by the water where he has his boat repair shop. Margaret's only daughter, is now living with her father in the home he is now sharing with Peggy, his second wife.

Margaret, in spite of what common sense dictates, doesn't want to give up on whatever is left of her film career. For that she ask her agent to talk to a studio executive into letting her have a pivotal, but minor part in a movie based on a book she once optioned. The test she makes is a disaster because instead of following what the director wants from her, she decides to do it her way. Needless to say, she doesn't get the part. That incident proves to be what brings her back to her present reality and it is with Jim, who has proved he really loves her and cares for her and Gretchen, her daughter.

This 1952 picture, directed by Stuart Heisler, is one of the most honest films about that reality in the fake world of Hollywood, a monster that creates and destroy lives as it sees fit. This story about a woman who gave her all to the medium and suddenly sees herself rejected and alone, owing to her creditors and without any prospects for ever finding a paying job in the movies.

Bette Davis was about forty-one when this film was made. "The Star" followed one of her triumphs, "All About Eve". She was perfect for the part as it touched on many aspects of her own life and experience in the movie industry. That is why her Margaret Elliott feels so real and pathetic, at the same time. Ms. Davis did a marvelous job in conveying the difficulty she was under in a performance that gives the viewer chills just by watching the actress destroying herself.

Sterling Hayden was much younger than his co-star, and yet, he makes an impression as the good man that realizes what Margaret is facing and comes to her rescue. Young Natalie Wood is sweet as Gretchen, the daughter Margaret couldn't keep with her. Warner Anderson and Minor Watson, are seen in supporting roles.

The music is by Victor Young, and not by Alfred Newman, who scored most of the great Bette Davis' movies at Warner Bros. Ernest Lazlo is the cinematographer and in a funny moment Ms. Davis mentions the way he used to light up her scenes to make her look better, and all along he was behind the camera doing just that! Stuart Heisler and his star Bette Davis did a real fine job in telling it like it really was in that fantasy world of Hollywood that no one spoke about.

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Delirious Hollywood nonsense..., 2 November 2008
6/10
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

On-the-skids melodrama with Bette Davis as fallen movie celebrity Margaret Elliot, watching as all her belongings go up on the auction block ("one dollar!" someone calls out); her motto from this point seems to be "Going, going, gone." The picture, enjoyable and perhaps cathartic for both Davis and her fans at the time, is both campy and ferocious, with claws out; a look at how celebrity changes perceptions and, when that celebrity fades, how difficult it is for once-famous people to get their lives back on track. There are some slow stretches involving Davis with potential suitor Sterling Hayden, but her early downward spiral and subsequent struggle to find work is absorbing--in a masochistic, gaudy way. A last-act tease, wherein Margaret gets the chance to act again, deliciously appears to parallel Bette's own reality at this point. Her grit and determination makes "The Star" a lowdown, satisfying wallow. **1/2 from ****

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Like Crawford's Career, It Starts off Strongly Before Going Downhill..., 22 July 2009
Author: JoeytheBrit from www.moviemoviesite.com

Reportedly based on the situation of Joan Crawford at the time, this sometimes over-melodramatic drama could just as easily be a prediction of the fate awaiting it's star, Bette Davis. In fact, near the end of the film, when a screenwriter is pitching his screenplay to her character at a party, it looked as if she was going to accept the role, which would have made the film so completely self-referential that it would have bordered on genius (but only for the briefest of moments - the film itself is nothing special).

Davis looks her age here - in fact she looks more than her age. It's deliberate I think, but it shows a degree of bravery on her part at a time when actresses careers still depended on how much glamour they could project on the screen. She's a washed up actress, former Oscar winner - the scene where she takes Oscar on a drunken tour of the home of Hollywood's stars is the film's highlight - who's roles have dried up as tastes and acting styles move on while she has stood still. She's so blind to herself that she still believes happiness and stardom are irrevocably entwined, meaning that, for most of the film, she completely misses the chance for happiness that's waiting in the wooden but likable form of Sterling Hayden.

The first part of the film, in which Davis's character undergoes a slow, brutally painful implosion is by far the best. After she emerges from jail, bailed out by Hayden's character, to be confronted by screaming headlines about her incarceration, the film quickly deteriorates into a typical soap, complete with messages spelled out for those who aren't paying attention. Hayden fixes a motor while Davis nurses her hangover: he says something like 'I repair this every week. It could run forever, but its owner keeps running it at full tilt.' When Davis steals a bottle of perfume from a store only to discover it is nothing but coloured water, Hayden portentously explains the parallels to Davis's philosophy on life to her and the audience, and I started feeling as if he was holding my hand and guiding me through the movie.

A coltish Natalie Wood steps in and out of the picture as Davis's teenage daughter. She doesn't have much to do, and there are only tiny signs of the beauty she would one day become.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Whatever happened to Margaret Elliot?Going,going gone!, 6 February 2007
Author: dbdumonteil

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".

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Like a knife in the back from Bette Davis!, 15 July 2006
8/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

Much of the reason Bette Davis did this movie was because it was apparently a movie based, in part, on the life of Joan Crawford. While this was never announced by the studio for fear of legal action, Bette apparently delighted in doing the part because she loathed Joan so much! Oddly, the movie also COULD have been based on Davis' life as well, as there were also many parallels, but I doubt if Miss Davis noticed this.

The star in the title refers to a down and out and faded movie star who is all but forgotten and given to getting drunk and screwing up her life. As a result, it is a very tough film to watch, as your skin crawls in embarrassment at just how low this actress has fallen. However, despite this, it is an excellent and "in your face" melodrama about the dark side of stardom. Davis' performance is excellent and just plain creepy!

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