Hollywood drama with a hint of humour on the top

Hollywood drama with a hint of humour on the top

written by Georgina Kassai

A Star is Born, which was made in 1937, is an American Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick (who also produced Gone with the Wind), directed by William A. Wellman from a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell and starring Janet Gaynor (7th Heaven (1927), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) as Esther Blodgett, an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)) as Norman Maine, a fading movie star who helps launch her career.

The film is about Hollywood – its beautiful and ugly side as it shows a relationship between two people who are at opposite points of their career and because of that there is a lot of drama, but with romance, which makes it a little lighter with some jokes and funny scenes, even at the end.

The movie perfectly shows how Hollywood looked like at that time: how it worked if someone had a career in the film industry. It was not easy, at least for most people. The costumes represent the time when the film was made, the style of the 30s.

The sound effects are either caused by the characters and things on the set, as they are everyday sounds, and this is mostly for the comedic aspect of the film, or music without any singing, and this is for helping the viewer to enjoy the scene more and it generates in the viewer the correct emotions for the scene. There are a lot of cuts in the film, and each one follows the other in chronological order, as the story is linear. Moreover, there are different camera angles, sometimes the camera is far from the actors, and sometimes, for some important scenes the camera is closer to the faces of the actors.

Furthermore, the film’s most important part is the actors. The filmscript is quite simple, but the actors deliver their lines perfectly and they make the film enjoyable. The lead actors are really good in their roles, as the young Hollywood actress and the drunk falling star. But some other supporting actresses and actors deliver good acting too, because each one represents a character with a different character type.

My personal opinion is that the film is worth watching. The funny scenes make it more likeable; I really liked the humour of the grandmother. I felt the story was like a Hollywood fairy tale, even at the end, but I think it was because it was more funny than dramatic in a sad way. My favourite scene was the end when the grandmother appeared again, speaking to the radio at the red carpet, but I also liked the scene when Esther received the Oscar.

In conclusion, A Star Is Born is a classic film with great actors, demonstrating two people’s lives on the two different sides of fame. The plot could happen in modern times too and because of that it is no wonder that it has three remakes.