On Blu-ray: A Star is Born (1937) Restored from Nitrate

No matter how many times Hollywood remakes A Star is Born, my heart stays with the 1937 original. I’ve enjoyed seeing different takes on the story over the years, but the relationships and the characters at the center of this version have always felt the most authentic to me. I fell in love with the movie anew when I recently watched a new Blu-ray release from Warner Archive that is a gorgeous restoration from the original nitrate. 

The 1937 film is the only version to show the determined Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) before her move to Hollywood. We get to see her humble beginnings. Her home is loving, but not satisfactory. You can see the life she could have had, one that would have spared her one kind of heartbreak, but given her another by breaking her spirit. Esther’s parents don’t understand her passion for acting, but her grandmother (May Robson) does, because she has successfully acted on her own passions. 

Esther knows that she has what it takes to be a star, nothing could stop her, but having that support gives her strength. When she stands in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, admiring the footprints of the stars, far away from home, she seems less alone because you know she has that connection. 

The film plays an interesting balancing act between Esther’s (soon to be renamed Vicki) ambition and her love for Norman Maine (Frederic March). While he is the reason she succeeds in the business, she is willing to give up that success for him. It isn’t that her dream wasn’t worthy; she simply learned that love mattered more to her. 

Their relationship is one of the great screen love affairs because of their enduring friendliness with each other. It isn’t just romantic love, they like each other. While there are plenty of unhealthy aspects to their relationship, Vicki never finds him a burden, because they are truly soul mates. 

Director William Wellman takes a simple approach in filming his stars. He frequently places them directly in the center of the frame, keeping the focus on Vicki, observing her emotions with an empathetic gaze. It gives the film an intimate feeling. 

In addition to Robson, Andy Devine and Adolphe Menjou are a reassuring presence as supporters of Vicki who stand by her through the good and the ugly. Lionel Stander is a delight as her friendly, but image-driven publicity man. I’m always shocked to see him in the film because it astounds me how long his career was; what an incredible accomplishment to have gone on to act well into the 1990s! 

Special Features on the disc include Two Lux Radio Theater Broadcasts of A Star is Born, one with Gaynor, the other with Judy Garland, the carton A Star is Hatched, the shorts Mal Hallett & His Orchestra, Taking the Count, and Alibi Mark, and a theatrical trailer. 

Many thanks to Warner Archive for providing a copy of the film for review.

Film Biography Paperback Round-up: Michael Curtiz, Anna Held, Kay Kendall, and William Wellman

I spent a lot of my reading time over the past year catching up on paperback editions of biographies I had missed when they came out in hardback. All of these biographies came from my favorite publisher, University Press of Kentucky. I love the titles they put out dearly, but it is impossible to keep up with all the good things they publish, so I was grateful for a second chance to review these books:

Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel 

William Wellman, Jr. 

The best thing about this loving, but clear-eyed biography of director Wellman, by his namesake and one of his seven children, is that it is exciting from the first page. The nickname Wild Bill was apt. From his eventful childhood and peril-filled World War I pilot days to his long, magnificent career as one of the most successful film directors of the studio age, the filmmaker never had a dull moment in his life and despite caring little what people thought of him, he made more friends than enemies. He helmed an astonishing number of classic films, including Wings (1927), The Public Enemy (1931), A Star is Born (1937), and the Ox-Bow Incident (1942). Wellman also gave a break to a wide array of talent, with Ida Lupino, Rosalind Russell, Robert Mitchum, Timothy Carey, and Clint Eastwood among the young, hungry actors in which he saw star power. He appreciated his actors and crew and always stood up for him. While he had a bad habit of using his fists to deal with conflict and frustration, he’d often use that fury in their defense. His is an epic story, told here with a personal touch and the added insight of those who knew him.

The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall 

Eve Golden 

Kay Kendall is probably best known to American audiences for her breathlessly chaotic performance in The Reluctant Debutante (1958) and a scene-stealing turn in Les Girls (1957). She would not live long after making those films, succumbing to leukemia in 1959. Her thirty-two years of life were astonishingly robust and packed with activity as if she knew her time was limited. Eve Golden taps into the endless energy and determination of this woman who needed very little time to make a lasting impression. It’s a bit like reading the script of a screwball comedy, with the notable exception of a tragic death scene. Still, the overall tone here is cheerful, reflecting a woman who would never dream of sitting still or indulging in self-pity. A great tribute to a uniquely charismatic talent.

Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway 

Eve Golden 

The story of Polish-stage sensation Anna Held is remarkable because it both reveals a dramatically different time and the way fame has remained in many ways the same over the years. Golden’s exploration of the way rumor and promotional gimmicks both helped and hindered Held brings to mind many a scandal from the age of the Internet. Many film fans know Held from Luise Rainer’s Oscar-winning performance in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). As mesmerizing as Rainer was, Held was a much more substantial person, who balanced her knack for drawing adoring crowds with professional savvy, emotional wisdom, and a generosity of spirit, which she showed especially in the World War I years as she bravely traveled to frontlines to perform for French soldiers. She kept an eye on trends and did her best to advance with the times, as much as her core act was of a particular era. That intelligence is very much behind the success her common-law husband Florenz Ziegfeld had as an innovative stage pioneer. Golden gives the actress her proper due as a chief influencer in the way Ziegfeld dramatically changed stage entertainment.

Michael Curtiz 

Alan K. Rode 

It seems that plenty of people respected Michael Curtiz’ technical skill as a filmmaker, but no one liked him. At best the insensitive and crude director had the respect of his co-workers. These personality defects are only part of the fascinating aspects of a life story that covers a phenomenal career spanning silent films in Europe to the early years of sixties Hollywood. Curtiz is most celebrated for Casablanca (1942), and for good reason, but I most enjoy the movies he made in the pre-code era and the tales of their production are just as lively as the end result. 

Many thanks to University Press of Kentucky for providing copies of the books for review.

On Blu-ray: A Cast of Sympathetic Characters in Battleground (1949)

We must be smart enough and tough enough in the beginning. To put out the fire before it starts spreading.

Battleground (1949) performs a balancing act of great precision. It plunges you into the devastation of war, but it also shows flickers of light. Though it can often be difficult to watch, this is an entertaining, engrossing film that succeeds because of and despite its bleak message. Now it is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive.

The setting is Belgium in 1944. A platoon of American soldiers struggle with homesickness, discomfort, loss and the horrors of war as they fight the Battle of Bastogne in a final, horrific counteroffensive against Hitler. With an Oscar-winning screenplay written by Robert Pirosh, a veteran of the stand-off, this is a tense film because the details feel true-to-life.

It opens with a shot of a Christmas tree, decorated with the naked leg of a female mannequin. Soldiers in formation sing about the home they left, the baby they left. Though they constantly make jokes and lightly jibe at each other, you can feel how homesickness continually plagues them. A piece of bread or the prospect of getting real food, like a plate of eggs, symbolizes not only comfort, but the homes to which they wish to return.

To make it all the more touching, director William Wellman's cast is packed with some of the most likeable actors in Hollywood. Most famous for lighter musical and comedy fare, it is almost disorienting to see stars like Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy in such a bleak milieu. The actors who are more strongly associated with dramas, like James Whitmore and John Hodiak, serve as a sort of comfort, because you know how the characters they play have triumphed over darkness.

It's an interesting cast, diverse in character, but simpatico. They play off of each other with such lightness that when they can no longer shut out or gloss over the tragedy surrounding them, there is a feeling of profound loss. One moment they attempt to casually chat during a bombing, the next, they face death.

For all the forced gaiety among the soldiers, the atmosphere is one of pure horror. A haunting fog envelopes most of the action, and is a constant reminder of their vulnerability to sneak attacks and starvation due to the lack of supply drops. The battlefield covered in snow hints at the discomfort of the men and the fear of muffled steps in the snow masking a deadly approach. Half the time the soldiers can't see their target, the rest they are unsure if they are speaking to Americans or German soldiers succeeding at a brilliant masquerade.

Audiences must have still felt raw from the wounds of World War II as they watched this upon its first release. This is the fear that they either felt themselves or saw their loved ones experience. That terror is stripped down to the basics, where a makeshift shelter under a jeep can be a tomb or a pair of empty boots can cause a man to choke in helpless grief.

A harrowing experience, Battleground is nevertheless a deeply satisfying film that rewards multiple viewings. It elicits empathy by drawing you into the battle, the boots and helmets of these brave, but ultimately vulnerable men.

The black and white imagery on the disc is especially striking, with a soft, velvety look that enhances the feeling of a disconnect from reality on the fog-shrouded battlefield. Special features include a trailer for the film, a vintage featurette and the cartoon, Little Red Riding Hood.

Many thanks to Warner Archive for providing a copy of the film for review. To order, visit The Warner Archive Collection.