The Star (1952)

Just perfect...

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

In 1950, in one of her greatest films, "All About Eve," Bette Davis, in the role of Margo Channing, played a Broadway stage actress "of a certain age" who has become fearful about her future career and personal attractiveness. Two years later, Ms. Davis essayed a similar kind of role--an aging Hollywood actress who can no longer get parts and who is on the edge of bankruptcy--in Stuart Heisler's "The Star." When we first encounter Margaret Elliot, she is standing outside an auction house that is selling off all her worldly effects, the words "Going, going, gone" also serving as a cruel commentary on her vanishing career. A former Oscar winner, Margaret is now divorced, broke and with little in the way of prospects. Her young daughter Gretchen (played by 14-year-old Natalie Wood, here on the cusp of womanhood) still reveres her, but to the rest of Tinseltown, she is "box office poison." After serving a night in the can for a DUI, Margaret is bailed out by her one-time fellow actor Jim Johannsen (played by the great Sterling Hayden). The possibility is held out for a normal life with this gentle and understanding man, but can Margaret resist the urge to try for a comeback, in the form of an "older sister" screen test?Often seen as a film that closely parallels Davis' own career, "The Star" is only analogous to a certain point. Like that of Margaret Elliot, Davis' career of course had its ups and downs, its Oscar win(s) and its fights with the studio system. But unlike Margaret, Davis would go on to appear in many more great pictures in her later years (such as "The Virgin Queen," "The Catered Affair," "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte," "The Nanny," "The Whales of August" and on and on). Still, Davis must have identified closely with her character here, and it shows in some truly great work. In a film with numerous compelling scenes, two with Davis especially stand out: her drunk-driving episode while clutching her Oscar in one hand and a bottle in the other, simultaneously giving the imaginary listener a tour of Hollywood ("On your left is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brinkman...better known to you tourists as Jeanne Crain...."), and the sequence in which she reacts, in horror, to the results of her most recent screen test. Bette, indeed, at her finest, and certainly worthy of her real-life Oscar nomination for her work here. Hayden, of course, is at his sterling best; how nice to see him playing a tender, kindly role, for a change, coming back into Margaret's life as some kind of impossibly understanding guardian angel. In another strange parallel, Hayden, an ex-sailor who became an actor to raise money for a boat, here plays an ex-actor who gives up his career to become a boat mechanic! And how strange to see Natalie, with her well-known fear of ships and the water, here blithely bouncing all over the deck of Johannsen's schooner!"The Star" is a compact film, coming in at 90 minutes, and Heisler serves it well. Five years earlier, he had directed Susan Hayward in her breakout film, "Smash-up: The Story of a Woman," which also featured a frustrated female entertainer going on a drunken bender. "The Star" is at least the equal of that great film, and indeed features what turns out to be an essential Bette Davis performance. No, it is not as fine a picture as "All About Eve" (few films are), but is still eminently likable, memorable and praiseworthy. All this, and a Hollywood happy ending, too!

Desperate for money, fading movie queen Bette Davis (as Margaret "Maggie" Elliot) reluctantly auctions off some of her possessions. What she really wants is one good picture; but, Ms. Davis is thought too old for the kind of films audiences attend. When her fresh-faced daughter Natalie Wood (as Gretchen) asks if she's "washed up," mother Davis says she's making a movie in a few weeks. But, there is no film deal. Sadly, Davis picks up her Academy Award and says, "C'mon Oscar, let's you and me get drunk!" "You don't seem to know why I am!" screams a drunken Davis, after reckless driving lands her in jail. She is bailed out by hunky ex-actor Sterling Hayden (as Jim Johannson), an actor she once helped get a movie role. He tries to get Davis back on her feat, and encourages her to take a job as a saleslady in a department store. The two go sailing with little Natalie and look like they are forming a nice family of three. But, Davis wants to make a comeback, and reestablish herself as "The Star" of Hollywood.This film was purportedly prepared for Joan Crawford, who would seem more suited to this particular character. In real life, Davis would have embraced the "older sister" part addressed in the storyline; and, Crawford would have done to the role exactly what Davis' character does. Both actresses knew their routines. There is nothing revelatory here - but Davis, who had the role in her back pocket, is excellent. Her typically fine, and entertaining, work resulted in another "Academy Award" nomination.******* The Star (12/11/52) Stuart Heisler ~ Bette Davis, Sterling Hayden, Natalie Wood, Warner Anderson

Although Bette Davis received one of her ten Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in The Star, the thing that struck me about this film is how Sterling Hayden managed to land a part that was so much about himself in real life.Hayden had a great love of the sea and sailing and in this film he played a character akin to himself in real life. He was a one film wonder who Bette Davis made a leading man on a whim and who proves to be her salvation. As for Davis she is in the title role of a film star whose day has come and gone.Davis's character of Margaret Elliott is obsessed with her stardom, not her craft as an actress, but with film stardom. She's a has been who just refuses to accept that she's growing older. Had she been an actress first she would have considered transitioning to character roles. There are some similarities to Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond. But unlike Desmond, Bette's money has dried up and instead of living in splendid and aloof isolation in her Beverly Hills mansion, she's having all kinds of problems both with bad behavior and the fact she can't get work. Margaret Elliott in The Star is a great role for Bette Davis. The film is contrived and the ending quite artificial, but it allows Davis to chew the scenery and make it work because it's a part of her character. The part was originally offered to Joan Crawford who turned it down and I think the film may have it a little too close to home for Joan. One reason I think Davis did the part was that she also recognized that it hit home for Crawford and she may have used Joan as a model of someone who was a movie star first and an actress second.The film is an absolute must for Davis fans.

Compared to other films, this film is not really demanding of Davis talent. The base story has to do with an aging actress having trouble getting roles. She is broke due to a combination of bad investments and sponge relatives & is even tossed out of her apartment.She has an wonderful daughter (played by 14 year old Natalie Wood) who is living with her ex husband due to her difficult circumstances. When she takes her Oscar statue out & does some drunk driving, she winds up in jail. She is bailed out by a man (Sterling Hayden) who loves her & stops her descent into hitting bottom.This is actually a thinly veiled story making fun of one of Davis' foes , IE. Joan Crawford. What it lacks is balance in the casting & script which is why it is not a Sunset Boulevard. The male characters have no teeth, unlike the Holden role in that movie. At least the story is told pretty much straight forwards.While this is not a movie to go out of the way for, if you like Davis it is a pleasant diversion for those times where there is nothing else to watch.