sly311
Not the best for Ms. Davis. Trite and empty. Sterling Hayden was the Keanu Reeves of his era--flat, expressionless and contrived. A few good lines delivered by others regarding the shallowness and boorishness of Hollywood. Other than it's a 'Bette' movie, it's boring, predictable and silly. And, she looks awful. Natalie Wood was way over the top trying to be a cutesy 12-year old and looking like a ripe teenager--which she was. This movie is at the bottom of my collection.
vincentlynch-moonoi
I love Bette Davis, but by 1952, just as with her character in this movie, her best days were behind her. But, that didn't mean one couldn't enjoy a good Bette Davis performance.The main problem I have with this film is not Miss Davis (my all-time favorite female actress), but with her co-star -- Sterling Hayden. If ever there was a limited actor, he was it. The desk I'm sitting at is less wooden than he was.The second problem I have with this film, and only slightly less significant is the script. At first it seems plausible. An older Academy Award winning actress is suddenly on the skids, and she is reaching her breaking point (which might have been a good title for the film). But why drop into the depths when television was alive and well, and yes, although "Playhouse 90" was not around yet, there were dramatic television series on the air already, and quite a few actors and actresses (including people like Ronald Colman) were beginning to do work in television. But, that logical storyline wouldn't have made a dramatic film, even if it had been based on reality. And then there's the ending of the film. She basically kidnaps her own daughter (gee, no problem there) because she has suddenly realized that true love conquers all, and heads off to a relationship which is outside of show biz. Really, that's sort of pathetic.But back to Bette Davis. Her performance here is, in my view, flawed. There are scenes with brilliance. And there are scenes where I really felt she was "overacting".Natalie Wood is here as the daughter, but isn't given much of do of significance, but wow -- this was his 17th film! It was good to see an older Minor Watson here...always a welcome character actor.I see this film as abounding in transition. Bette Davis transitioning into films where she played older character. But even the film industry transitioning (coarsely at times) into what it saw as more realistic and gritty film-making. But is this a top-notch film? No. Good, but not great.
nomoons11
If this film isn't a thinly disguised portrayal of Joan Crawfords life I don't know what is.Can you imagine Bette Davis playing the part? Wow. I bet Joan Crawford just loved this.Obviously this film doesn't show her whole life but one part at the end of the 40's to early 50's. The great, or should I say sad, part of this film is how vain this character is. All she seems to care about is her vanity and the "next part" she'll get when she doesn't see that her time has came and gone. Everyone tells her but she just won't have it.Another odd similarity to the "Times Gone" Hollywood life is the part where she works in a department store. There have been so many former Hollywood starlets who have worked in department stores after their careers came and went. This film seemed to have predicted the future for a lot of these glamour queens(I won't mention names). There were old silent stars who worked in these places but this film is about a star from the 30's.I can see why Davis' was nominated for an Oscar but I can also see why she didn't win. This isn't a massive Oscar caliber performance IMO but it's a good film to watch if you wanna see the sadness of vanity.If you wanna get a real good idea about who Joan Crawford really was, Watch these 3 films in succession. With these, you'll see how vain her life really was and how she had a reputation of not being the nicest lady anyone ever met.The Star...Torch Song...Mommie Dearest
ferbs54
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!
