Customer Reviews

A Star Is Born (Deluxe Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have neither a Blu-ray player nor an HD TV so there was no reason to get the Blu-ray of this release. On my standard def TV the image is not as sharp and crisp as other recent Warner restorations such as My Fair Lady and Wizard of Oz. But, I've learned through some research that this is because ASIB was filmed in single-strip Technicolor and it is impossible to sharpen the image. Actually the print does look a bit cleaner than the old VHS version of the reconstructed film. Just don't expect sharpness throughout. The musical numbers look the best.

Remember that almost 30 minutes of the film was cut after its theatrical release and it was through the efforts of Ron Haver who, in 1984, was able to find stills to fill in where soundtrack sections were located. That is what this version is and it really fleshes out the story. (And a great story it is!). And it is wide screen, not pan and scan.

What makes this version "deluxe" is the additional two hours of new supplemental material. These are all on the second disc which is NOT Blu-ray even in the Blu-ray set. Two hours are the same material as on the last release. The new material includes additional versions of some songs with different costumes and a lot of audio-only bonuses. The disc containing the feature film is double sided with half on each side.

You can see all the details of the bonuses in another "review" which copied the info from the press release.

As far as acting goes, James Mason is amazing and perfect for the part. Garland sings her heart out and this is, of course, a must for Judy fans... many of who can quote her lines from the film from memory.

Some day I'm sure Warner will issue the "Ultimate Edition" of ASIB but, sadly this is the best it is going to look on your TV. This is why film preservation is so important!

If you've not seen this film, or haven't seen it in years, watch it.. It will draw you in and show you why Garland and Mason were stars. This is a true Hollywood classic.

Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic"

ENHANCED CONTENT

A Star is Born (1954) 2-Disc Deluxe Special Edition DVD Enhanced Content:

Introduction: Run time 3:01

The Man That Got Away - Pink Dress: Run time 5:11 - Additional Take

The Man that Got Away - Brown Dress #1: Run time 4:49 - Additional Take

The Man that Got Away - Brown Dress #2: Run time 4:24 - Additional Take

The Man that Got Away - Brown Dress #3: Run time 4:00 - Additional Take

The Man That Got Away - Brown Dress #4: Run time 4:00 - Additional Take

Here's What I'm here For - Alternate Take: Run time 2:36 - Additional Take

Lose That Long Face - Alternate Take: Run time 4:55 - Additional Take

Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo - Alternate Take: Run time 1:24 - Additional Take

When My Sugar Walks Down the Street - Outtake: Run time 0:58 - Additional Take

Suicide Scene - Alternate Take: Run time 2:15 - Additional Take

Film Effects Reel: Run time 0:54

A Report by Jack L. Warner: Run time 6:24 - Vintage Featurette

Huge Premiere Hails 'A Star is Born' Newsreel Montage: Run time 7:49 - Vintage Featurette

'A Star is Born' Premiere in Cinemascope: Run time 2:05

Pantages Premiere TV Special: Run time 29:30 - Vintage Featurette

A Star is Bored (1956 WB Cartoon): Run time 7:00

A Star is Born (1937): Run time 2:46 - Trailer

A Star is Born (1954): Run time 3:52 - Trailer

A Star is Born (1976): Run time 3:46 - Trailer

Audio Vault - Oliver on the Phone with the Director Discussing Norman - Outtakes: Run time 2:00 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Norman and Esther on the Roof of the Hotel Lancaster - Outtakes: Run time 2:00 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - 12/28/1942 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast with Judy Garland and Walter Pidgeon: Run time 60:00 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Judy Garland Radio Interview: Run time 4:00 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Born in a Trunk: Run time 9:05 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Someone At Last - Rehearsal: Run time 10:34 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Someone At Last: Run time 7:16 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - My Melancholy Baby: Run time 7:06 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Black Bottom: Run time 1:48 - Audio Only

Audio Vault - Swanee: Run time 4:57 - Audio Only

[...]

"(That was) the greatest robbery since Brinks" said Groucho Marx upon Judy Garland's losing the Oscar for "A Star Is Born" to Grace Kelly. Politics always exists; and this time it exerted a cruel influence. Judy Garland deserved the Oscar for Best Actress in this film.

Of course, everyone pretty much knows the plot by now; either they've heard of it before they got to this web page or they read reviews by other Amazon reviewers. Judy Garland plays Esther Blodgett, a band singer whose career soars into superstardom when she meets and falls in love with Hollywood mogul Norman Maine, played brilliantly by James Mason. There are some ups and downs along the way, however. (In case you don't know the whole plot, I won't spoil it for you here!)

The love affair between Esther and Norman is well played out: indeed, the acting of all the performers is entirely convincing and made me wish for more high quality films to be put out today!

The plot bravely tackles the problems of the Hollywood life: careers going up and down, lives sometimes completely destroyed in the process. The "performances within a performance" are especially outstanding: we see Esther showcase and spoof the 1950s type musical in the scene where she shows Norman the "big" musical number ("Somewhere There's) A Someone At Last" at the studio; and the "Born in a Trunk" sequence is one of the most artistic and spellbinding experiences anyone could ever hope to achieve in any motion picture.

Yet even with its plot, the film is primarily a vehicle to showcase Judy's talents. She doesn't fail to disappoint! My eyes were glued to her the entire time she was on screen; her acting, singing and dancing were beyond remarkable. She belts out classic Garland numbers such as "Swanee," "Born in a Trunk," and "The Man That Got Away." This last song is arguably one of the best Garland signature songs ever along with "Over the Rainbow" from a film a few of you may have heard of!

In addition, Garland fans may note that Judy's real life personality is perhaps best described as a blend of Norman's behavior and Esther's incredible talent and resiliency. Equally important, the plot is based at least in part on the marriage of Frank Fay and Barbara Stanwyck.

While I agree with the reviewer who writes that there's only so much improvement you can make with the image quality because of the type of film they used when shooting this movie, nevertheless, the enhancement of the image quality that I did notice impressed me. The sound was quite good, too. Sadly, this movie remains cut by roughly three minutes; it never should have been whittled down just for the sake of the almighty dollar. No wonder Judy and director George Cukor were so infuriated they vowed never to watch the film again!

The DVD comes with wonderful extras on a second DVD disc. There are so many bonus features that I hardly know where to start! There are 5 additional takes for "The Man That Got Away;" alternate takes for "Here's What I'm Here For;" "Trinidad Cocoanut Oil Shampoo;" "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street;" and more including a vintage featurette with Jack Warner; a wonderful vintage featurette of The Pantages Premiere TV Special and quite a few audio tracks from the "audio vault." There's still more for you to discover including the 1942 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of "A Star Is Born" with Judy as Esther Blodgett and Walter Pidgeon as Norman Maine; and that's grand.

My only minor disappointment was that the movie, which could have been presented on a single side of a DVD disc, is instead presented to us on two sides of one disc and it disturbs the flow somewhat to have to flip the disc even if there was an intermission at one point when they showed this film in theaters.

In short, if you love musicals, Judy Garland, James Mason, or just plain top notch quality film in general, you simply can't miss this edition of A Star is Born on DVD! It is truly one of the greatest movies of the twentieth century starring one of the greatest entertainers America has ever been blessed enough to have: Judy Garland!

If you're here, you likely know the film's plot, as well as the making, butchering, and reconstruction of the film, so I'll not go into all that. I'm strictly going to comment on the contents of this new package.

First, let me sing the praises of this new set. Most importantly, the film has been given a beautiful restoration. While video issues from the film's previous DVD release haven't been completely eradicated, they have been improved greatly. The colors are beautiful and vibrant, especially during "Born In A Trunk." Sharpness is improved, albeit not completely perfect due to the single-strip Technicolor film stock, which just can't be sharpened as much as some other film stocks can. The film definitely won't be confused for a brand new film anytime soon, but it definitely doesn't look as though it's pushing 60.

In addition, all bonus material, except for a few text screens of bios and such, from the film's previous DVD release have been transferred to this new set, meaning we get the deleted "When My Sugar Walks Down The Street," originally included in "Born In A Trunk," as well as the entire network broadcast of the film's premiere at the Pantages Theater, plus newsreel coverage, multiple takes of "The Man That Got Away," audio from deleted scenes that weren't reinserted into the 1983 restoration, a short Warner Bros. promotional film that features some alternate takes from the film, and theatrical trailers for all three versions. In addition, we also now have even MORE takes of "The Man That Got Away," alternate versions of three musical scenes and one dramatic scene, a cartoon really only similar in title, ("A Star Is Bored"), recording sessions, radio interviews, color Cinemascope footage of the premiere, and the 1942 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of the original film with Judy as Esther Blodgett and Walter Pidgeon as Norman Maine. Evertything included here is a welcome addition and when some studios notoriously reissue their DVD's and take away decent bonus materials and replace them with mediocre crud, it's nice that Warner has kept everything and added onto it.

However, this new DVD edition of Star is far from perfect. In fact, it's downright disappointing in many aspects. First of all, the previous DVD was a flipper disc, with the film on one side and bonus materials on the other. This time, the film is split between two sides of a flipper disc. Although both sides are dual-layer, side 1 doesn't even take up the full 4.35 GB that a DVD-5 uses, and side 2 just barely goes over the 4.35 GB limit. No reason it couldn't have been on a single-sided dual-layer disc like last time, or if it MUST be split, split it between two single-sided discs and make it a 3-disc set.

On the previous DVD, all widescreen extras were enhanced for 16:9 TV's, which is pretty standard practice today. However, everything on here is letterboxed in a 4:3 frame. Absolutely ZERO excuse for this in 2010, especially on features that were given the 16:9 treatment on the previous disc. The only one not letterboxed is the trailer for the 1976 remake, which is now simply open-matte, filling up a 4:3 frame. (This especially bodes badly for the 1937 trailer, which was pillarboxed in a 16:9 frame but is now severely windowboxed in a 4:3 frame.)

The previous DVD's only major shortcomings were that there was no commentary, no documentary, not even any kind of introduction to explain why there's a stretch of several minutes and another brief portion later on in the first half of the film with still photos instead of film. And when I heard the title was being revisited on DVD and for its Blu-Ray debut, I was excited at the prospect of finally getting something that was so sorely missed the first time. Instead, Warner Bros. disappoints by once again offering absolutely nothing. I only knew about the still photos because the first time I saw the film was in 1999 when it aired on TCM and Robert Osborne explained why they were used. Were it not for that, I'd have been wondering what was going on, and although that info is easily found on the internet, shouldn't it also be included on the disc so that viewers don't *have* to go searching on the internet to find out?

With all of my gripes, this really is a good DVD set, and if you enjoy the film, I can actually recommend the upgrade - especially if you own a Blu-Ray player, as with the film looking this good just in SD, it has to look mind-blowing in HD. (Be warned, though, the bonus features disc that comes with the Blu-Ray is the same DVD as in this set.) It's too bad that Warner Bros. letterboxed widescreen features, utilized a flipper disc for the film, and dropped the ball on any kind of retrospective bonus material, but they have at least included an impressive transfer of the film and some nice bonuses. The premiere footage is still wonderful to watch, and it's nice to see all of these alternate takes and to have the radio production of the story and everything else. Hopefully when Warner Bros. visits this title again, and I'm sure they will, maybe they'll rectify some of the mistakes they made the first two times. Until then, this set will satisfy, even if you're left wanting more in the bonus features department.

I must say I find it a very frustrating experience when I read reviews whereby (some) Amazon customers decry this DVD as a rip off (which it isn't) declaring it is the same as an earlier DVD release of the same movie,(and which again, not so).

I have owned several different versions of A Star Is Born from VHS to several DVD's, and this is by far the best quality picture of the lot. If you don't have an HD TV (or Blu Ray) then I imagine it would be well nigh impossible to comment accurately on what is before you. You can't see the film as was intended.

The versions of The Man That Got Away that are shown as extras on this latest version, maybe of no interest or even boring to some, but to those of us who love to hear about the professionalism of specially gifted performers such as Miss Garland, it has a fascinating background.

I once saw an interview with Vincente Minnelli where he was talking about the great artists he had directed over a 30 - 40 year career. The one who stood above the rest was Judy Garland. She was, he said,someone who needed no direction, she instinctively knew what was required in each scene. He would - prior to the first take - give her a list of directives, camera placements etc,and she would remember them all, without ever having to be reminded of anything.

Her last song to be filmed at MGM before her departure, was the unforgettable "Get Happy" - done in one take.

They did many takes of "The Man That Got Away," for A Star Is Born, because they were trying to get the best effect possible by deciding which outfit was the one to go with.They wanted the right blending of colour to ensure the scene looked its best.

Each time the song was filmed, Judy completed it in one take. And so measured were her performances, that they were able to show us by running several takes on screen concurrently,how effortlessly she was able to achieve a high standard,take after take - something they said was extremely rare, if not unheard of - with other singers of that era.

And this is the essence of A Star Is Born - it is after all these years a tribute to one of the finest entertainers of all time - the great, the unforgettable Judy Garland. If ever there was a reason to award a special Oscar posthumously - this is definately the one.

Get this DVD if you don't already have it. Garland we have spoken of, but James Mason as Norman, Esther Blodgett's (Garland's) alcoholic husband whose career is on a downward spiral is a wonderful performance.

I actually bought this deluxe edition DVD for $22 at Barnes & Noble, but trust me it was worth it! 'A Star Is Born' was and is an excellent piece of film w/its great story, Cinemascope, and excellent acting, and the film has been nicely restored after it was ungraciously cut and edited after its first showing back in the 1950s. But what makes this DVD so special is its SPECIAL FEATURES. The special features sort of makes you feel like you're taking a journey back in time, as if you were actually there while this film was being made.

Highly recommended.

Judy Garland's definitive movie performance, and arguably James Mason's as well, preserved on DVD. Most of the extras are the same ones that were on the 1990s laser disc. What's needed here is an astute historical audio commentary.

I recently read a great article that talks about this film. Four complete prints do exist, but the collectors are not willing to let WB have them because they don't want to compensate the collectors, claiming it is their product. So, until these disputes are settled we are left with this version, still glorious, but still a mere shadow of the complete original.

Yes, some die-hard Barbara Streisand fans will prefer that version of "A Star is Born," but Judy Garland and James Mason give able performances herein. It's just tragic to watch Mr. Mason in this film. He is so believable as a fallen star and an actor who you just wan to watch, especially as the star of Judy Garland's character rises herein. They complement each other well and make this film very watchable. Janet Gaynor, I must add, does a fine job in the 1937 version of this film as well, but since I have chosen to watch Judy Garland's version several more times thus far than Ms. Gaynor's I would have to admit that I have a favorite version and this one is it. See all 3 if you care too, but if you have only seen the Streisand version you ought to compare it to its 2 earlier incarnations. Cheers

This movie is powerful and one of Judy Garlands best performances. Even though there is footage missing it's still one of my favorites and I'm so excited to finally own it!!!