A Star is Born

A Star is Born (1954) starring Judy Garland, James Mason. Small-time singer Esther Blodgett (Garland) is "discovered" by famous actor Norman Maine (Mason), who promises to get her a screen test. Eventually, he follows through, and she goes on to become a star. Unfortunately he is a fading star himself, with a bad drinking habit. His contract gets canceled, while she goes on to become the featured star of the studio. My biggest problem with this movie is that Garland, who was 32 at the time it was made and looks older, just doesn't seem like the young fresh star being discovered. The other problem is that the restored film is almost three hours long, and feels to me like it contains a lot of filler. Garland, however, delivers a dynamite performance, and was nominated for an Academy Award. The disc includes English subtitles, as well as closed captions. Grade: B-