... and by that I mean the first of the "A Star is Born" movies. All of the films that came after it - 1937, 1954, 1976, and 2018, owe their existence to this original. Famed writer Adela St Rogers wrote the story, pulled from her experiences in the movie capital, but this first one is a bit different from all of the others.
Mary Evans (Constance Bennett) plays a Brown Derby waitress who gets caught up in the hijinks of director Max Carey (Lowell Sherman) one night. He takes her to a premiere in a jalopy, then takes her back to his house. The next morning he can't remember anything because of his drunkenness, and Mary says that he promised her a screen test. Actually, nothing happened. Mary is not the natural - or a singer for that matter - like in later films. And after originally screwing up a scene she is in, rehearses, and gets it right.
Meanwhile, she meets polo player Lonny Borden (Neil Hamilton) who is a bit of a caveman. When Mary does not show up for their first date he goes to her house, wraps her in a blanket, and carries her back to his house! The normal reaction for him would be to figure she is not that into him. The normal reaction for her would be to call the police. But I digress.
The two marry against the advice of colleagues and friends, and against mine for that matter. How does this work out? Watch and find out.
So this film is different from the others in that the drunk on the way down who discovers Mary turns out to be a director and mentor, not a lover. There is a suicide in this film, just like in the others, but I'll let you watch and find out how that all happens. The film is rather ahead of its time in its description of what is known today as the paparazzi, and how they violate the privacy of people and rip their reputations to shreds on a rumor just to get a scoop. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, it lost out to The Champ, by Frances Marion.
Mary Evans (Constance Bennett) plays a Brown Derby waitress who gets caught up in the hijinks of director Max Carey (Lowell Sherman) one night. He takes her to a premiere in a jalopy, then takes her back to his house. The next morning he can't remember anything because of his drunkenness, and Mary says that he promised her a screen test. Actually, nothing happened. Mary is not the natural - or a singer for that matter - like in later films. And after originally screwing up a scene she is in, rehearses, and gets it right.
Meanwhile, she meets polo player Lonny Borden (Neil Hamilton) who is a bit of a caveman. When Mary does not show up for their first date he goes to her house, wraps her in a blanket, and carries her back to his house! The normal reaction for him would be to figure she is not that into him. The normal reaction for her would be to call the police. But I digress.
The two marry against the advice of colleagues and friends, and against mine for that matter. How does this work out? Watch and find out.
So this film is different from the others in that the drunk on the way down who discovers Mary turns out to be a director and mentor, not a lover. There is a suicide in this film, just like in the others, but I'll let you watch and find out how that all happens. The film is rather ahead of its time in its description of what is known today as the paparazzi, and how they violate the privacy of people and rip their reputations to shreds on a rumor just to get a scoop. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, it lost out to The Champ, by Frances Marion.