Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 24, 2022)
When a film gets remade multiple times, usually the first version remains the most famous. However, in the case of A Star Is Born, the original remains the most obscure.
Circa 2022, I won’t debate which of the three remakes acts as the most prominent. Of course, due to chronological proximity, the 2018 Lady Gaga Star Is Born maintains the biggest audience right now, but 30 years from now, it may be no better remembered than the 1954 Judy Garland version or the 1976 Barbra Streisand edition.
One thing I suspect will stay true: the 1937 Janet Gaynor Star Is Born will remain least known. Unsurprisingly, it acts as the last of the four I saw, as this 2022 Blu-ray delivers my initial screening of the original.
Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) leaves North Dakota to come to Hollywood in pursuit of cinematic fame. This doesn’t go well, as Esther finds no work in movies.
When her aspiring director pal Danny McGuire (Andy Devine) gets her a gig as a server at a tinseltown party, Esther meets declining alcoholic movie star Norman Maine (Frederic March), and the actor finds himself immediately smitten. He promises to help Esther achieve her dream.
With this foot in the door, Esther starts on her path to stardom. Renamed “Vicki Lester”, Esther works her way up the ladder until she becomes a star – a bigger star than her beau Norman, a fact that creates drama.
Whereas all four versions of Born offer the same basic story, the 1937 and 1954 editions most strongly echo each other. Some of that occurs because 1937/1954 focus on Hollywood, whereas 1976/2018 concentrate on the music business.
Of the four, 1937 offers the biggest deviation from the rest due to the way it introduces the characters. While the later three films start with Norman and introduce Esther later, 1937 gives us ample backstory for our leading lady and doesn’t even bring Norman into the narrative until around the 20-minute mark.
Because I saw the other three versions before I finally checked out 1937, these alterations feel intriguing. However, they don’t make it a particularly compelling movie.
In addition to the greater focus on Esther’s side, 1937 also comes with a more comedic vibe than its remakes. Not that those lack mirth, but much of this one’s first half concentrates on laughs and light romance.
The Star Is Born narrative offers one of cinema’s great tragic weepies, and 1937 eventually gets there. Once Esther’s career starts to take off, the movie goes more with drama.
It does better in these elements, though the first half’s emphasis on Esther makes the shift to Norman seem somewhat jarring. The later movies get this right, as they allow Norman to act as a main role the whole time, so we invest in his downfall more.
Because 1937 concentrates on Esther from the start, it feels off that she disappears for so much of the movie’s second half. Esther gets the short shrift in the others as well, but at least those handle the Norman/Esther balance better since they emphasize Norman in their first act.
This means Norman’s sad fate feels less impactful, as we just don’t connect to him as well as we do in the subsequent versions. 1937 also doesn’t “stick the landing” especially well, mainly because the finale seems scattered.
Once Norman dies, 1937 briefly opts for a cynical look at showbiz that seems surprising and refreshing. However, it then abandons that tone for schmaltz.
1937 doesn’t appear to know how it wants to wrap up matters, so the ending lacks clarity and impact. Sappy as the finales for the other three might be, at least they maintain consistency and dramatic feel, whereas 1937 seems all over the place.
I’m not sure where I’d rank 1937, largely because 2018 offers the only version of Star Is Born I genuinely like. 1954 works as a drama, but it packs in so many superfluous musical numbers that it really drags.
Essentially Barbra Streisand’s love letter to herself, 1976 offers a nearly complete disaster. Unquestionably, it becomes the worst of the four.
So this leaves a competition between 1937 and 1954 for second place, and I’d probably nod toward 1954. While I really don’t like all those song/dance scenes, the rest works quite well.
On the other hand, 1937 mainly feels meh. It lacks consistency in terms of tone, narrative and character orientation, so while it comes with some positives, it nonetheless ends up as a somewhat forgettable tale.