"A Star Is Born" Blu-Ray Book

"A Star Is Born" is perhaps Judy Garland's most well-known movie next to "The Wizard Of Oz". It was her comeback to motion pictures after a four year absence. In the meantime, she had been touring Europe and the U.S. doing one-woman vaudeville shows and concerts. "A Star Is Born" had all the makings of a smash hit. Judy Garland & James Mason in the leads, George Cuckor directing, Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin writing the score, and an A-List crew. The film was the most expensive film to that date (1954) and opened to rave reviews. It's original running time was just over 3 hours. Theatre owners complained about the length because they wanted more showings per day, so Jack Warner, the head of Warner Bros. ordered the movie drastically shortened. Approximately 37 minutes were cut from the movie without the supervision of anyone involved in it, including Cuckor. The film was ruthlessly hacked into and as a result, though it was still a success, fell far short of expectations due to the fact that the public was aware of the cuts made. This, most people believe is the reason Judy (who was a shoe-in) lost the oscar that year to Grace Kelly for "The Country Girl".

In 1983, a search began to find the missing footage from "A Star Is Born" in order to reconstruct it to it's original length. The man mostly responsible for this was the late film historian, Ronald Haver. The complete soundtrack still existed in the warner vaults, but unfortunately not all of the lost footage survived. However, the film was reconstructed using various elements found all over the world along with a few stills to accompany those scenes that are no longer known to exist.

Judy is in top form in this film. In it, she sings one of her most iconic numbers, acknowledged to be one of the greatest ever filmed, "The Man That Got Away". It's also (not the first time) but the legend-defining time when she sang "Swanee" during the famous "Born In A Trunk" medley. It's quite simply a perfect movie with a stellar cast, wonderful songs, amazing cinematography, and a testament to the talent of the people who worked so hard on it and to the Hollywood of that era during the end of the big one-man studios and the star system. It also remains the quintessential Hollywood backstory. It was filmed previously in 1937 and again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand. There's some buzz going on now that they're planning to film it yet again, which should be interesting because each version, while they have the same concept, manage to keep the story fresh and interesting.

Now, the Blu-Ray. What's so great about it? Well, for starters it comes with a wonderful book of behind the scenes information along with some gorgeous pictures of Judy and promotional material of the time which is a good start if you're at all interested in the making of this film or old Hollywood in general. "A Star Is Born" was the first one strip technicolor picture to be made. Previously, Technicolor was a three strip process involving three strips of solid color film that were then run simultaneously through a projector. This being a new process, they had their share of problems restoring it to what it looked like (and in some cases even better than it looked in 1954). I believe it took two years to complete the 8k resolution restoration, which is the highest available resolution we have today. The detail is amazing! Especially when you consider the shape some of the source material was in. People just didn't take any steps to preserve these films back then.

The Extra features on the second disc are also little treasures. Recording sessions, Rehearsals, Alternate Takes, Tv Spots and specials, Premiere footage... I'll list them the end this entry. But o wrap up, if you love good movies, old movies, musicals, Judy Garland, or if you're just interested in a fascination piece of American film history, I would strongly recommend purchasing this blu-ray. It's worth every penny and was well worth the year and a half I waited for it to be released!

A Star is Born (1954) 2-Disc Deluxe Special Edition Blu-ray Book 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 - New Featurette
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