Despite accusations of plagiarism from What price Hollywood? (1932), the movie was a box office hit and led to three musically-oriented remakes, in 1954 (with Judy Garland), 1976 (with Barbra Streisand) and 2018 (with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) – it’s tough not to feeel déjà-vu when watching this version, though it is historically the first one! Gaynor’s acting is a bit weak, but Fredric Marsh’s acting, witty dialogues, and well-played supporting characters more than make up for it.

A tell of innocence and greed, fame or forgetfulness, success and failure, glamour and creepy, private and public life, this one of the first movies by Hollywood about Hollywood, and it paved the way for many other self-introspections into Hollywood’s dream factory. This first portrait of behing-the-scene Hollywood moviemaking sheds a witty light on what it costs to become a celebrity, in opposition to the gloss and glamour of most Hollywood movies of the time. The contrasting destinies of the two main characters give a great basis for a social satire of the movies milieu, and the multiple remakes attest to the strength of this narrative.

Finally, the movie has kept most of its freshness even after 80 years and its small flaws disappear behind the efficient direction and Marsh’s charismatic acting.

The Oscar that lead actress Janet Gaynor receives in A Star Is Born is actually the same that she received in real life as Best Actress at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1928. Two years after playing in A Star Is Born, she turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, as she wanted to retire from acting.

The post A Star Is Born first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Arguably the last of the great silent movies, or the best of the last silent movies, Sunrise has several claims to fame:

• the first sequence shot / plan séquence of movie history (when the Man walks through a field to join the Woman From the City under the moonlight) and many other visual effects;
• possibly the first time a man cried on screen (before Gone with the Wind);
• an astronomous amount of work (and money) on the movie set, in particular to represent the city;
• “the most beautiful film in the word”, according to François Truffaut.

The post Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

For the snobs out there, it’s one of the best screwball comedies ever made, with Cary Grant and Rosaling Russell on an equal footing of wit and energy.

For those who like a good laugh, it’s a maelstrom of one-liners, a satire of love story, a witty and fast-paced battle of the sexes, a 90mph ping pong game between Russell and Grant.

For those versed in sociology, it’s an acid portrait of a newspaper in the 1940s, with politics, cynicism and manipulation aplenty.

Intense, theatrical, cruel and funny: all is fair in love and journalism!

The post His Girl Friday first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Audrey Hepburn meets a charming Cary Grant, as she ponders whether divorcing her husband while on holidays skiing in the French Alps. When she comes back to Paris, her husband’s dead, he left her a mysterious fortune, and thieves are chasin her.

Hepburn and Grant, the streets of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg, romance, thrill, and money: Charade is a true classic.

The post Charade first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.