Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ A Star is Born (1937) – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Pennington]

This release is beyond my wildest hopes for this film.

 

[PODER]

Just as a friendly warning. With disc production capability as it now stands, this is a title I expect will go away for awhile until it can be repressed, so for those who desire it, best to act now, or be prepared to wait.

Amazon is currently selling it for $13.80, but that price could quickly disappear, Now might be the time a grab a copy. I sure did!

 

[Malcolm R]

Now might be the time a grab a copy. I sure did!

Me too. Ordered mine yesterday.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Me three.

 

[JimMiller]

I just got A Star Is Born, Captain Of The Clouds and The Three Musketeers. "Fasten your seat-belts! It's going to be a bumpy night."

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Got my order in, and picked up TWWOTBG and Ragtime as well. Near impossible to find these on Canadian sites, including Amazon.

 

[TJPC]

Sometimes I find after costing it out with exchange and postage, that even though I have Canadian Prime, it is still much less expensive to order from Amazon.com and pay their postage to get an item, although it does take a lot longer for a disc to arrive. (I have been waiting at least a month for Tex Avery vol.3.)

 

[Will Krupp]

Sometimes I find after costing it out with exchange and postage, that even though I have Canadian Prime, it is still much less expensive to order from Amazon.com and pay their postage to get an item, although it does take a lot longer for a disc to arrive. (I have been waiting at least a month for Tex Avery vol.3.)

Did you get A Star is Born yet? I've been wondering if you like it and are glad you did!

 

[TJPC]

It is in my basket and will be in my next order. The US Amazon is my main source for DVDs, CDs, and Blus. As you can imagine, after a 2 year embargo, I have quite the backlog. I just picked up Gold Diggers of 1933, War of The Worlds (1952) and WWOTHBGrimm from my mailbox.

 

[bujaki]

An extraordinary release. I've seen a nitrate 35mm print but this bests it. As much as I like the 1954 version, I prefer this 1937 original to all the others.
March should have walked away with the Oscar. It's possibly his finest hour. Gaynor is more subdued and less histrionic than Garland. Judy, of course walks away with the singing and dancing, showing off that she really had talent to burn. We take Gaynor's incandescent talent on faith. But she does radiate the sincerity that Norman touted. And May Robson should have been nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her wonderful portrayal of Esther's grandmother, a character I missed in the Cukor version. I also believe that James Mason in the Cukor remake is as good as March.
The less said about the subsequent versions, the better.

 

[TJPC]

My copy is to be in my post office box by Tuesday. I’ll be picking it up in 2 weeks.

 

[Drew Salzan]

I just received mine the other day. All I can say is wow! Perfect registration and color balance. It’s safe to say that it probably looks even better than it did when it was first released. I highly recommend this stellar release.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[TJPC]

I found the image immaculate. I really also enjoyed most of the extras. Though I would have enjoyed a commentator however. It is a step up from my “Kino” version

I had forgotten how closely many of the scenes in the Garland version follow this script word for word. If you played both side by side, the scenes at the race track, the Oscar’s, and the Sanitarium are almost identical. I almost expected Janet to burst into song!

 

[JimMiller]

Before watching this disc, I had forgotten how truly great Frederic March was. What a wonderful performance! Gaynor brings just the right amount of innocence, trust and sincerity to make her character believable. I was blown away by the picture. I do prefer it to the Kino presentation. I am getting so spoiled by the quality of Warner's releases that I watch discs from other companies and think, "Warner would have cleaned that up", "Warner would have fixed that". I can't wait to see what's coming in the ensuing months!

 

[Robert Harris]

Before watching this disc, I had forgotten how truly great Frederic March was. What a wonderful performance! Gaynor brings just the right amount of innocence, trust and sincerity to make her character believable. I was blown away by the picture. I do prefer it to the Kino presentation. I am getting so spoiled by the quality of Warner's releases that I watch discs from other companies and think, "Warner would have cleaned that up", "Warner would have fixed that". I can't wait to see what's coming in the ensuing months!

It’s not only Warner. Columbia and Universal also do very fine work.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I was just wondering how Warner got hold of the three strip negative of this title given that it's a Selznick International title released by UA, and then I realised it must be a similar situation to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde remake, in that when Warner bought the remake rights to A Star is Born for the 1954 version, they also obtained the 1937 version, which fell into the public domain when WB neglected to renew the copyright. Would this be a fair assessment of the situation?

 

[RobertMG]

I was just wondering how Warner got hold of the three strip negative of this title given that it's a Selznick International title released by UA, and then I realised it must be a similar situation to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde remake, in that when Warner bought the remake rights to A Star is Born for the 1954 version, they also obtained the 1937 version, which fell into the public domain when WB neglected to renew the copyright. Would this be a fair assessment of the situation?

I Would bet when Warners bought the rights to remake the film they got the negs from the 1937 - akin to When MGM remade Show Boat etc or when Disney bought Swiss Family Robinson - Either Selzinick or Warners failed to renew the copyright should have been renewed in 1964 or 65?

 

[Will Krupp]

I was just wondering how Warner got hold of the three strip negative of this title given that it's a Selznick International title released by UA, and then I realised it must be a similar situation to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde remake, in that when Warner bought the remake rights to A Star is Born for the 1954 version, they also obtained the 1937 version, which fell into the public domain when WB neglected to renew the copyright. Would this be a fair assessment of the situation?

What I wrote about the Star is Born negatives in the Giant thread:

Ron Haver found the camera negatives for the the original 1937 version when he was (ironically enough) hunting for material for the restoration of the 1954 remake circa 1981-1982 (ish.) He had access to all of the vaults under the old Technicolor building on the Warner lot, most of which were very well ordered and labeled. There were a few of the vaults in massive disarray, however, and in that disarray he found a complete set of the 1937 camera negatives (which Warner acquired for the 1954 remake), the camera negative for the (up until then) "lost" film THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (Made by RKO in 1932 and bought for remake purposes by Warner in the mid 1940's) and a pristine 35mm print of OF HUMAN BONDAGE (which they also bought for a 1946 Eleanor Parker remake, the negative of which likely went to MGM when they bought it for the 1964 Kim Novak remake.) All of this can be found in his 1988 book about the making of the 1954 STAR IS BORN and its restoration.

 

[Robert Harris]

What I wrote about the Star is Born negatives in the Giant thread:

Ron was an extraordinary vault rat. He was with me at the Todd-AO vaults in 1989, helping to search for Spartacus audio, and helped me move a group of 70mm shipping cases from Tech London.

Inside - a pristine early 70mm test print of a Ridley Scott sci-fi film, which we turned over to WB.