Retold for each new generation
March 18
Movie remakes are a Hollywood tradition. Films featuring characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Batman, have been redone numerous times. Robin Hood, Wuthering Heights, and King Kong, also come to mind. Pretty much anything originally written by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, or William Shakespeare have seen multiple iterations.
One story which has been made into a movie four times now is the iconic “A Star Is Born,” with each version being adapted to reflect the culture of the era.
It was the third week of March 1977 when the song “Evergreen” – from the Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson remake – reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It claimed the top spot for three weeks.
The Infallible Wikipedia sheds light on the subject:
“A Star Is Born is a 1976 American musical romantic drama film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Pierson, John Gregory Dunne, and Joan Didion. It stars Barbra Streisand as an unknown singer and Kris Kristofferson as an established rock and roll star. The two fall in love, only to find her career ascending while his goes into decline.
The film premiered at the Mann Village Theater on December 18, 1976, with a wide release by Warner Bros. the following day. A huge box office success, grossing $80 million on a $6 million budget in North America, the film became the 2nd highest-grossing that year. Reviews praised its performances and musical score, but criticized the screenplay and runtime. At the 49th Academy Awards, the film won Best Original Song for its love theme ‘Evergreen’.
The film is a remake of the 1937 original with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, notably adapted in 1954 as a musical starring Judy Garland and James Mason; and subsequently again in 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.”
Although I’ve never seen either the 1937 or 1954 films, I did read the plot summaries and then watched a few clips from the Garland/Mason version. And one thing which comes through in that film – and again in the 1976 production – is that both were reflective of the culture of the time. The style of singing and dancing transports one back to the era of vaudeville style productions.
Regardless, the main character’s names are the same in the first two films: Esther Victoria Blodgett and Norman Maine. For the 1976 film, the female character’s first name is still Esther but the man’s name is now John. Despite these updates the storyline is pretty much the same. By the time we get to 2018, the names Esther and Norman are long since abandoned for the more modern names Ally and Jack.
In deciding between the 1976 and the 2018 versions, I am torn. I was 19 in 1976 and saw the movie in the theatre at Christmas. I was swept up in the tragedy of the storyline; deep stuff when you are contemplating the meaning of life as millions of other baby boomers were also doing at the time. The movie resonated with my generation and was the second highest grossing film that year. It garnered several Oscar nominations, all for the music, with a win for best original song.
Other than that, however, my own attempts to view Barbra Streisand as an ‘up and coming’ star in 1976 was a stretch. She was 34 years old that year and a Bonafide superstar; I’ve never been able to get past that fact.
Fast forward to 2018 and the most recent version of the story. Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) at age 32 was somewhat more believable in the leading role. Up until she performed at the 2015 Academy Awards for the Julie Andrews tribute, her undeniable talent had been limited to a younger, edgier population demographic.
In ‘A Star is Born’ I think she successfully shed her over the top ‘Lady Gaga’ persona and her portrayal as a newcomer worked better than it did for either Garland or Streisand. For many people who might have dismissed Lady Gaga, this was their first exposure to Germanotta’s amazing voice.
Regarding age, Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland were 33 and 32 respectively. In Garland’s case she was, like Streisand, a long-established singer, Hollywood star, and a household name.
The four male leads ranged in age from 40 to 45.
As a purely academic exercise, if another ‘remake’ of this movie is ever done, it really should feature an unknown actress/singer in her early 20’s. I think that is a much more believable premise for being ‘discovered,’ and that a ‘washed’ up star in his 40’s would keep the plot interesting, being able to portray the power imbalance and how it shifts with her rising star. Any screenwriter worth their salt could really delve deep into the emotional turmoil of each character which, to me, is the essence of great writing and would add a fresh twist to this classic plot line.
Or, perhaps, just let it go. Four times is probably enough remakes of this dark and depressing story.
Massive links today as embedding videos from YouTube never ends well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Star_Is_Born_(1937_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Star_Is_Born_(1954_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Star_Is_Born_(1976_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Star_Is_Born_(2018_film)
https://youtu.be/I0f1cMYF91A?si=1lDAXyMm-HRtJAsA (Evergreen)
https://youtu.be/7hiVIixor_Q?si=4hjnneNJtWn_-mta (Shallow)
https://youtu.be/gNDu75gEiIo?si=nrRYYOm6OzZJJbFr ( The Man That Got Away)
barbaradevore.com 