DVD Review: A Star Is Born

(1954, Color, 176 min.)
Director: George Cukor

A Star Is Born marked Judy Garland's return to movies after a four-year absence, director George Cukor's first musical and first color film, and a showcase for great Harold Arlen / Ira Gershwin songs in stat-of-the-art stereo. Garland is singer Esther Blodgett, and undeniable talent on the rise. She catches the eye of Norman Maine (James Mason), an alcoholic actor in career decline. Their intense love transforms them both. Only one will survive Hollywood's slings and arrows.

Shortened after its premiere, the movie underwent one rebirth in 1983 when film historian Ronald Haver found almost all the cut sequences and supervised a reconstruction to near its original length. Its new rebirth is this digital transfer from a refurbished element, with revitalized digital audio and incorporating picture and musical material recently uncovered. Star always had a shine to it. Now watch it sparkle as never before.

Special Features:

Documentary network telecast of Hollywood premiere and newsreel coverage of post-premiere party

3 alternate filmings of "The Man That Got Away"

Deleted song "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street"

Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1

Theatrical Trailers of the 1937, 1954 and 1976 film versions

Interactive menus
Production notes
Scene access
Subtitles: English and French
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Widescreen Version presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the "scope" aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition
Film Studio: Warner Bros.
DVD Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: September 19, 2000
UPC: 085393224929