Few movies get better with age but Star does. It was hailed by critics (not all by the way) as a flop. The critics did not seem to get it. Star on another viewing gets better. The reviews on these pages, (the positive ones) say it all. The cast is superb and the film looks wonderful. Modern discerning audiences love it. It was revived here at a cinmema in Melbourne and young audiences loved it. Star is a masterpiece. Rediscover it.
shareI couldn't agree more! I saw it last night as part of London's National Film Theatre's season of Julie Andrews films. It was astoundingly good and very exciting to see it on the big screen. If anyone is in London this month you must go and see it! Sensational!
shareI actually believe that this had aged better than West Side Story, another Wise musical, which I believe is not aging well. I have only seen Star once but intend and watching again, I really loved it.
shareWatched it yesterday at the "filmoteca" in Madrid.
I loved it. The best Julie Andrews I've seen so far. Now I'm looking desperately for "Darling Lily". Nöel Coward is so nicely played that I actually believed it was him.
This is a lovely film, which will always hold a place in cinema history as the film which was the basis for everything that was fictionalized in Blake Edwards' 1981 classic SOB. For those of you who know SOB, STAR! was "Night Wind" in SOB. It is a lovely film to look at and it is a great star vehicle for Julie Andrews. It's not much of a Gertrude Lawrence biography but an entertaining film nonetheless which I've always felt got a bad rap.
shareToo bad I'm not old enough to see the movie SOB. . .but I do LOVE "Star!" I believe it gets better with age. . .I watch it all the time! It's real nice work by Julie. . .a little different than what most people are used to, but that's what's so nice about it. I love it!!!
shareIn reality SOB was based on Edwards and Andrews experiences in Hollywood making Darling Lili. Edwards had nothing to do with STAR, Robert Wise was the director on that one.
Night Wind was actually based on Darling Lili. It (DL)was concieved originally as a small film with incidental music (just enough to show that Lili was a beloved music hall star) but the studio decided it should be another full blown musical roadshow attraction and thus took the film away from Edwards and edited it themselves. This made the film over-long and lost all the magic it could have had. If they had left it to Edwards it probably would have been a hit like Victor/Victoria became later.
This had also happened to Andrews with Thoroughly Modern Millie. The music was only supposed to be in the background with one song for Julie over the titles but the studio thought differently. Luckily that film was a hit.
This was the plight for Andrews throughout her early career. All the studios wanted their own Sound of Music so they made all these overblown films (Camelot, Hello Dolly, Paint Your Wagon, Star) and the public grew bored with it. Andrews was WAY overexposed at the time (late 60`s) what with Poppins and the Sound of Music being the two biggest hits of the decade. The Sound of Music was in theatres for nearly 5 years (FIVE YEARS__imagine your theatre showing the same film for 2 or 3 years let alone 5--there were no multiplexes back then) and the public wanted something else.
Now those films are considered much better than they were at the time (which they are- some of them, at least)what with the small helping of musicals available in theatres today. You can see the marvelous production Values of STAR in every frame and Julie doe a credible and Creditable job in the film (Darling Lili too)
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I just finished watching the entire movie and it was a BORE! I couldn't believe that Andrews and Wise are connected to this project. I'd give it 2 stars which is what the tv guide gave it.
shareYou are confusing Star with Darling Lili, but techically speaking Night Wind didn't represent any specific film because no Julie Andrews film was reorganised with newly added nuded scenes. The nude scenes in Darling Lili and S. O. B. were part of the original scripts.
shareI was talking about the fact that the director in SOB had night wind taken from him which is the same thing that happened to Blake Edwards on Darling Lili. I wasn`t talking about the nudity. That was not really based on anything but Edwards imagination. The studio took Darling Lili away from Edwards and made it into a roadshow attraction (adding back all the scenes which he had thrown out--which ruined it). Edwards got the film back in the 80`s and recut it to his original vision and that`s what`s on the new DVD release.
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Fox has always been keen at getting nominations for its movies, no matter how mediocre. Even Cleopatra got a best pic nomination, and so did Dr. Dolittle. But not even the brilliant lobbysists of Fox could fool the Academy with Star! though they did snag seven nomination, but Best Picture wasn't one of them.
As for Hello, Dolly!, it lost money but it still was the fourth of fifth top grossing film of 1969. Star! earned just a fourth of what Dolly!earned. SO contrary to legend, people did line up to see Dolly! Whereas the theaters screening Star! were almost empty. It didnt even gross as much as Dr. Doliitle.
Nevertheless, I like both films, but Michael Kidd's work was much more brilliant in Dolly!
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Actually, the musical numbers in HELLO, DOLLY! were hardly "preset" from the play. The numbers in the stage version were choreographed by Gower Champion, so Michael Kidd DID have have to start from scratch in choreographing DOLLY for the screen. (Lawsuits can result from one choregrapher reproducing another's work and presenting it as his/her own, so choreographers have to do a good deal more than just "tweak.") Both versions may have had Dolly, a staircase, waiters, a train station, etc., but the dance movements in each were quite different. In fact, most of the numbers in STAR! existed in previous Broadway incarnations ("Has Anybody Seen Our Ship" was in TONIGHT AT 8:30, "The Saga Of Jenny" was in LADY IN THE DARK, etc.), so Michael Kidd - as he did in DOLLY - had to come up with entirely new choreography.
Personally, I prefer the musical numbers in DOLLY, but mainly because they've been captured in a more cinematic way, with more interesting camera movement. Except for "Jenny," most of the musical numbers in STAR! are hampered by stagebound (and often static) camera work. Julie Andrews herself said that "Jenny" represented a chance to do a "real movie musical number," and I liked the results (even if a number of critics didn't). I also enjoyed "Piccadilly" and "Burlington Bertie," but - for me, anyway - the remaining numbers could have used more imaginative cinematography.
Other than triggering an avalanche of bad publicity for Julie when he refused to let her go to the World Premiere, Blake Edwards had no direct involvement in STAR! SOB was more or less about his unhappy experiences with DARLING LILI (a financial disappointment starring his wife) and WILD ROVERS (a film starring Willian Holden that was recut by the studio). I found it an interesting coincidence that the only stars in SOB given above the title billing (along with the director) were Mrs. Edwards, and Mr Holden, who each had top billing in LILI and ROVERS. A candid Playboy interview Mrs/Mr Edwards did around that time made more than a passing reference to his frustrations with studio heads at Paramount and MGM, and that he took some revenge in his writing. It's pretty clear who the various characters in SOB are based on, but that was a comedy, not a documentary. I imagine it's all water under the bridge (and down the river) by now. Ironically, the Uncut version of STAR! is more popular with fans than Edwards' severely shortened 1992 cut of LILI, which threw some of the star's best moments to the cutting room floor.
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That`s what I said in my earlier post.
No, it was "Darling Lili" that was the basis for the film in "SOB", not "Star!".
shareI agree. I just watched it again. I have a quartet of Fox movies that includes Can-Can, Anna and the King of Siam, Daddy Longlegs and Star. This is the reason I bought the set. There are only two scenes that I fast-forwarded through: the one leading to her court appearance for bankrupcy, and her abuse of Richard Aldrich at the beginning of their relationship. Otherwise, I think it's a surprisingly good film with a decent storyline and marvelous performances. It recreates some of Lawrence's best theatre sequences intact, especially Private Lives and The Red Peppers.
That it didn't include The King and I is, of course, sad, because it would have extended the plot too far. Not to mention, the ending wouldn't have worked, because Lawrence died during the show's first year on Broadway. She's buried in the ball gown from the "Shall We Dance" sequence.
Still, for a movie about Lawrence, this is terrific.
Pierce that was lovely. That Miss Lawrence was buried in the King and I gown is so poignant. Thanks for sharing and my best wishes from Australia!
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