The Star

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The Star

1952,

1h 29m,

Drama

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25%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

59%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

25%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

59%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Oscar-winning actress Margaret Elliot is well past her prime but refuses to retire from the acting business. Despite entreaties from both her daughter, Gretchen, and one-time professional colleague Jim Johannsen, Margaret remains convinced that she can regain her former glory. As she sets her sights on a coveted Hollywood role, Johannsen tries doggedly to get his unrequited love to see the folly of her ways.

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James Morgan

Sight & Sound

Aug 31, 2020

It is well worth seeing not only for what it might have been but for the star; this actress of wonderful temperament and precision creates a vivid, genuine figure, alternately pathetic and exasperating, gay and decrepit, vain, impossible and defenceless.

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Bob Thomas

Associated Press

Jul 24, 2019

The Star is a wonderful tour de force for Bette Davis.

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Dan Callahan

Slant Magazine

Jun 7, 2005

2/4

A threadbare, bargain-basement Sunset Boulevard.

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Nell Dodson Russell

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Dec 16, 2021

This serving of superlative dramatic film com will be received with gasps of admiration from the legion of Davis fans although there certainly isn't much else worthy of mention when Miss isn't switching her torso around before the camera.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Aug 9, 2010

C

Bette Davis received her ninth Oscar nomiation for this formulatic melodrama about a fading, alcoholic movie star, saved by the help of a young actor (Sterling Hayden).

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Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

Jul 25, 2007

1/4

Nearly washed-up Davis essaying completely washed-up Davis.

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Albus G

Feb 15, 2019

There is an expression for movies like "The Star" - maudlin pap. Yet, like only Bette Davis can do, she brings a verve, a ferocity, a sheer force of acting - yes, even over acting - that make what might normally be a merely eye-rolling film in to a spectacle. In this outing, Davis is a washed up Academy Award winning actress who has blown it all. She then proceed to totally hit rock bottom as she goes on a bender and winds up in the clink. Sterling Hayden, an old co-star who still carries a torch for Davis, bails her out and tries to set her on the right path. But, no, Bette has to keep digging the hole she's in even deeper so she can go even lower. Her watching her screen test is fantastic! All this until she finally realizes true love is there right in front of her. The story is preposterous. Davis' acting is hammy and overwrought. Yet, the whole production is so banal it's like watching a marshmallow disintegrate in a cup of hot cocoa. Yet, there are so many great Bette Davis moments such as when she tears in to her sister and brother-in-law and when she's a sales lady and goes at with two old biddies. The movie is worth it just to watch Bette tear it up. "The Star" is not a very good movie. That is, unless you're a big Bette Davis fan - then it will be right up your alley.

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Stuart Heisler

Director

Bette Davis

Margaret Elliot

Sterling Hayden

Jim Johannsen

Natalie Wood

Gretchen

Warner Anderson

Harry Stone

Minor Watson

Joe Morrison

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Synopsis

Oscar-winning actress Margaret Elliot is well past her prime but refuses to retire from the acting business. Despite entreaties from both her daughter, Gretchen, and one-time professional colleague Jim Johannsen, Margaret remains convinced that she can regain her former glory. As she sets her sights on a coveted Hollywood role, Johannsen tries doggedly to get his unrequited love to see the folly of her ways.

Director: Stuart Heisler
Producer: Bert E. Friedlob
Screenwriter: Dale Eunson, Katherine Albert
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Bert E. Friedlob Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 11, 1952, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2012
Runtime: 1h 29m

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