A Star is Born

Of all Hollywood heartbreakers, this must be one of the best.  Made at a time when Judy Garland was fast approaching final crack-up, the story of a young woman comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom, but achieves them only with the help of an alcoholic leading man whose best days are behind him (James Mason), seemed to touch exactly the right raw nerves in its performers to make them scintillating.  Garland’s tremulous emotion is harnessed to a story which is certainly worthy of it and James Mason gives a performance which is as good as any actor is ever allowed.

When the Oscar for Best Actress went to Grace Kelly instead of Garland, Groucho Marx called it “the biggest robbery since Brink’s“.