"Star!" reunited Julie Andrews with her "Sound of Music" director Robert Wise and producer Saul Chaplin, in an effort to go all-out in showcasing the talents of one great singer and actress (Julie, of course) while telling the life story of another (Gertrude Lawrence). The astronomical costs of the production are certainly evident in the sheer scope of the production, the lavish Donald Brooks costumes and Cartier jewels and the attention to period (1912-1940) detail.
Unfortunatly, by the time "Star!" came out, both movie musicals and Julie Andrews were both on the way down, and the resounding failure of this film, critically and financially, greatly increased the downfalls of both.
So, what went wrong? Well, the story is presented in a rather uninteresting fashion. I don't know much about Lawrence, so I can't say how accurate it is, but it's certainly uninvolving. It also goes on and on, though is never exactly boring, and then ends abruptly with at least one major plotline completely unresolved. But the device of using a newsreel throughout the film to comment on Gertie's life is, if nothing else, original, and Daniel Massey's protrayal of Noel Coward is amusing and effective. And then, there's the question of Julie's performance. Unfortunatly, as great an actress as she is and always was, she hadn't fully developed enough to play a role as demanding and as unlike her established persona as this one, and it shows onscreen. (It's probably also one of the reasons audiences stayed away from the film when it was first released) But, trooper that she is, she manages not to fall on her face somehow.
The reason is probably the great songs in the film, in which Julie naturally excels. Her performances of such classics as "Burlington Bertie," "Parisian Peirrot," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and in the grand finale, "The Saga of Jenny," are all sublime, and her rendition of the title song definitly "makes the ditty seem like a smash." The film is definitly worth seeing for these reasons alone. On the whole, it isn't good drama, but as a musical, it probably is one of the last great ones to come out of Hollywood.
Unfortunatly, by the time "Star!" came out, both movie musicals and Julie Andrews were both on the way down, and the resounding failure of this film, critically and financially, greatly increased the downfalls of both.
So, what went wrong? Well, the story is presented in a rather uninteresting fashion. I don't know much about Lawrence, so I can't say how accurate it is, but it's certainly uninvolving. It also goes on and on, though is never exactly boring, and then ends abruptly with at least one major plotline completely unresolved. But the device of using a newsreel throughout the film to comment on Gertie's life is, if nothing else, original, and Daniel Massey's protrayal of Noel Coward is amusing and effective. And then, there's the question of Julie's performance. Unfortunatly, as great an actress as she is and always was, she hadn't fully developed enough to play a role as demanding and as unlike her established persona as this one, and it shows onscreen. (It's probably also one of the reasons audiences stayed away from the film when it was first released) But, trooper that she is, she manages not to fall on her face somehow.
The reason is probably the great songs in the film, in which Julie naturally excels. Her performances of such classics as "Burlington Bertie," "Parisian Peirrot," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and in the grand finale, "The Saga of Jenny," are all sublime, and her rendition of the title song definitly "makes the ditty seem like a smash." The film is definitly worth seeing for these reasons alone. On the whole, it isn't good drama, but as a musical, it probably is one of the last great ones to come out of Hollywood.