A Star Is Born Again

I mentioned a restoration technique that I thought was interesting when I discussed Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon. A complete soundtrack was still extant but whole chunks of footage were missing. Instead of discarding the soundtrack, the restoration team opted to replace the missing parts with appropriately placed still pictures.

Mason in costume

When the time came to restore A Star Is Born, a similar problem occurred. Even before the film’s premiere, many scenes were removed to tighten an already long story. Scenes of Norman Maine shooting a pirate film on location are now only remembered through a few stills.

Mason in a pre-premiere outtake

But this can be considered part of the making of the film. However, soon after the premiere, Warner Brothers decided that the film was too long and an intermission was inappropriate. So under the pressure of local distributors (who wanted a shorter film to allow more showings per day) the film was heavily butchered in several places without the assistance of director George Cukor. Since the idea was to shorten the film only through editing, no reshoots were planned to explain missing plot points or to sweeten awkward transitions.

Deleted picnic scene

That meant that once it was decided that the first scene of Norman Maine’s extensive search for Esther was gone, the rest of the scenes had to go too. And indeed it did, along with two musical numbers (when there weren’t that many to begin with) and many other scenes.

The restoration began when the complete monaural copy of the soundtrack was located in the vaults of Warner Brothers. This gave the restorers the hope that, if the missing footage could be located, the world could once again see the original edit of the film. Their goal was to show it to George Cukor who could never sit through the film again.

At the time the decision to cut the film was made, Warner requested the cuts of the copies already in circulation to be shipped back to the studio. It soon became apparent that they had not only tossed away these cuts, but had also cut the original negative and thrown away the outtakes.

With apparently nothing to work with, they went on an extensive search for uncut copies. Except for the missing musical sequences that they got from the vaults of the studio or from a private collector who had stolen the “Long Face” sequence long ago, the all important dramatic scenes of the first third of the film could not be located in their entirety. The decision was taken to use the bits of film found in the department that stored stock footage (the bits and pieces that were considered usable for other films like streets, cars, locations, etc.) and the studio stills over the soundtrack in place of the cut scenes.

The main problem with this was the fact that, to save on costs, and unlike the regular studio practice of the time, very few studio stills were taken on this production (one only per scene average). So they sometimes had to recreate a still by combining several unrelated ones or by completely photographing new scenes (The tenant of the Oleander Arms is an actress from the eighties).

In spite of that, two dialog-heavy scenes still had to be shortened for the restoration, the complete version of which are offered as bonus features on the Blu-ray.

However, the result looks marvelous and even though the appearance of the stills intercut with live footage can seem weird to some, it does help to raise awareness to film preservation. Unfortunately George Cukor died before this restoration was completed and screened.

As a matter of fact, according to this article, at least one complete copy of the film (and even some scenes cut prior to release) still exist in the hands of a private collector named Michael Arick, which seems believable enough considering how the "Long Face" sequence was recovered. However, due to a conflict about a previous collaboration with Warner over a complete print of A Streetcar named desire (among other things), Arick does not wish to deal with them again. Let's pray that the film will some day be complete.

Early concept for The Man That got Away

The Blu-ray also offers other versions of the very famous Man That Got Away sequence, because it was filmed to playback several times before everyone involved was satisfied with costumes, lights and the overall look of it.

Early concept for The Man That got Away

I strongly suggest you to buy the soundtrack CD if you like the film. After all, it IS a musical. Also, a great book called “A star is born, The making of the 1954 movie and its 1983 restoration” was written by Ronald Haver, who is responsible for this restoration. The first part tells the fascinating story of the film at the time of the making which helps to explain the decisions made at the time regarding its fate (it was the first Warner Cinemascope picture), and the second part is about the epic restoration.

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Something's Got to Give

There aren't many films that have such a famous scene. Surely you remember that film where Marilyn Monroe swims naked in a swimming pool. Sure you do,... it had Dean Martin in it, right? For some reason, you just cannot seem to remember the plot, though. But that scene got a lot of press coverage and is just as famous as the blowing skirt in "The Seven Year Itch".

And yet... there never was a film. At least not one that was ever completed. After the United Artists film The Misfits, shot in black and white by John Huston, 20th Century Fox who had the actress under contract felt that she should do another one of her successful Cinemascope Deluxe Color comedies. So an old script produced in 1940 as My Favorite Wife (starring Irenne Dunne and Cary Grant) was dug up and revamped for Marilyn to star in. The film was to be called Something's Got to Give and her co-star were Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. George Cukor agreed to direct in spite of the problems he encountered with the temperamental star.

Marilyn had been a little plump in her last Fox movie Let's Make Love, but she went on a diet and came back in tip top shape for her makeup and costume test.

Some scenes were shot, among which the famous swimming pool scene. Precious time was lost shooting the same scenes endlessly with children or with a dog. And Marilyn's lack of sleep sometimes prevented her from shooting close-ups.

Unfortunately, Marilyn fell ill and George Cukor started shooting around her, until all the scenes that did not include her were in the can. The studio finally fired the actress. When her co-star would not work with anybody else and for various other obvious reasons, Marilyn was re-hired, but her subsequent death sealed the fate of the film.

However it still had a future. For 20th Century Fox, the first move was to use the script, some of the sets and start a new production with a completely different cast. They threw in a song and adapted the scenario to their new star: Doris Day. The result was Move Over Darling. A far less appealing title but a decent film nonetheless.

And then what? Several documentaries about Marilyn Monroe used the same footage over and over. Until a DVD of the documentary The Final Days came out. At the end of it was an attempt to edit all the scenes shot that could fit in a result that could make sense.

You can get a glimpse of what the film would have been, but the main attraction is missing from most of it. The comedy would probably have been in the line of Let's Make Love, but as shallow as Marilyn's role appears, it would have been a very definite turn in her career: never before had she played a mother.
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Sodom And Gomorrah

Sodom And Gomorrah isn't a lost film per say. But the divine force that struck the two cities seems to oppose an official release of the film on a decent format.
And other details such as censorship cuts and the soundtrack make me want to talk about it.
Though I must admit: I have a soft spot in my heart for this film and that is my first motivation.

I remember seeing it as a child at my grand ma's and the show blew me away. Yes, because, in spite of the title, the film remains quite decent. In it, Sodomites are barely the inhabitants of Sodom, lesbianism is reduced to a few insistent gazes, all of which can very well go unnoticed for a young naive and pure child (which I was back then). Not a tit shot, not even a curse word, nothing.

This Italian-French-American co-production did not meet an overwhelming success even though it was released in many countries. Maybe it's the origins (Italian productions of the time often look somewhat cheap to me) at a time when the sword-and-sandal genre was beginning to wane in popularity. Have you noticed how Italian extras, as opposed to over-enthusiastic American ones, always seem to be waiting the end of the scene to get their paycheck? Maybe it's just me.

By now, you're probably wondering : "What's so special about this film, then?"

Apart from a few details like the involvement of two future long-time James Bond collaborators : Ken Adam for production design and Maurice Binder for his highly stylized main title sequences, the on-screen presence of Stewart Granger (Moonfleet, The Prisoner of Zenda,...), and pretty Pier Angeli, this film has two main attractions : Anouk Aimée and Miklós Rózsa's music.

Let's start with Anouk Aimée.
I've always loved the parts of beautiful, cruel, poker-faced women with power. They fascinate me. The Queen in Snow White, Ayesha in "She", and the Queen of Sodom.
The latter is, to my knowledge, never mentioned by name in the movie but is listed as "Queen Bera" on the IMDB and various other sources.
Anouk Aimée, who was never prettier than in this film, parades with a detached face but really has power of life and death over the people that surround her and she uses rivalries and the court intrigues to get rid of the one person that can rightfully resist her: her brother, with whom she cultivates a very peculiar relationship. But her influence over him and his final execution resemble a cat-and-mouse game: slow and vicious so she can see her victim suffer and relish it.

As sovereign of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Queen choses her prettiest slave to make her the favorite from whom she demands more obedience than the film can depict. But the innuendos are there.

In the end, she can only be defeated by the only entity who can defy her power : God. The scene of her tragic fate impressed upon me as a child : all alone, abandoned, without a sound (her favorite screams in her place), she faces death and with her falls the symbol of her kingdom.

The character is fascinating, but the talent of the actress (not to mention her beauty) are really what made it work for me. I saw Anouk Aimée on the stage playing Love Letters, and in another English-speaking role besides "Sodom" (she dubs herself in the French version) in a TV episode called, "Voices In The Garden" where she plays the tragic part of a sick woman whose last days are brightened by her meeting with a couple of teenagers.

Her voice charmed me every time.

I was very surprised to read in an interview by Boze Hadleigh  of director George Cukor, who ordinarily remains so consensual, that he thought working with her (on Justine) had been one the worst experiences of his career. According to him, her attitude was "intractable. Like Marilyn but without the results". I don't know what their differences were on that shoot, but I have to say I disagree on that last comment. Whatever attitude she had, the results are there. But I must admit that Anouk Aimée never had the career she could expect in the USA. However that may have been a choice.

Back to the film. About the soundtrack, this is Rózsa's last score (Quo Vadis, Julius Caesar, Diane, King of Kings, Ben Hur,... ) for this kind of movie. And what a score! The theme of the two cities marvelously conveys decadence and power mixed together. The amateur had to wait a long time before he could buy a relatively satisfying recording.

A double LP album offered a large selection of the music (although not a complete one), but in the digital era, one could expect better. A 64 minute CD was released in 1990 albeit with a monaural sound and strange cuts right in the middle of the cues. In 2001, another CD, this time in stereo, gathered only 43 minutes of music without even including the main title.

Not until 2007 did Digitmovies release a double CD copying the content of the LP with 6 extra unused cues (5 Hebrew prayers and one dance). If these discs offer the most complete selection to date (and probably all that's left of the actual soundtrack), some cues are incomplete and others missing altogether (the main title is cut 2 minutes 20 seconds in at the most inappropriate time in all of these editions).

But the soundtrack got royal treatment compared to the film itself. Look for a DVD release (I don't even mention Blu-Ray) and weep. I bought the VHS tape some ten years ago. Obviously the film was not restored and was presented in the 4:3 picture format, but except for the overture, intermission and epilogue (all on the CD), the film was complete.

In the French version for instance (the film was shot in English), Tamar's torture scene was censored and the shots showing the spikes on Arno's torso are missing, which gives the impression that Tamar is dying of a big hug.

An official DVD with an English soundtrack saw the light of day in Germany. If the format of the picture is adapted to wide-screen TV, it seems that various copies of different quality were mixed together which gives a frankly disturbing result. And the main title is also cut in several places (including the first seconds) with the consequences you can imagine on the listening pleasure.

More or less legal but always deceptive editions come up everywhere in the world: in Asia, on two discs with a randomly chosen cut (clumsy considering the fact that the film has an intermission), or in Brazil where the film is "letter-boxed" (black strips at the top and bottom).

If god wants it (and especially if 20th Century Fox does), some day maybe, Sodom And Gomorrah will rise from the ashes! Hear the Queen call you : "Stay! I command you to stay !"
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