The Star

Released Dec 11, 1952

1h 29m

Drama

List

25%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

59%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Oscar-winning actress Margaret Elliot (Bette Davis) is well past her prime but refuses to retire from the acting business. Despite entreaties from both her daughter, Gretchen (Natalie Wood), and one-time professional colleague Jim Johannsen (Sterling Hayden), 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

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.

Aug 31, 2020

Full Review

Bob Thomas

Associated Press

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

Jul 24, 2019

Full Review

Dan Callahan

Slant Magazine

A threadbare, bargain-basement Sunset Boulevard.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 7, 2005

Full Review

Nell Dodson Russell

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

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.

Dec 16, 2021

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

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).

Rated: C

Aug 9, 2010

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Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

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

Rated: 1/4

Jul 25, 2007

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Scott W

Great cast ! Always like Bette Davis after ; All About Eve. She's very good here also

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/23/21

Full Review

steve d

There is not much to it, and the acting is just ok.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great cast. Always liked Bette Davis after the movie; All About Eve . She's very good here also

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Nadya R

I just can't buy a weak, needy Bette Davis crying on any man's shoulder. "I don't know what to do, PLEASE tell me what to do!" That lady stood up to bankers, producers, studio heads.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/27/20

Full Review

Audience Member

Bette Davis on the steep down slide in an unmitigated pile. They scraped the bottom for this one. Pure B movie trash.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

joe m

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.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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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 (Bette Davis) is well past her prime but refuses to retire from the acting business. Despite entreaties from both her daughter, Gretchen (Natalie Wood), and one-time professional colleague Jim Johannsen (Sterling Hayden), 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
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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