This is perhaps one of the best "extras" to ever be put on a VHS or DVD. It's a great chance to see incredible movie stars out of their element and see them as themselves. There are tons of great, brief interviews with many of the great stars of the day: Greer Garson, Joan Crawford, Doris Day, Lauren Bacall, Dean Martin, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, Jack Carson, and yes, Miss Judy Garland (or Mrs. Sid Luft) herself! The list goes on and on, and includes not only stars of the film and television mediums, but moguls and gossip queens Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. The downside? It gives you a taste of what the Oscar ceremonies were probably like during the Golden Age of Hollywood and leaves you hungry for more.
2 Reviews
Evidence of how big this film was back then, but in the end it is just a red carpet ceremony
Horst_In_Translation21 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The title "A Star Is Born World Premiere" summarizes pretty well what we have here, namely one of the biggest movie nights of 1954, 65 years ago when "A Star is Born" had its world premiere in America. And not only is the star born, but this showing also attracted dozens of superstars from Hollywood back then to watch this premiere. Some (not all) of them are interviewed on the red carpet and of course the film's stars like Judy Garland also show up and say a few words. As for the latter, she is in her earyly 30s here and this reminded me of how similar also in terms of body language and behavior Liza Minneli, her daughter, is to her. Minnelli was 8 years old at that point already by the way. Now back to this premiere here. Yeah well you can say you see the stars how they really are here for once and not in character, but i would say it is only partially true. I am sure everybody knew by heart what they would say when the camera pointed at them that night and you cannot even blame them for it because of how big an event it was. So spontaneity is nothing you will find in here I am afraid. It is noce to see all the big names really and unless you really are into old films (way more than myself), then you won't recognize too many without the interviewer telling you their names. So it is a nice little add-on I think for the A Star is Born DVD/Bluray, but it is nothing you really need to see, not even if you totally love the movie. But it is something different somehow and I can see some people liking it thanks to the nostalgia factor. Shame everybody in this video is dead by now. But their films and also stuff like this one here lets them live on. Nonetheless, all in all I give a negative recommendation. You'd better watch these stars in their movies or just skip to the part where you see your favorite actor from the old days and you can check the "cast list" to see everybody that is in here. As a whole, a thumbs-down though.
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