To compare "The Star" to "Sunset Boulevard" and "All About Eve" is to do an injustice to those films. They are classics because at their helm were Billy Wilder and Jospeh Mankiewicz, directors of great intelligence and above all great style – qualities blatantly missing in "The Star".
"The Star" has no style whatsoever. All it has is a big star, Bette Davis. Ironically her character boasts having directed more than one director and that's exactly what seems to be happening here. Hers was a talent that needed to be harnessed by a strong director. Stuart Heisler clearly leaves Davis to her own devices and what results is an over the top, campy, mannered performance. Of course her fans will eat it up. But this is not good acting. Its acting that weakens what from the start is not a strongly scripted film.
"The Star" should have been memorable as a film about ageing in Hollywood, an ever pertinent subject, rather than being memorable as Bette Davis camp fest.
"The Star" has no style whatsoever. All it has is a big star, Bette Davis. Ironically her character boasts having directed more than one director and that's exactly what seems to be happening here. Hers was a talent that needed to be harnessed by a strong director. Stuart Heisler clearly leaves Davis to her own devices and what results is an over the top, campy, mannered performance. Of course her fans will eat it up. But this is not good acting. Its acting that weakens what from the start is not a strongly scripted film.
"The Star" should have been memorable as a film about ageing in Hollywood, an ever pertinent subject, rather than being memorable as Bette Davis camp fest.