Star! (1968)

Charlie Chaplin shtick hearkens to British Music Hall. Both Gertrude Lawrence and Julie Andrews received their training from the British Music Hall. The Muppets hearken to the British Music Hall. To appreciate Broadway, you have to appreciate the British Music Hall. Julie Andrews' rendition of "Burlington Bertie from Bow" immediately calls to mind Chaplinesque shtick and shows the pervasiveness of that British Music Hall. Irving Berlin would revamp a similar song for Astaire/Garland in "A Couple of Swells" in the film Easter Parade. Julie Andrews' Burlington Bertie should rank with Donald O'Connor's "Make em laugh" from Singing in the Rain.Just watch "Parisian Pierrot" and one immediately sees Joel Gray the Emcee of "Cabaret". The world from Berlin Cabaret to British Music Hall to the Broadway Stage and Hollywood is awfully short.I seem to recall reading that Gertrude Lawrence had a very limited vocal range (A to A flat) but she could put over a song. Julie Andrews on the other hand can give the musical range the song intends. By the end of the film, Gertrude Lawrence about 1940 is aged 42 and in obvious distress from alcoholism; she would die in 1952 at age 54 of liver cancer. Gertrude Lawrence was extremely difficult to work with, but her ability to put a song over made her acceptable to producers etc. Gertrude Lawrence was fortunate in her friendship with Noel Coward, apparently a friendship that dates from her pre-teen years.Comedy is hard, dying is easy--so goes the trope. Just watch :"Burlington Bertie" to see how much physical discipline the comedian must bring to the task of comedy. The actor must call on their body to act, to respond in a certain way to get a certain effect, a certain laugh. It ain't as easy as it looks.The movie was a flop when released in 1968; an hour was cut from the three hour film and it was still a flop. Apparently, the original had been 'lost' or misplaced and didn't turn up till some 25 years later when it was re-released. Sometimes you see a movie for snippets or a song. "Thanks form the Memories" or "The Last Time I Saw Paris" creating memorable moments from forgettable movies. But this is a movie that sustains its own weight throughout; it is memorable for the Julie Andrews performance (as well as Daniel Massey as Noel Coward) and others for what is a memorable film production.Most of us know Gertrude Lawrence from the Broadway Production of the King and I, which was developed as a property for her specifically; Rodgers & Hammerstein were concerned about her limited vocal range but agreed to her role. Apparently even during production of the Broadway Play she was sick from Liver cancer, missing performances, and ultimately collapsing after a Saturday Matinee Performance.16 August 1952 and dying n 6 September 1952 at age 54. The film stops with her marriage in 1940 to Richard Aldrich (played by Richard Crenna).As an interpretation of Gertrude Lawrence this film does not miss the mark; especially compared to other biopics like "Night and Day" that depicted a skewed and sanitized life of Cole Porter. It would be a disservice to the film to simply see it as a channeling of Gertrude Lawrence and her time; it is more than that: out of time even as it is in its own time.

I don't care what the critics say. This was still another excellent Julie Andrews vehicle and she is magnificent as the late Gertrude Lawrence. The latter, a star in her own right, tempestuous, and in a way, afraid of life and what it had to offer her. Career oriented she had a daughter who seemed to want to keep her distance from her.Daniel Massey was wonderful as Noel Coward. He seemed to become Lawrence's guidance counselor; she knew who to run to each time there was a crisis in her life.The film traces Lawrence's humble beginnings to her success in British revue and ultimately on Broadway.To keep the film upbeat, nothing is mentioned regarding her death in 1952 while performing The King and I on Broadway.

Even as The Sound of Music was winning its Academy Award, someone asked Julie Andrews what she would most wish for next. She said she'd like a re-make of the previous year's winner, My Fair Lady, but with herself in Audrey Hepburn's role as flower-girl turned aristocrat, which of course, Andrews had made famous on Broadway in the Fifties. Well, we could say she got her wish.This film biography of Gertrude Lawrence leans far too much weight on the social-climbing theme, which had become simply stale and irritating in the wake of the huge Sixties shake-up. Equally stale is the insertion of faked black-&-white newsreel clips, which are supposed to carry the story in-between the songs. This might have worked, if anyone had heard of the late Gertrude Lawrence, which millions hadn't. And a script like weak lemonade just added to the sense of anti-climax, which brought the unthinkable - a Julie Andrews flop.The film was (and is) notable only for the musical numbers, though the choice of songs is patchy. The words of Noël Coward's first hit 'Parisian Pierrot' probably didn't mean much even in 1923, though the melody showed more of the young man's promise. 'My Ship' hadn't weathered well, a contrived job by Ira Gershwin, impossible to sing with conviction, though he does better with the athletic 'Poor Jenny'. Best by far is 'Limehouse Blues', a brilliant staging of the Chinese drug-den sequence, lean and spare, far superior to the other extravagant scenes with which 20th-Century Fox were trying to buy their way to a hit.Songs apart, then, what are we left with?Julie Andrews acting as a full-blooded woman for the first time (truly startling as the drug-whore). Daniel Massey as Coward, his real-life godfather and patron, for which he was nominated for an award, though he sometimes seems unsure whether he is acting or just impersonating. Some wooden performances by the star's various escorts, except for the much-eclipsed first husband, played convincingly by the Yorkshireman John Collin. An interesting glimpse of Jenny Agutter as the school-age daughter, and a quaint cameo of Bruce Forsyth. But otherwise just a lot of more-or-less agreeable escapism, which failed to win audiences, because it was a few years too late and simply lacking in edge.

So yes, Julie Andrews was now known for "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music". Therefore, they thought that they could cast her in similar roles for perpetuity. The result was the eye-rolling "Star!", about an actress with whom most people were probably unfamiliar by 1968. Maybe Gertrude Lawrence was once a household name, but the public's taste in movies had completely changed by 1968 (as seen by the releases of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Night of the Living Dead"). In fact, the opening scene simply shows an orchestra playing next to a screen with a bunch of seemingly random phrases scrawled on it (they were apparently musicals in which Lawrence acted, but there's no indication given).The point is that "Star!" is the sort of movie that belongs on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Of course, if you've read my reviews, then you'll know that I watch musicals only so that I can heckle them like Mike, Servo and Crow do the crummy flicks sent them by Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank (and that includes "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music"). Robert Wise's having directed "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "The Haunting", "The Andromeda Strain" and "Audrey Rose" makes it hard to figure out how he wasted himself on this.Long story short, just avoid "Star!", or it'll be three hours that you'll never get back. If the movie has any interesting aspects, it's some of the cast members. Aside from Richard Crenna (the commanding officer in the first Rambo movie), there's also Robert Reed (the "Brady Bunch" dad) and a young Jenny Agutter (the nurse in "An American Werewolf in London").