Janet Gaynor & Fredric March in "A Star Is Born" (1937) - feat. Adolphe Menjou & Andy Devine

Farm girl Esther Victoria Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) yearns to become a Hollywood actress. Although her aunt and father discourage such thoughts, Esther's grandmother (May Robson) gives Esther her savings to follow her dream.

Esther goes to Hollywood and tries to land a job as an extra, but so many others have had the same idea that the casting agency has stopped accepting applications. She befriends out of work assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), and they go to a concert to celebrate Danny's employment. Esther has her first encounter with Norman Maine (Fredric March), a major star for years, but his alcoholism has sent his career into a downward spiral.

Danny gets Esther a waitressing job at a fancy Hollywood party where she catches Norman's eye. The next day, he gets his longtime producer and good friend, Oliver Niles (Adolphe Menjou), to give her a screen test. Impressed, Oliver gives her a contract and a new name, "Vicki Lester". Norman persuades Oliver to cast Esther as the female lead for Norman's current film,. The film makes her an overnight success, as fans lose interest in Norman.

Norman proposes to Esther; she accepts when he promises to give up drinking. They elope without publicity, much to press agent Matt Libby's (Lionel Stander) disgust. When they return, Esther's popularity continues to skyrocket, and Norman realizes that his own career is over.

Norman stays sober for a while, but his frustration over his situation finally pushes him over the edge, and he starts drinking again. When Esther wins the industry's top award (the Academy Award for Best Actress), he interrupts her acceptance speech by drunkenly demanding three awards for the worst acting of the year.

A stay at a sanatorium seems to cure Norman, but Norman goes on another drinking binge, and is arrested for drunk driving. In court, Esther pleads with the judge, who is impressed with Esther's acting success, and puts Norman's custody into Esther's hands. After Norman overhears Esther and Oliver discussing her plan to give up her career to devote herself to Norman's rehabilitation, he drowns himself in the Ocean.

Shattered, Esther decides to quit and her grandmother tells her of a letter Norman sent her when they got married, stating how proud he was of Esther and how much he loved her, which convinces Esther to stay in show business. At the premiere of her next film, she announces "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine."

A 1937 American Technicolor drama film (a/k/a "It Happened In Hollywood") directed by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell and Robert Carson, story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson, cinematography by W. Howard Greene, starring Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Lionel Stander, Owen Moore, Peggy Wood, Elizabeth Jenns, Edgar Kennedy, J. C. Nugent, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Clara Blandick, Jonathan Hale, Marshall Neilan, and Vince Barnett. Screen debut appearances of Cynthia Westlake and Mae Madison. Final screen appearances of Elizabeth Jenns and Helene Chadwick.

Celebrated costumer Omar Kiam, known for his exquisite period designs, provided both classic and modern fashion examples in this picture.

Early in the film, when Esther stops at Grauman's Chinese Theater to see the stars' footprints, the second one she visits is Harold Lloyd, which is to the right of Janet Gaynor's own prints from 1929, a portion which is visible on screen, including the "r" in her signature.

The Oscar that Janet Gaynor receives in the film is her own Oscar, which she won for her role in "7th Heaven" (1927).

At the 10th Academy Awards, this became the first color film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The only film to be nominated for Best Actor and Actress Oscars that year. Greene was given an Honorary Award by the Academy for his color photography.

This is widely considered to be the first Technicolor film that was a bona-fide success. Until then color films had been garish, over-saturated and, as many critics complained, headache-inducing. Producer David O. Selznick insisted on muted, realistic color, and it paved the way for his Technicolor masterpiece "Gone with the Wind (1939)."

Based on a previous Hollywood production, "What Price Hollywood?" (1932), this was remade three times: in 1954 (directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason), in 1976 (directed by Frank Pierson and starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson), and in 2018 (starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who also directed). The three remakes are all musical films.

This rags to riches story about our struggle to fulfill our dreams and the sacrifices we have to make for them is a jewel amongst other 30s classics, a significant piece of Hollywood history, and should be seen by all film lovers and the starry-eyed. If you like classic films this superb and memorable 1937 version is highly recommended.