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Another movie where the director does not matter much.It's the actress who makes the movie.And when the actress is none other than Bette Davis ,the pleasure is intense.

Although not as good as "Sunset Boulevard" ,which it often recalls,"the star" is a solid absorbing melodrama.Davis was one of the few actresses who had the guts to play her "days to come" ;it was even more stunning in Aldrich "Whatever happened to Baby Jane?" during the following decade.And deservedly,Davis never really grew old-fashioned ,in 1981,she had even a song dedicated to her eyes.

"The star" has two great moments.The first one happens when Davis is walking down the street and when relics of her heyday are sold by auction:going,going,gone!;the second one when she watches her test and cries over the dismal results.Davis was so gifted an actress she could "play badly" and remain fascinating: the test was her last fight to regain a youth which eluded her.As Holden told to Swanson in Wilder's opus:"Being fifty is nothing tragic when you do not pretend you are thirty".

... because the plot is about an aging actress in an industry that worships youth who can no longer get parts of any kind, whose friends have abandoned her, and who is so broke she is about to be kicked out of her small apartment - Bette Davis as Margaret Elliot. I guess I'd also mention that her star has fallen so far that she can't even get arrested in this town (Hollywood), but alas she can, as she gets arrested for driving drunk and getting into a one car accident, all while lugging her Oscar around.

Jim Johannsen (Sterling Hayden) bails her out of jail. He does this partly because she gave him a break in his very short movie career before he moved on to a boat building business of his own, partly because he is kind, partly because he is still in love with her although he is noticeably younger than she is. She actually does get a shot at another part - a supporting role playing the part of the much older sister of the actual lead actress. The test was just a formality, but Margaret messes it up by trying to play the middle aged scrub woman role she has as sexy rather than disheveled and dispirited as directed. When she asks to see her screen test she sees how ridiculous it looks and, as a result, has an epiphany. You'll have to watch and find out just what that epiphany is.

This film is supposedly based loosely on the late career of Joan Crawford, although she got parts - and good ones - past the date of the release of this film. Not to be unkind, but Joan Crawford aged quite well where here, Bette Davis actually looks every day of her 44 years. It's interesting to see Sterling Hayden play a strong yet sensitive guy. There is a good role here for Natalie Wood as Davis' adoring teen daughter.

One thing that the film ignores, probably because it had been written several years before, is that by 1952 actors and actresses whose stars were no longer on the ascent or who maybe were never that well known in the first place were getting steady work on television. In fact, both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford started getting regular appearances on television starting in the 1950s.

I never get tired of watching Bette Davis and she is capable of disappearing into so many different roles. This isn't one of her best films, but she gives a good performance and we get a chance to see a young Sterling Hayden and an adolescent Natalie Wood.

There are lots of in crowd Hollywood barbs and you can tell that Davis is having a great time.

Bear in mind that Davis' career peaked in the 30s when she won her two Oscars, but she continued to be nominated often in the 40s (Now Voyager, Mr Skeffington) but between 1944 and 1950 she didn't get a nod. So, despite her marvelous "All About Eve" (1950) she was clearly on the decline when she made this film (for which she earned her final nomination prior to Baby Jane). Following this film she had nearly a decade of decline, made even worse by the decline in her marriage.

Davis (in an Oscar-nominated performance) plays Margaret Elliot as washed out has been actress. She was big once but now can't get a job. She's divorced and penniless but refuses to give up hope for one more acting job. She also has a man who loves her (Sterling Hayden) and is trying to get her to face reality. There's also a scene or two of Margaret with her daughter played by an impossibly young Natalie Wood.

It's a depressing movie of course but you can't stop watching. It's short (89 minutes) and moves quickly. It does have a ridiculously false but happy ending that had me getting misty-eyed. This is worth seeing for Davis alone. She's just great. She also gleefully said she modeled her character after Joan Crawford! OUCH!

The story of a washed up and penniless movie actress who doesn't want to give up her hope of making a comeback. The critics hated it, but I knew I would love it, and sure enough, it was one of the best films I have ever seen, simple, unpretentious, human-scale, full of compassion, eloquence and BEAUTY. This is one of the most BEAUTIFUL films ever made, visually ravishing in its simple and unobtrusive way. It instantly draws you in. The camera is warm and friendly. It doesn't browbeat you.

Unlike "Sunset Boulevard", this film does not put on artistic garb, but it triumphs as a work of art. The story, though similar, is far more interesting. In Sunset Boulevard the faded star is wealthy, and money is no object. That impoverishes the plot. Movies about the rich are invariably poor.

It is most sad that such wonderful films are almost never shown. This is one of Davis' best films and performances. Several scenes are memorable. Davis' sister remarks, she can't imagine where all the money went. Davis is justifiably furious at such ingratitude, and throws her out of her room, after reminding her that she spent countless thousands helping her. In another scene Bette has been talked into giving up "chasing rainbows" and works as a sales clerk at a department store. Two elderly women recognize her, and she overhears one of them say: "What a disgrace they hired a jailbird". Davis loses her temper and quits yelling: "The disgrace is that I am waiting on two old bags like you!!!".

Although Davis has her flaws, you have to give her credit for selecting so many good films. There are many famous actors who do not have a single solid film to their credit.