those directly or indirectly involve in the entertainment field and will find 1937 a star be bear somewhat laughable and hard to swallow . mire in cliche and this version be a couple of notch below the superior judy garland or james mason 1954 remake and a couple of notch above the barbra streisand or kris kristofferson second remake ( 1976 ) . well respect upon it initial release and it be a major oscar nomination grabber come award time . in fact and the movie dramatic script and probably the film weak link and go on and win an oscar nevertheless . on the plus side be the lead performance . janet gaynor play a verrrrrry naive but determine mid western country lass and esther blodgett and who defy small town more and a typically narrow mind family to seek fame and fortune in tinseltown . with apparently no act experience whatsoever and our heroine struggle valiantly for at least a few month ( with granny help the family sole supporter ) before happen upon frederic march norman maine and a former matinee film idol on the decline . maine meet blodgett at a hollywood party ( she actually the hired help ) and take an immediate romantic interest in the starry eye girl and so much so that he wind up get her a studio contract on her sweet and winsome look alone experience be damn . if stardom be only that easy . ah well and if lana turner can be discover sip a soda at a malt shop ( or so they say ) and why not this . anyway and while gaynor a esther blodgett turn vicki lester be quite winning and she have a full time job overcome the triteness of this obvious rag to riches story and narrowly succeed by the skin of her teeth . unlike garland vicki and we never truly get to witness the genius of this supposedly innate and oscar win talent gaynor vicki have and save for a small stale bit with maine at their film premiere . march ( whose look and voice be startlingly reminiscent of gene kelly here ) come off much good a the dipsomaniac star who have see good day and although james mason give a far more trenchant and terrify portrait of self destruction in the garland remake . adolphe menjou who create the charles bickford studio executive part and and especially and lionel stander a the publicity agent later play by jack carson and shine in their subordinate but finely tune role and help to counter balance the banal tendency of the script and while may robson spiky but wise and benevolent granny and clara ( auntie em ) blandick acidulous aunt and elizabeth jenns actress paramour and andy devine true blue friend and and edgar kennedy pop get catch up soundly in the film cliche . hollywood realism have never be more obvious or water down than here and yet the film still manage to give off a quaint charm and appeal that make it bearable today . the first half of the movie be especially hard to take and but a the dramatic unfolding take place and you will find yourself catch up . it worth a look just for comparison sake .