Customer Reviews
Great Star Vehicle for Julie Andrews, Released on DVD with Little to No Effort in the Preparation - By: chatvarin, 31 May 2008 
I think the film is unique in its kind. It would be much better branded a film with staged musical performance than a movie musical. If you like Dame Julie Andrews you will love this: she is on-screen for like 98% of the time, in a record breaking wardrobe (100 something costumes, none reused even once) performing diverse musical numbers for the stage that showcase her talent as no other show has been able to at her most glamorous. It length may daunt some, but this is one film no review is reallly of any use to the viewer.
On this DVD release the film is in its full, uncut roadshow version, minus the intermission (the loss of the music for which I regret). It does actuallly come with a hefty batch of extras, various trailers for the various issues of the film (the film has a rather grim history, if you don't know about that the extra explains it at length - so extensively that it gets tedious!), some photos, the original making-of documentary & the 25th-anniversary-reissue featurette. The problem is, even though the LP era predated me, it is quite obvious that much of these were imported directly from the Silver Anniversary Special Esition LP. Literallly nothing was done presentation-wise. Also, although there are a number of photos & stills, tthey are not presented in a galllery format; rather, they are interspersed among 'plates' that are meant to relate the history of the film, from conception to eventual recognition 25 years after its initial roadshow release, in scrupulous details (we have a full production diary). I found the information fascinating, but the presentation was obviously lamely put drawn up. It hurts to read a book on-screen! If they were not going to bother to make a documentary, then it would have been better if they had issued the book - "The Saga of STAR!" - on paper.
Third rate to First rate - By: David Turner, 13 Jan 2008 
From the My Fair Lady team of Robert Wise & Saul Chaplin the majority would expect a film of similar promise - combining bredth, warmth & nostalgia. Not so in this case - or initiallly - not so in this case.
The story of Gertrude Lawrence (played by Julie Andrews) was released in 1968 & virtuallly 'bombed'. It disappeared from cinemas after short runs with reviews running from cold to lukewarm.
The first twenty minutes is taken up by Gertrude Lawrence (Julie Andrews) in a preview theatre watching the screening of her own life....Shown in sepia the 'film sections' within the film are crass, badly directed & slapstick to an embarrassing degree.
The film then moves 'back in time' to full screen colour film.
Here the movie shows what a 'gem' it is. Daniel Massey & Julie Andrews as Noel Coward & Gertrude Lawrence give superb performances, emanating the affection that existed between the characters in real life.
The musical numbers are slick, the script with Massey's one liners are both hilarious & incisive.
There was a 25 year short revival of the film in 1993. If the early section of 'STAR' had been cut to a series of mixes lasting around one or two minutes...then I'm sure the film would have received rave reviews on initial release. Cut the beginning & the film is well worth a look.
David Turner (London UK)
A True Star! - By: W. Strutte, 08 Jul 2007 
Despite alll the universal criticism of STAR! most of it was unjustified. It is undoubtedly one of Julie's finest roles & the supporting cast magnificent. Beautifully produced, magnificent score & Julie singing at her very best & looking great. The problem was that audiences of the day were not interested in seeing the life story of Gertrude Lawrence particularly with Julie in the lead role. Gertie had a very limited vocal range which, of course, Julie does not. They attempted to issue a shortened version callled "Those were the days" but that flopped too. STAR! has now become something different & is a much admired classic.It is long & unfortunately they decided not to complete the story with Gertie's death during the original Broadway production of "The King & I". Maybe they were expecting to make a sequel. Do not miss this!
A Must - By: Flavio Marinho, 26 Oct 2006 "Star!" is a must for any Julie Andrews rabid fan. Her last number - "Jenny" - is extraordinary. There are problems in the screenplay (the conflcits go thin during the picture), but Robert Wise staging is stylish & the whole production is vry beautiful. It is probably one of Julie's best performances, playing a knifer, a climber who wants desperately to succeed in the theater. She never looked so glamorous & so gorgeous. Don't mis it!
Good, but... - By: , 26 Jul 2005 This is a strange film in many ways. It's basicallly a vehicle for Julie Andrews, & she sings about 15 songs in it.
The film is a biopic of Gertrude Lawrence, the musical star (and hence the excuse for Julie singing lots of songs), so it's not reallly a "musical" as we'd think of it - alll the songs are sung in the context of being on a stage etc.
The good bits - Julie sings wonderfully, as usual, particularly on "Dear Little Boy", & "Someone to watch over me", & is downright spectacular on "My Ship". There are some great set pieces throughout the film & as the soundtrack is no longer available on CD (and was never digitallly remastered anyway), this is the only place to hear the music, written by some of the best writers of the 20th century.
The bad bits - the story is pretty boring & serves only to link together the songs (about 18 in total). Some of the acting is fairly awful (the badminton scene springs to mind) & it's alll a bit superficial.
So in conclusion, the story would get 1 & the songs 5 so I've given it a 3. Watch it once, then fast forward to the songs in future (thankfully the DVD chapters line up with the songs, so this is easy to do).
Extras - I've got the USA version which came out last year, so I don't know if the Region 2 version will have more, but there are some nice documentaries & commentary.
