Fredric March, A Star is Born

as NORMAN MAINE

I will preface this post by saying that I've fallen for Fredric March. Since I began my voyage of going through the nominated (leading) performances of Oscar's earliest years, March has popped up in several of the films I've seen and as a result, I became taken by the lax yet confident charisma he always exudes on the screen. I was so fond of him that I actively sought out films and performances of his not nominated for Oscars, one of which being his work as an alcoholic mess in Merrily We Go to Hell. Naturally, I was pretty excited to see him play another alcoholic mess in A Star is Born, especially since I had heard nothing but great things about him as the original Norman Maine. But upon finishing A Star is Born, I was left with a ton of indifferent feelings. My biggest issue with the film is the story, which, although interesting, doesn't do a very good job at addressing the topics of stardom and alcoholism, both of which are very hefty subjects to begin with. As a result, we're left with a performance from March that's sometimes compelling but mostly underdeveloped.


March is the star figuratively dying while Janet Gaynor is the star being born. This in and of itself ought to be a juicy showcase for an actor--to see a decline in popularity and to fall from the heights of major movie stardom to a has-been...that's a character dimension ripe with potential. And as if that wasn't enough, the same man is also grappling with alcoholism! So how did I manage to be so underwhelmed by it all? After having seen March so full of anguish in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and so passionate in The Affairs of Cellini, his work here feels a little underplayed. Perhaps that was what he was going for, and perhaps it's all a matter of interpretation, but I didn't quite feel anything from him for much of the film, and many of his expressions in that key sequence where he gets calls asking for Esther as well as a package delivery from a man who doesn't recognize him just read as "disappointed" when it could have been so much more richer than that. In fact, it's not until his Oscars speech did he really resonate with me. It's his most moving and passionate moment in the film, and you can tell from the way his voice trembles as he speaks, and I wish there were more of these moments dispersed throughout his performance. There's three parts to March's performance: Norman the alcoholic who is charming and funny, Norman the supportive and charming husband, and Norman the alcoholic who is deeply depressed. March is at his best in that third part, and he taps into a heartbreaking display of acting with his Oscars scene and his final scene with Gaynor. But I'd be lying if I said he was anything special in that second part of the supporting husband--in fact, the material he had to work with was pretty pedestrian. March's alcoholic in Merrily We Go to Hell is a more in-depth look at a man's troubles with alcohol and the effect it has on his wife, while the folks behind A Star is Born seem to be using alcoholism as a prop for ample drama when necessary. So this is kind of a simple-minded (not to mention rushed) portrait of a troubled man. Sure, March is charming in that first part of his performance, and it's that very charm that made me grow so fond of him to begin with, but I couldn't help but feel that his overall performance could have been so much better if there were darker overtones of his struggle with alcohol in his earlier scenes, or if there was a struggle at all! Are we to really believe this man with a drinking problem is able to go sober without withdrawals or anything of the like with a simple cut to the next scene? I'll blame the screenplay for wasting Norman Maine's potential as a fully realized character, as I really do believe that March would have been spectacular with deeper material to work with. His instances of greatness in the film prove that, but ultimately the integrity of his shining moments alone aren't enough for me to give it that extra statue. I was debating between a low four and a high three, but I'm more comfortable with

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