A Star Disappears is a weird, dusty little relic

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much patience you have for movies that feel like they were filmed in a drafty room. If you like classic dramas, you’ll probably find something to dig into here. If you need a movie to actually move, look elsewhere. 🕰️

This is a quiet one. Edith Méra carries the whole thing with this sort of haunted look that makes you forget the sets are basically cardboard. She’s watching her own relevance evaporate, which is a theme that never really gets old, even if the film itself feels like it’s covered in a layer of basement dust.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Star Disappears (1932) through its definitive frames.

The little things

There is this one scene where she’s staring into a vanity mirror for, like, a full minute. No talking. Just the sound of the projector humming. It’s the kind of thing modern directors would cut in a heartbeat, but here, it just sits there. It’s almost uncomfortable.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it sprints, sometimes it just stops dead to look at a prop. I felt like I was watching someone rifle through an old trunk in an attic. It reminded me a bit of the slow-burn energy in The Secret Hour, though this one feels even more detached from reality.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Star Disappears (1932) through its definitive frames.

Wait, what?

Then there’s the supporting cast. Rolla Norman pops in and out like he’s playing a different movie entirely. He’s all loud gestures and sharp movements, while everyone else is trying to be subtle. It’s jarring, but maybe that’s the point? Or maybe someone just forgot to tell him which scene they were filming.

The lighting is moody as anything. Lots of shadows. There’s a scene in the second act where a character walks through a doorway and literally vanishes into the dark for a second. I think that was a mistake, but it looked cool. 🕯️

• The costumes are surprisingly sharp.
• Some of the dialogue sounds like it was written on a napkin five minutes before shooting.
• The ending just… stops. It’s not a cliffhanger, it’s just a lack of interest in continuing.

It’s not perfect. Far from it. It’s clunky, it’s a bit messy, and it’s definitely not for everyone. But it’s got a weird, lonely pulse to it that I actually liked. Much better than the over-polished nonsense you see in Show Business, which felt like a commercial for nothing in particular.

Anyway, keep your expectations low. It’s a relic. Treat it like one. 🎞️