Bette Davis was flat broke. It’s hard to imagine now, but by the early fifties, the woman who had practically carried Warner Bros. on her back was struggling. She had just come off the massive success of All About Eve, but the industry was changing. Youth was the new currency.
Then came Bette Davis in The Star 1952, a movie that feels less like a traditional drama and more like a public exorcism.
If you haven't seen it, the plot is basically a nightmare scenario for any aging actress. Davis plays Margaret Elliot, a former Oscar winner who has hit rock bottom. Her house is gone. Her furniture is being auctioned off. She's living in a cramped apartment, clutching her old Academy Awards like they're religious relics. Honestly, it’s uncomfortable to watch. It’s supposed to be.
The Joan Crawford Connection: It Wasn't Just Acting
Here is the part people usually get wrong or skim over. Most fans think the legendary feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford started with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in 1962. Nope. The seeds were sown way earlier, and The Star 1952 was a massive, neon-lit shovel.
The script was written by Katherine Albert and Dale Eunson. They used to be Crawford’s best friends—we're talking "godparents to her children" level of close. But they had a falling out. A bad one. So, they did what any rational Hollywood screenwriter would do: they wrote a hit piece.
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Margaret Elliot is Joan Crawford. Every vain habit, every "grand dame" gesture, and every desperate attempt to stay young was plucked directly from Crawford’s real life.
Bette Davis knew this. She didn’t just know it; she revelled in it. In a 1983 interview with Playboy, Davis admitted, "Oh, yes, that was Crawford. I wasn't imitating her, of course... I adored the script." She basically used the film to mock her rival’s obsession with glamour.
Why The Star 1952 Is So Weirdly Meta
The movie is famous for one specific scene that still makes people cringe. Margaret gets a chance at a screen test. She's supposed to play a frumpy, middle-aged woman. Instead, she shows up in a tight dress, trying to act like a twenty-year-old ingenue.
She fails. Miserably.
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Watching Davis—an actual acting powerhouse—deliberately act badly is a masterclass in ego. She plays Margaret as a woman who can’t see the wrinkles in the mirror. There’s a heartbreaking moment where Margaret watches the playback of the test. You see the realization hit her face. The "Star" is gone. Only the woman is left.
Real Details You Might Have Missed
- The Natalie Wood Link: A very young Natalie Wood plays Margaret’s daughter. There’s a scene on a boat with Sterling Hayden that feels hauntingly prophetic given what happened to Wood decades later.
- The "Drunken Oscar" Scene: Margaret gets drunk and drives around Hollywood with her Oscar statuette on the dashboard. "Come on, Oscar, let's you and me get drunk!" she yells. Davis actually used her own real Oscars for the film. Talk about commitment.
- The Budget: This wasn't a prestige picture. It was a lower-budget production from Bert E. Friedlob. Compared to the polish of All About Eve, it feels gritty and a bit rushed.
The Oscar Nomination Nobody Expected
Critics weren't exactly kind. They called it soapy. They said it was a "dilapidated shrine" for a performance that was way too over-the-top. And yet, the Academy gave Bette Davis a Best Actress nomination anyway.
It was her tenth nomination. She didn't win—Shirley Booth took it home for Come Back, Little Sheba—but the nomination itself proved that even when Davis was "hammy," the industry couldn't look away.
Is It Actually Good?
Sorta. It’s not a masterpiece. If you’re looking for the sharp wit of Margo Channing, you won't find it here. The Star 1952 is a "woman's picture" in the most traditional sense. It’s loud, it’s melodramatic, and the ending—where she basically gives up her career for a "simple life" with Sterling Hayden—feels like a total cop-out.
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But as a historical document? It’s gold.
It shows a side of the studio system that was rarely talked about: the disposal of women over 40. It also captures the beginning of the "hagsploitation" subgenre that Davis and Crawford would later perfect.
How to Watch and What to Look For
If you’re going to dive into this era of Bette's career, don't go in expecting a polished classic. Go in for the spectacle.
- Watch the eyes. Davis uses her famous "popping" eyes to signal Margaret’s descent into delusion.
- Listen to the voice. She alternates between a regal, stage-trained trill and a raspy, desperate growl.
- Note the costumes. Notice how "costumed" Margaret looks even when she's just at home. It’s a direct dig at Crawford’s refusal to ever be seen without her "mask."
The movie didn't save Bette's career. She spent most of the 50s struggling with mediocre scripts before her big "comeback" in the 60s. But The Star 1952 remains the most honest, brutal, and slightly mean-spirited thing she ever put on film. It’s Bette Davis playing Joan Crawford, while actually revealing the fears of Bette Davis.
Check out the screen test scene specifically. It's often cited by acting coaches because it requires an actor to play someone who is unaware they are untalented. It's a layer of artifice that most modern stars wouldn't dare touch.
Next Steps for Classic Film Fans: To get the full picture of this era, you should watch The Star back-to-back with Joan Crawford's Torch Song (1953). It’s the perfect way to see how both women were fighting the same battle against age, just with very different weapons. You can usually find The Star on physical media via the Warner Archive or through Turner Classic Movies (TCM) rotations.