Cute, but with the talent to overcome it

[JackFavell]

No problems Mary Kate!

I think Gaynor is so under-appreciated. I've never seen her give a bad performance, no matter the movie, even the silliest ones she was in in the thirties. Young in Heart is the Doug Fairbanks Jr. movie and it's very good. But it really is no match for those early silent films by Murnau and Borzage. A Star is Born really takes her into adult roles. I find her very good, but the focus of the film is somewhat stolen by Fredric March's great performance as Norman Maine. I'm a big Wellman fan and A Star is Born has always been one of my favorite movies. I like the darkness of it, that Wellman feel. Bad things happen in Wellman's universe and it doesn't always get better. Gaynor is tremendously good - Wellman uses her light style as an offset for the darker part of the story. Then he allows that darkness to overtake Gaynor, and she is flawless, even in the more complex scenes between her and Norman toward the end where the scenes play out from his perspective. She's just ultimately believable.

[Robert Regan]

Friends, I've seen two movies that Gaynor did with John Ford earlier in the twenties. The Shamrock Handicap and Blue Eagle. In them she is attractive and competent, but you would never guess from them what she would be capable of in '27 and '28!

[JackFavell]

I saw Shamrock Handicap and there is nothing about it that tells me that she'd be a big star in a year or two. However, that being said, I thought she was far better as a leading lady than June Collyer in Hangman's House. There's something about her that is appealing enough that you want to watch her.