[4] Hart's screenplay is an adaptation of the original 1937 film, based on the original screenplay by Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell,[5] and from the same story by William A. Wellman and Carson, with uncredited input from six additional writers—David O. Selznick, Ben Hecht, Ring Lardner Jr., John Lee Mahin, Budd Schulberg and Adela Rogers St. Johns.

Esther tells Danny McGuire, her bandmate, that she is quitting their gig to pursue movies in L.A. Norman is called away early in the morning.

Studio head Oliver Niles believes Esther is just a passing fancy for the actor but casts her in a small film role when Maine appeals to their friendship.

When Norman persuades Niles to hear "Vicki" sing, she is cast in an important musical film, making her a huge success.

In December 1952, George Cukor was approached by Sid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake of the 1937 film A Star Is Born, with his then wife Judy Garland in the lead role.

[7] Garland had portrayed Vicki Lester in a December 1942 Lux Radio Theater broadcast with Walter Pidgeon, and she and Luft, along with several associates, had formed Transcona Enterprises specifically to produce the project on screen.

Otherwise the story of personal decline could as well have been portrayed by Oscar Levant, no stranger to the movie musical, and who had worked previously with Jack Carson here playing studio publicist Matt Libby.

The greater casting then concerned Cukor and he wanted Cary Grant, whom he had directed three times before, for the male lead, and went so far as to read the entire script with him.

Stewart Granger was the frontrunner for a time, but withdrew when he couldn't adjust to Cukor's habit of acting out scenes as a form of direction.

As the months passed, Cukor was forced to deal not only with constant script changes but an unstable leading lady plagued by chemical dependencies, significant weight fluctuations, illnesses, and hypochondria.

[15] The long "Born in a Trunk" sequence was added after Cukor left, supervised by Garland's professional mentor Roger Edens.

The reviews were excellent, but Warner executives, concerned the running time would limit the number of daily showings, made drastic cuts without Cukor, who had departed for India to scout locations for Bhowani Junction.

At its final running time of 154 minutes, the film lost two major musical numbers and crucial dramatic scenes; Cukor called it "very painful" to watch.

[20] Over the course of six months, Haver located more missing scenes, including two complete musical numbers: "Here's What I'm Here For" and "Lose That Long Face".

Bonus features include the network telecast of the Hollywood premiere at the Pantages Theatre on September 29, 1954; highlights from the post-premiere party at the Cocoanut Grove; three alternative filmings of "The Man That Got Away" with additional original recording session music; a short musical sequence that appeared in a test screening but was deleted before the film's official premiere, "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" (which was to be part of the extended "Born in a Trunk" sequence); and the theatrical trailers for this, the 1937 original, and the 1976 remake.

The release also included supplemental features such as alternate takes, deleted scenes, excerpts from Garland's audio recording sessions, a collectible book of rare photos, press materials, and an essay by film historian John Fricke.

The site's critical consensus reads "A Star Is Born is a movie of grand scope and intimate moments, featuring Judy Garland's possibly greatest performance.

"[27] Abel Green, reviewing for Variety, felt the "casting is ideal; the direction sure; the basic ingredients honest and convincing all the way.

"[10] Harrison's Reports wrote that "...in addition to being a powerful human-interest drama that frequently tugs at the heartstrings, the picture is studded with nice touches of comedy and vastly entertaining musical interludes that are well-placed and do not interfere with the progress of the story."

In 2004, in commemoration of the film's 50th anniversary, Columbia, Legacy Recordings, and Sony Music Soundtrax released a nearly complete, digitally-remastered, expanded edition of the soundtrack.

Other numbers such as "Gotta Have Me Go with You" are mostly in stereo, save for brief sections where the mono soundtrack album master was used in order to remove various endemic plot-related sound effects from the track.

The 2004 soundtrack also includes three vocal outtakes – an alternative vocal for the reprise of "It's a New World" that Esther sings while Norman goes for his final swim; "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street", which was intended to be part of the "Born in a Trunk" sequence, but was deleted for time constraints; and "The Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial", which was taken from the only surviving recording of the complete track, a very worn acetate artist reference disc.

The original Columbia 1954 mono vinyl version of the soundtrack has been released on CD in Britain by Prism Leisure and is available for digital download.