When Movies Were Movies

Another restored film to be screened is the Judy Garland–James Mason version of A Star Is Born, directed by George Cukor, for the festival’s opening night gala. “It’s going to look as good and crisp as it did when it was released back in 1954,” Osborne says. It will not, however, include footage that was notoriously trimmed upon the initial release, shortening the film to allow more showings per day; that remains unrecovered. “We keep hearing rumors that somebody does have it, but I’ve never known anybody who actually saw it,” he says. “It just seems strange that it hasn’t been spirited away by somebody. But it’s very hard for me to believe someone would have it and would not have shown it to people one of us knew somewhere along the line.”