Disturbing yet enthralling

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I learned a great deal about Ms. Davis from this movie. Certainly there was a lot to learn. This is a woman with a 50-year film career, with 2 Oscars and 9 other best actress Oscar nominations; with four marriages, three children, numerous affairs, and drama-packed relationships with nearly all her relatives and studio heads. There is enough material in this for several movies, or at least a serious mini-series. And here it is all jammed into 90 minutes! It's an ambitious project.I'm glad to have seen it, but I can't pretend there are no flaws in it. First, as suggested above, there are a lot of events to cover and it's hard to do them all justice in this short a time, or even to present them in a logical sequence that the viewer can actually follow. The movie's chief sources of informational footage are film of public appearances by Ms. Davis and her relatives and contemporaries during her lifetime, and more recent interviews with surviving relatives and acquaintances. But we are repeatedly told that these are not all reliable narrators. Indeed they can't be, as they often disagree with each other. As for public appearances by Ms. Davis, studio heads, and other film industry people, filmed from the 1930's into the 1960's, suffice it to say that they are necessarily full of diplomacy, promotional intent, and courtesies which might be completely sincere or completely the opposite. The movie opens with footage from a "This Is Your Life" episode honoring Bette's mother, Ruth Davis. You can imagine how much sincere exploration of their relationship came out on that occasion.At this point it would be good to have a sense of what Mr. Jones, the auteur of this work, really thinks. But his presence is hard to discern. His words of course are being delivered by Susan Sarandon. He also may have been affected by the obligations he incurred in gaining access to Ms. Davis's papers and convincing her children, widows of ex-husbands, and other connections to sit for interviews. Anyway, it's hard to make out how he selected what to show and what not to, or who he thought was reliable and who he didn't. I got the feeling he was just dumping out a box of information on the tabletop in front of us and letting us make sense of it if we can.Where he does provide words of interpretation, I'm not sure where they came from. As an example, he refers at one point to the warm support Ms. Davis's absent father gave to her movie successes. But all we have really seen of this is a few thrifty ten-word telegrams of congratulation, including his full name as three of the words.Now, someone could of course say: "What do you expect? The narrative is jumbled because Ms. Davis's public and private lives were jumbled and full of contradictions. The witnesses disagree because their experiences were different at the time and because their recollections now after forty are fifty years are different. There's no real way to determine the 'real truth' about all these things, so the pile of information on the tabletop is the only way to go." That may all be true, but I would like to have heard it explained by Mr. Jones. At the end of the day it's worth seeing, of course.

One of the best documentaries that I've seen in quite awhile. How can one miss? Such a fascinating biopic of one of the greatest actresses of hers and our time -- then and now! What I appreciate about this hard-nosed, difficult person as she unashamedly was -- was her quiet heart which is portrayed in the fact that she and fellow actor John Garfield created and entirely funded Hollywood Canteen during World War II. I'm glad this documentary touches on that! Also, I sense a kindness in her son Michael which had comes from his love and if anything, respect for his difficult mother -- who tried her best, I think, to be a good mother despite her nature and her career. I would much rather know about this than a back-lashing from a bitter daughter who shadowed her Mom as an assistant in a book akin to Mommy Dearest. Thank you TCM for creating this wonderful documentary on a truly outstanding, wildly talented, amazing movie star to whom nobody other than perhaps Katharine Hepburn can hold a candle to....certainly not any modern actresses that come to mind. Hepburn and Davis fought in the trenches of Hollywood so that actresses today have the voice and power they do. It takes a tough nut to stand up in that world of Hollywood then , AND entertain and awe fans throughout time.

It would be difficult to do a bad documentary on Bette Davis - she was such a dynamic actress and woman and never boring - but this beautifully produced documentary, "Stardust: The Bette Davis Story" is over the top in excellence, paying great attention to the actress' private life as well as her movie career. Using photos, film clips, interviews with family, Davis herself, and voiceovers from coworkers, a picture emerges of Davis as a driven actress, a perfectionist, a wonderful homemaker and ultimately, a very lonely woman.Her son Michael, who unlike her spoiled daughter B.D., loved his mother very much, states that she drank quite a bit. This was probably much less true in her heyday and exacerbated as she aged. That perhaps contributed to her becoming increasingly more difficult to work with as the years went on. Like many great stars, without the cushion of a studio, with the loss of creative control/choice that comes with moving into character roles, Bette Davis became less secure. It became more important for her to be able to intimidate the director and those around her. During the major part of her career, she was surrounded by top directors and stars - these now became people with less talent than herself, and as a result, the later films suffered. Fortunately, though, she went out with a bang, with "The Whales of August."Bette Davis had an indomitable spirit throughout her life. She gave us some great films and brilliant performances. "Stardust" gives us insight into the woman behind them.

Some documentary biographies make interesting viewing in that we get to see aspects of their personalities, careers, and lives that we either had forgotten, or were just not aware of. "Stardust, The Bette Davis Story", directed by Peter Jones and seen recently on TCM, is that rare, but intelligent endeavor that makes the viewer more aware of the life of an actress that spent her life in front of the camera.This film clarifies a lot of things about Ms. Davis' life that weren't as obvious as in other documentaries that came before. One thing comes clear, her father's desertion was a big blow to the young child, who felt abandoned by him. In spite of what should have been a bitter resentment on her part, she still kept in touch with him as noted by the many things about herself she sent him throughout the years. Her mother played a big role in Bette Davis life. Her ascent into stardom assured her mother and sister a life of ease they never had during the years that followed the breakup between her parents.Another thing that comes across is how Ms. Davis had affairs with some of the men in the industry. One anecdote had Patrick O'Neal berating her for a pass she made at him during the run of "The Night of the Iguana" on Broadway. Her battles with Jack Warner is also prominently accounted for by Mr. Jones. Her battle with some of her directors were legendary, yet, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, her "All About Eve" director, tells us how in his experience, he was intimidated at first, based on colleagues' reports, yet, working on that film proved to be a pleasant experience for him, as well as the rest of the cast.We also get to know her own daughter's rejection when B.D. Hyman got into religion. That was a terrible blow for a woman that had given her all to that child. Ultimately, this must have been what broke her heart. Triumphs and accolades were nothing to her if in the end she lost the daughter she loved so dearly.The film uses well the many film clips the director and his team were able to assemble for this most informative and complete account of a life that appeared to be glamorous on the surface. Ms. Davis' life was in many ways rewarding, but deep down she must have felt differently when all the tragedy she went through is taken into account."Stardust: The Bette Davis Story" is a must for all of her fans.