Sunset Blvd. (1950)

• Year: 1950
• Released: 04 Aug 1950
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Won 3 Oscars. 18 wins & 20 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sunset_boulevard
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/sunset-blvd
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Drama, Film-Noir
• Runtime: 110 min
• Writer: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.
• Director: Billy Wilder
• Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim
• Keywords: los angeles, california, black and white, noir, jealousy, hollywood,

	8.4/10
	98% – Critics
	95% – Audience

Sunset Blvd. Storyline

Joe Gillis is a struggling hack B-movie Hollywood screenwriter who is having problems making ends meet, his car, a symbol to him of independence, which is threatened to be repossessed due to he being behind in payments. In eluding the repossessors, Joe stumbles onto the decaying Sunset Boulevard mansion of fifty year old faded silent movie star Norma Desmond, who has largely been forgotten by the movie going public. The only other person besides Norma living at the mansion is Norma’s valet, Max, whose unofficial job is to prime Norma’s fragile but larger than life ego. It is somewhat due to Max’s lies about the public still clamoring for her that a delusional Norma is working toward her return to pictures in what is a vanity project. Even if her script was any good, the lead role should be filled by someone half Norma’s age. Joe senses an opportunity to act as Norma’s ghost writer, he only wanting to make a quick buck to pay off his creditors, not caring if the movie gets produced. In maneuvering to do the ghost writing work, Joe may be unprepared for what else Norma has in store for him in her need to be loved and wanted. As Joe gets seduced by the comfort that Norma’s wealth can afford, it may be too late for him when he finally comes to the realization about what he really wants and how much he has to forgo in stoking Norma’s ego.

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Sunset Blvd. Movie Reviews

A film that I would put in my Top 10 Best list.

I love this film and can’t believe I never got around to reviewing it until now, as I’ve seen it many times. I think I just assumed that I’d written a review for it or neglected to do one since it already has so many good reviews. Regardless, it’s one of the best films ever–and possibly the best film Hollywood has to offer–it’s THAT good.

I think part of the reason I love this film so much is because it has perhaps the best opening scene in movie history. I adored the film’s style and originality here. You hear William Holden narrating–narrating in a wonderfully cynical manner. And, as the camera pans down, you see a corpse floating in a pool. Suddenly, the camera is under water–and you see that the dead man is the narrator himself!! What an amazingly daring scene! And, to seemingly top it off, Norma Desmond’s entrance is just sublime. But then you see that the film then works BACKWARD to explain how all this came to be–a truly wonderful style of storytelling! I could talk more about the film, but to me the beginning was THE film. Sure, Holden, Swanson and Von Stroheim were wonderful as well as Jack Webb in an interesting supporting role…but all you will probably remember is the introduction. And the directing and writing is wonderful…but you still keep coming back to the wonderful scene.

The bottom line is that all would-be film makers should be forced to watch this film and learn from it. And, if such a thing COULD be done, let’s also force them to watch “12 Angry Men”, De Sica’s “Children Are Watching Us”, Majidi’s “The Color of Paradise”, and…….

Savage, dark and original- a satirical comedy that is too good to be missed

After seeing Sunset Boulevard for the first time ever today, I was surprised at how good the film was. While witty, it is savage, dark and original, and is quite simply too good to be missed. The story, while stark, is brilliantly constructed, about a former movie queen haunted by memories of her past greatness, and the script is both canny and knowing, sporting great lines such as “I am big. It is the pictures that got small”. Billy Wilder, director of Some Like It Hot and Witness for the Prosecution, both of which are hugely enjoyable, directs briskly, and the black and white cinematography, sets and costumes are fabulous. The music score from maestro Franz Waxman is outstanding, haunting, rich yet beautiful as well.

Bringing the screenplay and the story to life is the superb casting. William Holden is excellent as doomed writer Joe Gillis, who narrates in flashback from the scene of his death. Gloria Swanson though is a revelation as Norma, not only wholly convincing but also bringing a desperate and somewhat vampiric glamour to the role. Overall, Sunset Boulevard is a wonderful film, wholly deserving of its masterpiece status. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The Wild Roller-coaster of Fame

In many ways Sunset Boulevard is like the reverse side of the coin of A Star Is Born. In that film we have young Vicki Lester going through all the travails and heartache before achieving her goal of movie stardom.

Sunset Boulevard is the reverse. A Star Is Born has its tragic figure in Norman Maine who commits suicide rather than face being a has been. In Sunset Boulevard we have the character of Norma Desmond who has not taken that route. She lacks for nothing in the material world, she wisely saved and invested her money. But the acclaim of the audience is a drug she craves. She’s been at the top on the celebrity roller-coaster and now is at the bottom.

Into her life comes Joe Gillis quite accidentally. Fleeing from some repo men looking to take his car, Gillis drives into the garage of what he thinks is a deserted mansion. It looks pretty run down from the outside. Gillis compares it to the house of Miss Faversham from Great Expectations, little knowing how right he was.

Billy Wilder was a casting genius though in some ways he fell into the cast he had. Gloria Swanson was not his first choice, he approached both Mary Pickford and Pola Negri for the Desmond role first. Gloria Swanson who actually had made the transition to sound well, but had gone on to stage and radio since her success in Music in the Air, drew from the experiences of many of her colleagues. At the time she was cast in Sunset Boulevard she had a radio show out of New York.

Bill Holden was sheer serendipity. Originally Montgomery Clift was to do the part, but at the last minute he said no, feeling that this was to similar a part to the one he played in The Heiress. Wilder then went through the list of contract leading men at Paramount.

Wilder saw something in Holden, God bless him. Holden had done a whole series of what he termed ‘smiling Jim’ roles. He was considered an amiable and non-threatening leading man. Although he had done well in a role as a psychotic killer in The Dark Past, Sunset Boulevard brought him his first real acclaim as an actor. An Academy Award nomination came with the acclaim.

Nancy Olson and Erich Von Stroheim were nominated in the Best Supporting Player categories as was Swanson for Best Actress. Von Stroheim was another inspired choice. His is a strange part indeed. He was Desmond’s first director in silent films and left his career behind to take care of her. He was also her first husband.

Sunset Boulevard for it’s time and with the Code firmly in place was a brutal look at the sexual needs of a middle-aged woman. Before Holden knows it, he’s giving up his life as an aspiring screenwriter to be a kept gigolo. He doesn’t like it, but can’t leave it. When he does, it results in tragedy.

Nancy Olson plays a reader at Paramount studios where Holden is trying to sell a script. She and Holden had good chemistry and after this they did four more films together.

Casting Cecil B. DeMille as himself was of necessity for who could play the great DeMille, but DeMille. DeMille in fact was a former actor and playwright at the turn of the last century. In his autobiography DeMille lets us in on a private joke. He in fact did direct many of Gloria Swanson’s early silent films and a pet name he had for her was ‘young fella.’ Note that when Norma Desmond comes to the Paramount lot to see him, he greets her with that same expression. Note that DeMille got a plug for his own film Samson and Delilah which was in production at the same time. It is the set of that film where Swanson and DeMille meet.

You will never forget the finely etched characters of Sunset Boulevard. You can see it many times as I’ve done, but if you see it only once you will have it burned in your memory. Especially that last scene before the newsreel cameras where Swanson loses whatever sanity she has left. She descends down the stairs of her mansion and descends into the comfort of insanity.

I’ve often wondered should a sequel have been done covering the trial of Norma Desmond. I’m sure Billy Wilder wanted to move on to other projects. Still that would have been a film to see.