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Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
5/05, 5/06, 7/11, 1/21
5/05:
A top five in film noir, Sunset Boulevard is a strange, dark picture that continues to age well like fine wine.
William Holden is superb, dashing, and handsome, but it's Gloria Swanson who steals the limelight. She has brilliant lines
and even more brilliant scenes. In short, it's the role of Gloria Swanson's career that should've netted her an Oscar.
Although the voice-over narration is annoying at the beginning, it gets better. The plot is about the battle between good and bad,
and the bad won out at the end, thus the opening and the closing scenes which are famous in cinema history.
All in all, Sunset Boulevard is timeless.
5/06:
To refuse to acknowledge Sunset Boulevard as a masterpiece is to commit the crime in film appreciation.
An old 1928-29 silent film entitled Queen Kelly is shown which starred Gloria Swanson and was directed by Erich von Stroheim.
While they worked on the film, she, who got disgusted with everything, walked off the set midway and had the director fired.
Despite the editing job by Gloria Swanson and JFK's father, it was never theatrically released in the United States, bombing
elsewhere and therefore ruining her career until Sunset Boulevard came along. At the same time, JFK's father left her for
good.
What occurred in this picture is true of many former silent stars who had faded away into oblivion during the burgeoning
wave of talkies. They owned huge mansions in Los Angeles, but today, almost nobody can name a famous silent star save
for Charlie Chaplin despite not seeing a single film of his.
All in all, there's nothing like Sunset Boulevard.
7/11:
For Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson gives one of the greatest and most legendary performances as Norma Desmond
the fading silent film star.
Timeless and beautiful, she's captivating in every scene. There are many terrific moments from her along with
two famous lines. Hence, it's hard to believe she lost out to Judy Holliday for Best Actress Oscar. Another thing that's amazing
is Gloria Swanson outlived William Holden by two years despite their 19-year age difference.
All in all, Sunset Boulevard is the big winner that made all pictures of 1950 small.
1/21:
"You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big."
Taking a short pause, she defiantly corrects Joe Gillis, "I am big. It's the pictures that got small." It's an all-time great
line to mark the beginning of a strange film that's still timeless after many decades: Sunset Boulevard.
Judy Holliday won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1951. But...nope, she didn't deserve it. The award should've gone to Gloria
Swanson. Her performance is the one everybody remembers. Norma Desmond ranks among the best characters of all time:
beautiful, sad, classic, and haunting all rolled into one.
There's a ring of truth to the plot as it's about a fading star who wants to make a comeback. Gloria Swanson, the former
silent screen star, hadn't made a film in eight years and then barely acted again, knowing she couldn't top
the role of Norma Desmond. It's also true of William Holden. As hard as it is to believe, he was Joe Gillis,
having no success in Hollywood since Golden Boy which was made eleven years prior. Thereafter, he was back
in demand, becoming a bona fide A-list leading man, and went on to do many classic pictures.
An underrated performance is given by Erich von Stroheim who plays Norma's director-turned-husband-turned-butler.
He's primarily responsible for lending a haunting touch to the atmosphere. To counter all the decay is the sunlight of
Betty Schaefer who's wonderfully played by Nancy Olson. I have to give credit to Joe Gillis for turning her away because he
did think of Artie. Meanwhile, I love the inclusion of Cecil B. DeMille as himself to add more Hollywood power to the film.
Sunset Boulevard is almost the only film I can think of with the best opening and ending scenes (the other is
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). They're still timeless: cop cars racing fast on the road, a shot of
Joe Gillis in the pool, Max von Mayerling taking over as the director, and Gloria Swanson coming down the staircase with the
final line: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."
There are great directors, and there's Billy Wilder. His output of classic films is staggering, incomparable, and often
tops in several genres. Sunset Boulevard is by far the number one of his career: masterful writing, high degree of
film noir, and ironic symbolism in many ways. There hasn't been a motion picture like it since then.
All in all, one hundred years from now, Sunset Boulevard will still be around.