Swanson stars as fading film star Norma Desmond and Holden plays the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness. Von Stroheim plays Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband, and butler. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: NR Release Date: 8-AUG-2006 Media Type: DVD
Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock, laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted (but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the legendary director of Greed and Swanson's own lost epic, Queen Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake of Salome to be directed by her old colleague Cecil B. DeMille (as himself), and Joe becomes her literary and romantic gigolo. Sunset Blvd. is one of those great movies that has become a part of popular culture (the line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up," has entered the language)--but it's no relic. Wow, does it ever hold up. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Is Sunset Boulevard Film Noir? Film Noir is juxtaposed against a post-war optimism (Film Noir 1994, Sklar 269-285). As if Hollywood and its audience were not convinced that everything was peaches and cream, Hollywood would revert to a darker mood culminating, for our discussion, in a form of self-reflexivity and foreboding about the coming of television and nostalgia for the golden age of silent movies in a film like Sunset Boulevard (1950). According to the writers of the documentary Film Noir (1994), movies such as Samuel Goldwyn's The... more info
The Single Greatest Film About Hollywood I watched it again today-for about the 50th time-and again it grabbed me and held me.
And again I was struck by the fact that of all the lines quoted from it the very best isn't quoted much and isn't delivered by Norma or Joe. It's delivered by C.B. de Mille when Norma visits him on the set of Sampson And Delilah, "A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit."
It just gets more true every year.
Phil Brown
"A Dead Man's Hand" The eerie opening of the movie, sets the tone. William Holden is speaking, telling of his experince and you realize that he is the dead man floating in the pool and it is a post-mortem spiel. This is the one film that I remember Gloria Swanson for--her playing of the dusty movie relic who has an over-exaggerated sense of self-importance in Hollywood. In fact she is long forgotten. William Holden had the unfortunate luck to get mixed up with her, and as the authorities are coming to take her away, she... more info
Another great film by Billy Wilder~~~ Billy Wilder gives us another great film, combining an interesting if not weird story. More great screenwritting, and brilliant acting. Guaranteed to keep to rivited to your seat..
Related
Sections
