"Sunset Boulevard" is one of Billy Wilder's most commercially successful and highly praised films. Nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including all the major ones, the film later was adapted into a long-running musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
"Sunset Boulevard" has a great story. A hack screenwriter (William Holden), bitter and broke, is hired by an imperious has-been actress from the silent era (Gloria Swanson). Much younger than her, he becomes her kept man, living at her luxurious estate with her devoted, humorless manservant (Erich Von Stroheim). Norma Desmond (Swanson) has written a dreadful screenplay, which she believes will launch her comeback as an actress. But her handpicked director, Cecil B. De Mille, continues to gently put her off. As the gap between her aspirations and reality widens, Desmond loses her sanity.
Some consider "Sunset Boulevard" to be a black
comedy. But it is too gloomy and pessimistic to
be anything but a drama, with Swanson playing her
role for tragedy rather than campy laughs. von
Stroheim may have considered his role as a
servant to be humiliating, but it is a sizeable
role and his character is the most sympathetic.
It is odd seeing Jack Webb, later typecast as
robotlike Joe Friday, playing the film's
liveliest character. Silent film star Buster
Keaton has a cameo, ironically without any lines.
"Sunset Boulevard" opens by giving away the
ending: Holden is shown floating dead in a
swimming pool. This adds tension to the film,
knowing that the Holden-Swanson 'romance' has a
tragic end. Still, and this is only my opinion, I
feel that "Sunset Boulevard" is overrated.
Holden's character is so misanthropic and
ill-humored that it seems unlikely that Desmond
would fall for him, much less perky Nancy Olson.
People seem all too willing to accept the
character of Norma Desmond, as if middle-aged
women are indeed prone to becoming imperious,
conceited, desperate lunatics. Most disappointing
for me is the film's somber, pessimistic tone,
which seems to be more a condemnation of human
relationships than a commentary about Hollywood.
(62/100)
Billy Wilder's masterpiece SUNSET BOULEVARD a corrosive black comedy that remains the most memorable assault on the emptiness and vanity of the movie ...More at Family Video
Film legend Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an aging silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madn...More at Buy.com
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