Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Where to start? The genius of Billy Wilder as a director is well know. All his films are masterful in direction. To me that means not a shot out of place. From the beginning, Holden dead in the pool, shot from the bottom of the pool and narrated by the dead man was ground breaking and genius. The casting of Von Stroheim, Swanson, Webb, and of course Holden is perfect. The cameo with DeMille incredible. Maybe its because I am a filmmaker myself that I get so much joy out of this film. I don't watch many films more than once but I just saw this again and couldn't pull myself away. The dialogue, cinematography, editing, sound and music are exacting, as a great film should be. I lived on Ivar in the 1970's I realize it was one block away from Holden's apartment. There is so much truth in this movie about the film industry and about life.

Accused by LB Mayer of biting the hand that fed him Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is one dark, suspenseful but highly entertaining work of art. Arguably his finest script Sunset also gets career highs from pantheon cinematographer Joseph Seitz and composer Franz Waxman whose score not content to just provide background intricately attaches itself to the action, accenting one powerful scene after the next.Aspiring screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) is trying to stay one step ahead of the finance company out to repossess his car when takes shelter in an old movie star's run down mansion. Mistaken for an undertaker there to wake her dead monkey he's persuaded to stay in a room over the garage but the washed up silent star Norma Desmond has other designs for him. He chafes at the gigolo role but finds the lavish lifestyle hard to reject. When he connects with another writer as collaborator and romantic interest he decides to make a final break from the unstable Desmond.Holden's sardonic narration and Gloria Swanson's delusional Norma deliver Wilder and Leigh Bracket's biting script with emphasis in every word as morbid humor mixes with tragedy within the suffocating stage of the oppressive mansion along with the dour butler (perfectly played by Erich Von Stroheim) and the few visitors, actual former silent stars playing themselves, referred to by Gillis as "the waxworks."Also playing themselves are a sensitive but forceful Cecil B. DeMille and a shrewish Hedda Hopper as well as the Paramount Studio itself. There is also a fine supporting performance by Nancy Olsen as the late love interest but nothing surpasses the strident performance of Swanson that some may argue is over the top in spots while at the same time demanding it to be effective. Sunset Boulevard is an expressionistic masterpiece by one of Hollywood's best displaying it at its worst. Superb celluloid theatre.

Sunset Boulevard was one of the first films to break from the hollywood system. It has a great and deep story. The only weakness i can find in it is the acting.

This is GREAT FILM,You have old Hollywood and new Hollywood at that time all in one film.