Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Directed by Billy Wilder

Film Review

More than half a century after its release, Sunset Boulevard is still regarded as a landmark of American cinema, an enduring classic which skilfully combines melodrama and film noir to give us a deliciously scathing satire on the movie making industry.  Its director was none other than Billy Wilder, whose contribution to American cinema is beyond calculation; not only was he a great screenwriter, but he was also one of the most inventive film directors of his generation, and many of his films have passed into screen legend.

Despite some obvious imperfections (notably the overly-intrusive voiceover narration), Sunset Boulevard is among Wilder's best films, caustically witty in places, but much darker than his other works - a complete contrast with the bubbling Some Like it Hot (1959).  It is a film replete with iconic moments and brilliant one-liners, such as:  “You used to be big.”  “I am big! It's the pictures that got small…”  Or, when lamenting the passing of the silent era: “We didn't need dialogue, we had faces .  There just aren't any faces like that any more.”

From its legendary opening shot of a man floating dead in a swimming pool (cleverly filmed off the reflection from a mirror in the base of the pool), Sunset Boulevard seizes our attention and doesn't let go until it's equally famous closing shot.  The set design and photography are pure film noir, creating a relentless sense of rejection and failure into which the film's protagonists are plunged.   Despite their apparent differences, Joe and Norma are two of a kind - both are vain mediocrities who think they are better than they are, who seriously believe they are destined for a better future, but who are so obviously doomed.  As well as being a no holds barred critique of Hollywood, the film is also an intensely poignant human drama.  Although the characters may seem like grotesque caricatures, through a combination of great writing and great acting, they are brought to life and we cannot help feeling for them.  There's a bewildering ambiguity in both Joe and Norma, which makes their interaction and personal stories thoroughly compelling.

If Joe's interest in Norma is purely opportunistic at the outset, it certainly doesn't remain so for long.  The age difference between the two isn't so great and, despite her vanity and vulgar histrionics, Norma is far from unattractive.  Likewise, it's clear that Norma doesn't just see Joe as a “toy boy”; her dependency on him suggests something far more profound.  Ironically, it takes the bitter pill of a tragic denouement to reveal the true extent of the characters' feelings for one another - and by that stage it's all over.

Gloria Swanson is extraordinary in the role of Norma Desmond.  Like the character she plays, Swanson was a major figure in American cinema in the 1920s, only to pass into obscurity with the arrival of sound.   Sunset Boulevard not only allowed the actress to make an impressive “come back”, but ironically provides her with her most celebrated role.  Although in real life she was nothing like the pitiful Norma Desmond, Swanson clearly draws on her own experiences and gives a performance that alternates unpredictably between farce and tragedy, between manic extroversion and acute inner torment.

Incredibly, Swanson wasn't Wilder's first choice for the role.  She was cast only after Mae West, Pola Negri and Mary Pickford were excluded.  The part of Joe Gillis was originally offered to Montgomery Clift, a high profile actor at the time.  William Holden was cast only after Clift turned down the part, and works perfectly opposite Gloria Swanson.   Legendary Austrian-born actor-director Erich Von Stroheim took the role of Max von Mayerling, bringing great pathos and a sense of mystery to another well-drawn character.   Famously, Erich Von directed Swanson on Queen Kelly (1929), the film which torpedoed both of their careers, and from which an excerpt is included in Sunset Boulevard.  Iconic filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille plays himself in the film; at the time he was directing Samson and Delilah at Paramount Studios.  Remarkably, Cecil B. DeMille's portrayal of himself is far from sympathetic, and his "character"'s obvious duplicity conveys so much about what is rotten with the film making industry.

Wilder originally conceived an alternative opening sequence for the film, in which the dead man would “wake up” in a mortuary and tell the story of his demise to an assembled audience of corpses.  The sequence was shot (and still exists as an out-take) but was excised from the film after an initial preview, compelling Wilder to come up with the now famous shock opening.

Sunset Boulevard was both a commercial and critical success when it was released in 1950.  It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only succeeded in winning 3 (in the lesser categories for screenplay, score and set design).  Gloria Swanson's attempts to make a stage musical of the film in the 1950s were thwarted by Paramount, who owned the rights to the film.   It wasn't until the 1990s that Sunset Boulevard finally became a stage musical, courtesy of Andrew Lloyd Webber.  The musical opened in London in July 1993, before its popular début in Los Angeles and Broadway.

Film Synopsis

A man's dead body is found floating in the swimming pool of a lavish private residence.  As the police and journalists hasten to the scene, the story of what took place is revealed…  Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis has neither work nor money.   To prevent his car being repossessed, he hides it in the garage of a seemingly deserted mansion on Sunset Boulevard.  The owner of the strange mausoleum is an eccentric middle-aged woman named Norma Desmond, who was once a great film star, in the silent era.  Since her career ended in the late '20s, the self-obsessed Norma has lived as a recluse, her only companion being her loyal valet, Max von Mayerling.  When Joe lets slip that he is a screenwriter, Norma hastily engages him to work with her on her screenplay, a lavish production of Salomé which will mark her triumphant return to the movies.  Joe realises that there is no chance the film will be made, but, desperate for the cash, he accepts the commission.  He moves into the mansion, which is a vast shrine to Norma's former career, and reluctantly accepts the gifts she offers him.  Unbeknown to his insanely possessive employer, Joe slips away each night and meets up with a budding writer, Betty Schaefer, to help on her script for a film.  Betty reveals that she is in love with Joe, but does Joe have the guts to turn his back on Norma Desmond?