Sunset Boulevard, 1950
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Screenwriter: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.
Music by: Franz Waxman
Photography by: John F. Seitz B&W
Genre: Drama
Main actors:
Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond)
William Holden (Joe Gilis)
Erich von Stroheim (Max)
Joe Gilis is a young writer, unable to sell his work to the studios and he’s full of debts. While he’s being harassed by his creditors, he finds a place to hide his car apparently by chance, the old mansion of Norma Desmond. Norma is a famous silent movie star, who lives isolated of the reality with his servant, Max. The actress asks Joe Gilis to re-write a screenplay to prepare her comeback.
The film is a sad, dramatic and pessimist radiography of the Hollywood universe and the world of fame. Wilder shoots a bullet directly to heart of the cinema industry, which is basically an entertaining business that creates world famous stars and then easily forgets them. Most of the silent stars couldn’t adapt to the new technologic innovation in the 30’s, the sound; and the studios completely leave them apart.
The film narrative structure has some extremely creative elements that need to be pointed out. The movie begins with one of the greatest openings of all times. We contemplate the movie credits slicing over the asphalt, and then we follow a group of motorcycle policeman to a mansion placed in Sunset Boulevard while a voiceover explains us what happened. Next, we see a corpse floating in a swimming pool from an under water point of view and we realize that the film narrator will be the inert body of a screenwriter. Then the whole story is explained in flash-back, which will show the audience the facts that have lead the story to the dramatic ending.
The performance of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, the silent diva that has been trapped in the past and has been dreaming for a comeback since her career was stopped by the arrival of the sound, is extraordinary and amazingly expressive. Swanson, that was a silent movie star affected for the sound era, plays the role of his life with unforgotten creeping gestures showing the madness and delusions of an egocentric star. Norma’s faithful and mysterious butler, Max von Mayerling, played by Erich von Stroheim, one of the greatest silent directors that couldn’t adapt to the sound, is one of the most remarkable and hypnotizing elements of the movie. The special appearances of Cecil B. De Mille and Buster Keaton performing a self-portrait, gives a strange and indefinable but at the same time attractive atmosphere to the story. The dichotomy between reality and fiction is constantly present all over the film.
The closing has become part of cinema history. In the unbelievable final sequence, Norma Desmond goes down the stairs of the mansion in a glamorous and pathetic style, the police are waiting for her in the entrance, a lot of journalists and photographers stare at her petrified, while Max observes her with deep proud. She thinks that is performing a character for Mr. De Mille, she has become completely crazy, tortured by her successful past. Billy Wilder wanted to articulate a story around a specific forgotten moment in cinema history; “Sunset Boulevard” is the best allegiance to the pure silent movies becoming eternally unforgettable.
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Screenwriter: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.
Music by: Franz Waxman
Photography by: John F. Seitz B&W
Genre: Drama
Main actors:
Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond)
William Holden (Joe Gilis)
Erich von Stroheim (Max)
Joe Gilis is a young writer, unable to sell his work to the studios and he’s full of debts. While he’s being harassed by his creditors, he finds a place to hide his car apparently by chance, the old mansion of Norma Desmond. Norma is a famous silent movie star, who lives isolated of the reality with his servant, Max. The actress asks Joe Gilis to re-write a screenplay to prepare her comeback.
The film is a sad, dramatic and pessimist radiography of the Hollywood universe and the world of fame. Wilder shoots a bullet directly to heart of the cinema industry, which is basically an entertaining business that creates world famous stars and then easily forgets them. Most of the silent stars couldn’t adapt to the new technologic innovation in the 30’s, the sound; and the studios completely leave them apart.
The film narrative structure has some extremely creative elements that need to be pointed out. The movie begins with one of the greatest openings of all times. We contemplate the movie credits slicing over the asphalt, and then we follow a group of motorcycle policeman to a mansion placed in Sunset Boulevard while a voiceover explains us what happened. Next, we see a corpse floating in a swimming pool from an under water point of view and we realize that the film narrator will be the inert body of a screenwriter. Then the whole story is explained in flash-back, which will show the audience the facts that have lead the story to the dramatic ending.
The performance of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, the silent diva that has been trapped in the past and has been dreaming for a comeback since her career was stopped by the arrival of the sound, is extraordinary and amazingly expressive. Swanson, that was a silent movie star affected for the sound era, plays the role of his life with unforgotten creeping gestures showing the madness and delusions of an egocentric star. Norma’s faithful and mysterious butler, Max von Mayerling, played by Erich von Stroheim, one of the greatest silent directors that couldn’t adapt to the sound, is one of the most remarkable and hypnotizing elements of the movie. The special appearances of Cecil B. De Mille and Buster Keaton performing a self-portrait, gives a strange and indefinable but at the same time attractive atmosphere to the story. The dichotomy between reality and fiction is constantly present all over the film.
The closing has become part of cinema history. In the unbelievable final sequence, Norma Desmond goes down the stairs of the mansion in a glamorous and pathetic style, the police are waiting for her in the entrance, a lot of journalists and photographers stare at her petrified, while Max observes her with deep proud. She thinks that is performing a character for Mr. De Mille, she has become completely crazy, tortured by her successful past. Billy Wilder wanted to articulate a story around a specific forgotten moment in cinema history; “Sunset Boulevard” is the best allegiance to the pure silent movies becoming eternally unforgettable.
1 comentari:
This is a very good and interesting review, Pol. How long did it take to write it? Remember you can note down the hours you've spent writing it in order to keep track of them. Next time, you can also publish parts of the previous drafts that let you to the final version.
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