Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Directed by: Billy
Wilder
Written by: Charles Brackett & Billy
Wilder & D.M. Marshman Jr.
Starring: William Holden (Joe Gillis),
Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond), Erich von Stroheim (Max Von Mayerling), Nancy
Olson (Betty Schaefer), Fred Clark (Sheldrake), Lloyd Gough (Morino), Jack Webb
(Artie Green), Cecil B. DeMille (Cecil B. DeMille), Hedda Hopper (Hedda
Hopper), Buster Keaton (Buster Keaton), Anna Q. Nilsson (Anna Q. Nilsson), H.B.
Warner (H. B. Warner), Ray Evans, (Ray Evans), Jay Livingston (Jay Livingston).
It amazes
me that Sunset Blvd. was made by a major studio in 1950. You would never see a
studio make a movie like this today – with its own studio at its core, because
it would be seen as too negative, potentially damaging to the brand. Then
again, you didn’t much see these types of films made back in 1950. It is a Hollywood
film to its core – a cynical one about the way the industry works, what it
takes from people. It casts Gloria Swanson as an exaggerated version of
herself, under a different name, and Hollywood legends like Cecil B. DeMille
and Buster Keaton in cameos as themselves – and Erich von Stroheim playing an
alternate reality version of himself – what could have happened to the once
great director. It’s a film that cuts close to the bone.
The film
is narrated by Joe Gillis (William Holden) – a screenwriter in his 30s, who has
gotten a few films made, but hasn’t really made the name for himself that he
wanted to. He’s almost out of money, about to lose his car, and pretty much
resigned to returning to Des Moines, and his old job as a small town reporter. While
dodging two car repo men (the most aggressive repo men in movie history), he
ducks down a side road, and ends up at a huge, dilapidated mansion. He thinks
its abandoned – but it’s really the home of Norma Desmond (Swanson) – once one
of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood, in the silent film days. Her constant
companion is her butler – Max Von Mayerling (von Stroheim) – once her director,
and her husband – who know does everything he can to feed her delusion that she
is still a star, even though no one calls her anymore, she doesn’t work
anymore, and she never will again.
The film
offers a cynical, jaundiced eye on Hollywood – but it’s a realistic one, even
in its exaggerations. Wilder doesn’t shy away from anything here – he casts
Swanson and Von Stroheim as exaggerated versions of themselves, he casts Cecil
B. DeMille as himself, as well as Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H.B.
Warner – three other silent film stars, as themselves – the so called
“waxworks” – other silent film stars, and the only people who still talk to
Desmond. Swanson was one of the great silent stars of the era – but she had
only made film since between 1934 and Sunset Blvd. in 1950. Her performance is
one of the greatest in screen history – exactly because it risks parody. As a character,
Desmond is obsessed with the silent film style of acting – she says she could
everything with a look, and doesn’t need all those “words”. Swanson shows, of
course, that she could still do so much with her eyes, with her physicality,
with her gestures – just like a silent movie star. And yet, her voice is one of
the greatest assets to her performance as Desmond. She goes wildly
over-the-top, of course, but that’s precisely what she should do. The rest of
the performances are in a lower register – which is also the right choice. I
cannot help but wonder what Erich von Stroheim felt playing this role – where
he talks about his old career as a director where in the 1920s he stood
alongside Cecil B. DeMille and D.W. Griffith. That was true of Von Stroheim as
well – but his career basically ended when sound came in, in part because of
his massive ambition (1925’s Greed is one of the best silent films of all time
– but even the “reconstructed” version that runs 4 hours is less than half of
his original runtime. He went over budget, and had conflicts on sets –
including with Swanson on the set of Queen Kelly – which the pair watch in
Sunset Blvd. While Von Stroheim didn’t become a butler, like his character
here, his directing career ended and he basically had to play Nazis in other people’s
films (sometimes great films – like Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion). His Max is
one of the saddest characters in film history – much sadder than Swanson’s
Desmond. For as tragic and in some ways pathetic as Desmond is – she is still
capable of having fun, of being fun, and inspiring sympathy – even after she’s
trapped Joe, and manipulates him, he still feels sorry for her. Max is a
different animal – he has no delusion over what Desmond currently is, and what
her future prospects are. And he has devoted his life to maintaining her
delusion. Von Stroheim delivers a great performance – arguably he should have
won the Supporting Actor Oscar that year, and that is even considering the
eventual winner was George Sanders in All About Eve – one of the best winners
that category has ever seen.
And then
there is Holden, who has a tricky role as Joe. He is younger than Desmond, and
was a star at the time, but is playing someone down on his luck. He is trapped
by Desmond to be sure – but he allows himself to be trapped. He has no delusion
as to who Desmond is, and what she wants – and yet, he doesn’t leave even when
he can. The other major character is Nancy Olson’s Betty – a kind of idolized
character, a lifeline to his previous life, and perhaps his only hope of
escape. Olson plays it well – but it lacks depth.
As a
director, Billy Wilder is one of the best of the studio era – one of those directors
whose films somehow haven’t “aged” as much as others. Films like Sunset Blvd.
or The Apartment, Double Indemnity, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, Some Like It
Hot and One, Two, Three somehow feel very much of their time, and yet have a
modern sensibility. They feel fresh and alive today. Sunset Blvd. is a film
that was made at the perfect time – when survivors of the silent film era were
still there, even if they had been shunted to the side. Billy Wilder kind of
shoved them in Hollywood’s face, and made them reckon with them. And he does it
in a film that is wildly entertaining, with some of the best performances in
cinema history, and a setting – that mansion – that is among the most
distinctive environments ever put on screen. Sunset Blvd. is a masterpiece.
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