There is a rule about corpses not telling stories due to being dead. But all rules can be broken, and only a corpse could recount this gothic tale of a silent star stuck in the past and a man who sells his soul a bit too cheaply.
Directed by: Billy Wilder
Written by: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.
Produced by: Charles Brackett
Paramount, 1950
Runtime: 110 min
Cast: 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, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner
A Few Thoughts
The joke starts with one of the most famous scenes in movie history (though not the most famous scene in this film). As the corpse of failed writer, Joe Gillis (William Holden), floats in the pool, he begins to tell us his story. There is a rule about corpses not telling stories, their own or anybody else’s, due to being dead. But all rules can be broken if you are really, really good. Wilder is. And only a corpse could recount this gothic tale of a silent star stuck in the past and a man who sells his soul a bit too cheaply.
Sunset Blvd. can be taken two ways. In one, it is not a story at all, but an indictment of Hollywood. Things happen, but only to point out that the fantasy factory is a heartless, devouring monster that destroys dreams and lives. In the other, it is a Faustian story. That the two work so seamlessly together is a credit to Wilder.
The story is famous enough to have been parodied by a good number of sitcoms. Joe, running from his creditors, and unable to create anything worthwhile, stumbles upon reclusive Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). She needs an adoring public and boy-toy. He needs to escape from the world. From there, in good Film Noir fashion, the outcome is set.
But don’t take Norma as an evil black widow. She’s at least as sympathetic as Joe. She was a beautiful and desired star. Was it her fault that she didn’t understand that Hollywood discards what it has used up?
Joe is weak and self-delusional, but not so much that he can’t see the situation as troubled. He thinks he can handle it, as step by step, he gets drawn deeper into Norma’s illusionary world, where she is still important. As the story is told from beyond the grave, it is possible that Joe’s cynical, and funny, outlook was missing as the events actually happened, but probably not. It’s Joe’s misanthropic musings that give Sunset Blvd. its bite.
This is a strange film as the harshest jokes are only there for people who know what’s going on behind the scenes. The biggest of these has to do with Max, the devoted butler and one time husband who was also a powerful silent film director. He is played by Erich von Stroheim, who was once a powerful silent film director until the advent of sound and Hollywood found him superfluous. When Norma screens one of her old films for Joe, a film directed by Max, Wilder used scenes from the unfinished “Queen Kelly,” shot in 1928 starring Swanson and directed by Stroheim. The parody is approaching documentary.
In another jab, Norma plays bridge with old silent actors, called “the waxworks.” They are played by actual silent stars, including Buster Keaton, who had been forgotten in 1950.
Like most Faustian stories, things really fall apart when Joe can’t keep his part of the bargain. Norma has a great deal of charm mixed with her insanity, and her jeweled and velvet palace is a comparatively nice place to live. But Joe thinks he can return to the world. Even though returning home would be a failure, and there is no success to be had in Hollywood, he thinks he can break his deal. Which leads to the most famous scene in the film and one of the most quoted lines in movie history. If you don’t know it, go rent the film.
The DVD
Paramount has done Sunset Blvd. proud with a special collectors edition. The film looks excellent. I can’t recall a single blemish. The mono sound track is good as well. The disc contains plenty of extras to explain all those inside jokes, including a commentary by Ed Sikov, an expert on the film, and multiple documentaries. There is even a clip from the original opening, with Joe in the morgue. There is no reason not to buy this disc.