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Film Review: Sunset Boulevard (1950)@drax908d
Much of the popular perception of history in the 20th century was created or maintained by Hollywood. This includes the history of Hollywood itself, although Hollywood filmmakers, when dealing with issues closer to home, showed more honesty and less willingness to see the world through rose‑tinted glasses.One of the most notable examples of such an approach is Sunset Boulevard, a 1950 drama directed by Billy Wilder, which is widely considered one of the classics of American cinema.
The film begins when the Los Angeles police discover a dead body floating in a pool. It is Joe Gillis (played by William Holden), the protagonist who narrates the plot in flashback.The story begins six months earlier when Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, tries to pitch his script to Paramount Pictures. While attempting to evade repossession men trying to take away his car, Gillis finds temporary shelter in a huge mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (played by Gloria Swanson), a middle‑aged woman who used to be a big Hollywood star during the silent era. Desmond has been living as a recluse, tended only by her loyal servant Max (played by Erich von Stroheim), who is later revealed to be her former silent‑era director and one of her former husbands. She nevertheless takes an interest in Gillis after learning that he is a screenwriter. She has apparently written a script titled Salome, in which she should play the lead role, representing her great comeback. Gillis is supposed to help her finish it.
Although he knows that the script is bad and that Desmond is delusional, he accepts, because living in the mansion is too seductive, and continues to do so even after Desmond requires sexual services from him. However, after a while, reality begins to inevitably clash with his sponsor’s fantasies, and Gillis’s attempt to end the increasingly toxic relationship leads to violence and tragedy.
When Billy Wilder and his co‑writers Charles Brackett and D. M. Marshman Jr. began to work on the script for Sunset Boulevard, silent cinema had ended barely two decades ago, but for new generations it must have looked like part of an ancient civilisation from a distant past. At least that was the general idea of Billy Wilder, who, although he had started his career in the silent cinema of Weimar Germany, felt somewhat of an outsider in Hollywood. He was looking at the luxurious mansions built for the iconic screen legends of the 1910s and 1920s, now populated with ageing people all but forgotten by the masses that had used to worship them only a generation ago.
Wilder also recognised the true nature of Hollywood, an industry built on illusion and its ability to create and sell that illusion not only to the outside public but also to itself. Norma Desmond, one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema, is the epitome of such self‑delusion—a woman with enough fame and money to create her own little world in which time has stopped, cinema remains silent, and she is still the ravishing screen goddess that men want and women want to be. This self‑delusion is maintained by people around her—Max, who does it out of genuine love and affection, aware that Norma Desmond simply can’t survive in the world that has passed her by; and Gillis, who starts exploiting it for his own benefit only to have second thoughts before paying the ultimate price for taking part in such deception.
Many critics and film scholars were at odds over how to characterise Sunset Boulevard. Some identified its genre as film noir due to its black‑and‑white cinematography, cynical male protagonist, and voice‑over, while others saw it as a black comedy, viewing the clash between the lunacy of Norma Desmond and the practicality of Joe Gillis as a source of humour. However, the film works best as a surprisingly brutal criticism of the way Hollywood operated and still operates—an industry based on the simple pursuit of profit that exploits people, destroys their dreams, and twists their notions of morality.
Sunset Boulevard underlines this point by featuring the character of Betty Schaeffer, a script reader at Paramount Pictures who helps Gillis develop his own script, played by young Nancy Olson, representing the voice of reason and something closest to “normalcy” in the crazy story. The script hints that the two of them could become romantic partners, and in a “normal” film, it would be the case. But she leaves the picture after being disgusted by the revelation of the true nature of Gillis’s relationship with his sponsor. This occurs even after a few subtle hints that Betty might be corrupted by the true Machiavellian nature of Hollywood and its predatory practices.
Sunset Boulevard is surprising not only in its self‑criticism of Hollywood but also in the way that this self‑criticism employs techniques that modern critics would call “meta”. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, the grand Hollywood studio whose moguls apparently felt confident enough to have major characters as their employees, with some scenes even taking place on the set of Samson and Delilah, a biblical epic directed by legendary director Cecil B. DeMille, who appears in a cameo playing himself. DeMille, one of the legends of silent cinema and one of the few who seamlessly continued a successful career decades into the sound age, is joined by a number of silent‑cinema stars who also briefly appear in cameos playing themselves.
Even the two major actors—Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim—could often be seen as playing fictional versions of themselves. Swanson was an actress immensely popular in the 1920s, only to have her career rapidly deteriorate with the advent of sound, while Erich von Stroheim was a director known for his eccentricity and megalomania, later degraded to character actor during the sound era. Both Swanson and von Stroheim worked together on Queen Kelly, one of the last large‑budget silent films, a notorious flop, and parts of that film appear in Sunset Boulevard.
Swanson, unlike the character she plays in the film, was quite aware of the changing times and wasn’t scared that the role of a pathetic lunatic like Norma Desmond would wreck her former image of a screen goddess. On the contrary, Sunset Boulevard did quite the opposite. The role became the best known of her career and actually made her closer to newer generations than her peers, ultimately perpetuating Hollywood myths and bringing the world of silent cinema closer to newer generations.
Those newer generations in the film are represented by William Holden, a relatively young actor for whom the role of an ambitious and morally challenged screenwriter represented a big break. Holden would soon become one of the greatest stars of 1950s Hollywood and have another great collaboration with Billy Wilder in the war‑prison drama Stalag 17. Wilder, whose brilliant direction helped make this otherwise dark and depressing story appealing, brought Holden back to explore similar subjects in the 1978 film Fedora, a rather underrated drama that can be seen as a spiritual sequel or remake of Sunset Boulevard.
›'Sunset Blvd.' by Billy Wilder Review: Nostalgia, fame, and filmmaking@namiks1389d
The film industry is full of stories of the pursuit of success. The stories of struggles on the rise to fame and success, and often enough showcasing that achievement around the conclusion. Sunset Blvd. dabbles with both concepts: the aspect of failure in Hollywood. The struggle to get somewhere and earn a living. While also displaying the life of someone that has lived the life of success and luxury as a result, though now forever longing for those better days to return as time has passed and ultimately forgotten them in favour of a new era and its demands.
The other day I watched a Spanish film named Viridiana, a black-and-white film which has resulted in me feeling that black-and-white film noir itch, desperately wanting to watch some classics again and have a brief escape from the many animations and series that I have been starting. I roamed the Internet for a few short minutes in search of something, and came across a few film noir classics that I realised I had never seen; I told myself I would check them out one-by-one over the coming weeks.
Sunset Blvd. seemed natural for this filmmaking narrative it holds. Featuring a film noir style and a very much beloved style of narration that places us into the mind of its protagonist. If you have read anything of mine for a while now, you may have read in a few posts in the past of how much I love films that feature a narration that places us into the minds of characters directly. Bridging that character development and context in narrative with the audience as if we share their thoughts, knowing them more than anyone else as they voice their deepest secrets to us. My favourites of these being the films of Wong Kar-wai.
Though, Sunset Blvd. has managed to enter my favourites. It was a film very much self-aware of its themes, as if to be direct and personal themselves. And a glimpse into two sides of the film industry that we all love and consume, having almost never really heard of the ways it impacts those who make these creations.
Sunset Blvd.
We follow a struggling writer, desperate to make it but failing frequently. His scripts requiring plenty of work and often rejection. Stumbling into the path of a former silent-era film actress that just so happens to be writing an extensive script she aims to have turned into a feature. A return to the screen for her, and a revival of a career long gone, in an industry that has developed and changed massively over the years. These two opposites share the same interests: fame and success. The money merely being an additional luxury that comes with it. It is an interesting dynamic in which these two very different people come together for ultimately very bad reasons.
Sunset Blvd is a story that shows the perspective mostly of the failing writer, now given a life of luxury in favour of compassion and expertise in writing with this now aged actress. As is expected, this results in an awful relationship in which our actress that longs for the better days to return becomes more and more dependent on our young writer, as he is tasked with bringing her poor script into greatness and thus brining her back to the wonderful sets in front of cameras. It is interesting to me to see this, because I really understand this feeling of what it is like to be away from productions sometimes. To want to feel that excitement of a production again where wonderful people can be roaming around and talking and sharing ideas, all coming together to create something that thousands, if not millions may see.
For those who have had their moments of fame, it must be incredibly difficult to hang it all up, especially if it is due to circumstances out of your control. To realise that your best days are behind you and that there is not much else waiting for you in the present. And this is what Sunset Blvd. is really about: the ways in which the film industry pulls you in with its magic, makes you dependent on it, and one day spits you out, forgetting you ever existed and moving on without you, whether you are ready for that change or not. For many, this transition will be hard to accept. To be forced out of the life of excitement and fame, left with money, but not that push in ego that makes you feel truly alive, like few other careers can.
To amplify this desperation is a complicated love story between people and the creation of art. Where stories are created out of passion and how that passion can bring people together. Though in the case of our narrative, it results in jealousy, fear, and the refusal to let the past go. This drama goes by quite expected, it doesn't try to spin twists on you, but simply tell you of the love for filmmaking that these young people share, not quite knowing that the potential fame to come may result in a life of misery. To say this film is a love letter to filmmaking would be a lie, but would also hold some truth to it. It is evident in our characters, where they come to certain realisations and change their approach to the luxury; realising ultimately what is more important.
Directing and Cinematography**
Sunset Blvd. was almost perfected by its use of heavy narration through the voice of our protagonist. We get a direct perspective of his life and thoughts throughout the film as he approaches various struggles. We see into his mind where he promotes himself over others, approaches this life of style of sophistication as the money slowly spoils him, only to have his realisation that the love was for writing all along. The directing reflects this with simple fixed perspectives, where often enough we feel like observers in this series of events. Where the most alive our protagonist feels is when he's writing alongside another. There's more movement seen in these scenes, and the angles display this energy. Whereas he feels imprisoned in this home with the former actress that smothers, uses her money and luxury to lure people in at any cost.
We see the opposite in moments as well: where our former actress slowly falls into insanity over the desperation for fame again. The camera uses these creative angles in which we see her face close-up, smothered in beauty products in an attempt to prepare for roles that do not come. Where she looks deep into mirrors imagining her upcoming revival of fame and worship within the public eye. Visualising her return like some return of God himself upon mere mortal men. It shows how the film industry spits you out once it is done with you, even going as far as seeing how studios and other filmmakers don't quite have that interest in you anymore once your moment of fame is up. Where you are no longer wanted. It is a harsh reality, ultimately. And one I have even seen myself as people I have known have given up on the industry or struggled to keep things going.
This directing is simple, yet very effective. It tells the story so well alongside the narration, and in that typical film noir style. It is really creative in that regard, and I do not think it would have had the same impact without the narration despite that style of cinematography and directing. It's incredibly self-aware in its approach to understanding the film industry, displaying that hatred and passion for it, using different characters that have lived different lives within it. Some successful, some striving for that success, but with very different emotions regarding the industry. I think it's quite powerful for this, particularly when not many films these days are made around the idea of filmmaking, and if they are, they only really show the glamour. If you have seen La La Land, you will love Sunset Blvd, and know pretty much what to expect from it.
Its themes are probably more powerful now than ever before, where we live in such a rapid digital world where content is created every moment, and so easily cancelled and forgotten. Where streaming services create and remove like nothing ever happened, giving those actors and filmmakers a glimpse at making it, only to return back to their struggles beforehand. It shows us a very human side of filmmaking, the art behind it, and the mind.
›[Eng/Esp] Sunset Blvd the best film about Hollywood / Sunset Blvd el mejor Film acerca de Hollywood.@nbarrios671595d
In a mansion on Sunset Blvd, floats the body of a man riddled with bullets. Joe Gillis (William Holden), the victim, was a Hollywood screenwriter, and although he had financial problems, and although it seems incredible, he himself tells us his story.
Gillis escapes from some debt collectors, and manages to take refuge in an apparently abandoned mansion. But he discovers that he is not alone, a woman and her butler, mistaking him for a pet coffin salesman, a monkey, make him enter. The woman in the mansion turns out to be a forgotten silent film actress named Norma Desmond. Norma, upon learning that he is a screenwriter, offers him a job to correct a script, with which he intends to return to the screens.
The screenwriter realizes that the script is bad, but the need for money and his ambition turns him into the silent film star's lover. Norma's first husband, Max von Mayerlin (Erich von Stroheim), is now her butler, possesses more than one of the actress' secrets, and keeps the mansion as if it were a museum by keeping photographs and old films of her.
Norma Desmond, plays poker with other old silent film glories who play themselves: Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner and Swedish actress Anna Q. Nilsson. Nilsson. In these games they are attended by Max the butler.
Norma thinks she is still flattered by her audience, and enters the Paramount studios looking for Cecil B. DeMille. She is greeted by the director with discomfort, respect and pity. Norma waits there, unaware that a boom mike is moving behind her and knocks the feather that adorns her hat. Startled, Norma pushes the intruding microphone away. That instrument is one of the culprits that years ago put an end to silent movies and their stars.
Our protagonist, in her egocentric madness, plans her future with the scriptwriter, but the latter, having reached the limit of unbearable, decides to leave.
At a party at an old friend's house, he introduces him to his girlfriend, who is interested in working with him on one of his scripts, he has to leave the party because Norma's butler tells him that she has tried to commit suicide. Joe rushes to Norma's house and is reconciled with her when she warns him that if he leaves her, he will try to take his own life again.
Joe and Betty, his friend's girlfriend, work on a screenplay until they fall in love, which angers Norma. Feeling guilty for lying to Betty, the screenwriter decides to tell her the truth and ask her to move on with her life.
Norma, shows her total insanity when cameramen and journalists come to her mansion to cover the news of the murder. She thinks they are there to film a scene. In her room, she is putting on make-up to face the cameras as the police question her.
She leaves her room in a pathetic and triumphant moment to descend the stairs and her butler and ex-husband Max heads towards the cameras shouting "Lights, camera, action!", descending with excitement and joy in front of the spotlights and cameras until her face manages to take up the entire screen.
This film is one of the cruelest stories about greatness and decadence in cinema and although 72 years have passed since it was released in 1950, this wonderful masterpiece does not lose meaning for the viewer, probably because it touches fundamental fibers related to greatness, oblivion and illusions. It fuses psychological drama, film noir, horror and black humor.
This is a work of cinema that talks about cinema, showing a harsh and passionate portrait of the film industry in Hollywood.
The role of Norma Desmond was initially offered to Mae West, thinking of a festive, voluptuous and sensual profile for the character. But she was not interested, so the scriptwriters decided that the character of Norma Desmond should present an image of tragedy, of dignity worn out by time and forgotten by the public.
Considered for the role were: Pola Negri, Mae Murray and Mary Pickford, until director George Cukor suggested contacting Gloria Swanson. Billy Wilder called her in for test shots, to which Swanson was humiliated, so Cukor interceded for Wilder with the disgruntled star, who reluctantly agreed to audition. Cukor told Gloria Swanson that this would be the role of a lifetime, the one she would be remembered for.
Gloria Swanson knew the glory of silent films, she was born on March 27, 1898, and since she was a child she wanted to be an actress. At the age of 17 she was hired by the Essanay company, then intervening in two short films made by Charles Chaplin, the following year she got a new opportunity, to join the team of beauties formed by Mack Sennet, worked with Cecil B. de Mille, and became the example of the extravagant and capricious woman.
She was hired by Paramount Pictures and worked for directors like Sam Wood and Allan Dwan. She knew how to extract from her characters all kinds of complexities ranging from drama to high comedy. Soon after, she worked with Raoul Walsh, and with Eric von Stroheim, with whom, apparently, she was romantically linked.
When the talkies arrived, she sensed that the new procedures were going to imply a profound revolution, she took declamation lessons, tried to adapt to the new shooting conditions, but her career entered a phase of decline from which she would not recover. Entering a working obscurity from which she would only be rescued by Billy Wilder in 1950, with Sunset Blvd.
Her character of Norma Desmond expects to be recognized as superior, fantasizing about unlimited success, believing she is special and that she can relate only to other people of high status. She demands excessive admiration, lacks empathy, is arrogant and believes others envy her.
William Holden, builds from an excellent script a tremendously complex and very well reflected character. He had been appearing on screen since the late 30s. Joe Gillis works because he is built by a good actor (as well as a good script). He is a vulnerable gigolo screenwriter who shows his weaknesses, which humanizes him. Montgomery Clift was initially cast for this role, but he reneged on his promise to play the part because he was having an affair in New York with an older woman at the time and didn't want to get involved in a project with a related theme.
Without difficulty, they agreed to play themselves Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner -Jesus in 1927's King of Kings, the Swedish actress Anna Q. Nilsson, director Cecil B. DeMille, and entertainment columnist Hedda Hopper.
Erich von Stroheim, plays Max von Mayerling, former film director, ex-husband and now Norma Desmond's butler. In real life he was a German silent film director. He suggested using a sequence from one of his films, the unfinished Queen Kelly (1928), co-starring Gloria Swanson.
When Nancy Olson is called to play the dreamy scriptwriter of Sunset Blvd, Betty didn't even know who Gloria Swanson was. But as she read the script, she sensed that this was no ordinary project. She lived through the dozens of costume fittings, and was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for this film.
They say that Sunset Blvd was the film that gave its director Billy Wilder his definitive Hollywood breakthrough, which is shocking, when we are talking about a film that most scathingly criticizes the world of Hollywood.
The film's screenplay truthfully depicts what can happen to an actor or actress after the public's downfall and oblivion. It is in the hands of D. M. Marshman Jr. Charles Brackett, and Billy Wilder.
Franz Waxman's music conveys the gloomy atmosphere of Norma Desmond's house throughout the film.
The film received eleven Oscar nominations, winning only three statuettes: for screenplay, art direction and music. The Golden Globe Awards honored Gloria Swanson, as well as the film, director Billy Wilder and the soundtrack. This is not a film that ages as its premise is timeless.
The film's alternate titles in latinamerica are: Twilight of the Gods and Twilight of a Life.
This is a must-see movie for cinephiles, which gains more with each viewing, it is a cult film that is considered one of the most relevant works of cinema.
Celebrity quotes:
Norma Desmond: "I am great. It's the movies that have become small."
Joe Gillis talking about themselves once dead: "Poor sucker, he always wanted a swimming pool. He finally got his pool, but at too high a price."
Norma Desmond at the end of the film approaching the camera: "Anytime, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready to shoot my close-up."
Thank you very much for appreciating this publication, and I hope I have encouraged you to watch and appreciate this true masterpiece of cinema. See you next time.
The collage presented was elaborated by me, being the images of public domain.
En una villa de Sunset Blvd, flota el cuerpo de un hombre acribillado a balazos. Joe Gillis (William Holden), es la víctima, era un guionista de Hollywood, y aunque con problemas económicos, y aunque parezca increíble, el mismo nos cuenta su historia.
Gillis huye de unos cobradores, y logra refugiarse en una mansión aparentemente abandonada. Pero descubre que no está solo, una mujer, y su mayordomo, confundiéndole con un vendedor de ataúdes para una mascota, un mono, le hacen entrar. La mujer de la mansión, resulta ser una olvidada actriz del cine mudo de nombre Norma Desmond. Norma, al enterarse que este es guionista, le ofrece trabajo para corregir un guion, con el que pretende volver a las pantallas.
El guionista se da cuenta de que el guion es malo, pero la necesidad de dinero y su ambición lo convierte en amante de la estrella del cine mudo. El primer esposo de Norma, Max von Mayerlin (Erich von Stroheim), es ahora su mayordomo, posee más de un secreto de la actriz, y mantiene la mansión como si fuese un museo guardando fotografías y viejas películas de ella.
Norma Desmond, juega al póker con otras viejas glorias del cine mudo quienes se interpretan a si mismos: Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner y la actriz sueca Anna Q. Nilsson, En estas partidas son atendidos por Max el mayordomo.
Norma se cree adulada aun por su público y, entra a los estudios de la Paramount buscando a Cecil B. DeMille. Es recibida por el director con incomodidad, respeto y lástima. Norma espera allí, sin darse cuenta de que el micrófono de un boom se está moviendo tras ella y le golpea la pluma que adorna su sombrero. Sobresaltada, Norma aleja el micrófono intruso. Ese instrumento es uno de los culpables de acabar años atrás el cine mudo y sus estrellas.
Nuestra protagonista dentro de su locura egocéntrica planea su futuro con el guionista, pero este ya llegando al límite de lo insoportable decide marcharse.
En una fiesta en casa de un viejo amigo, este le presenta a su novia, la cual se interesa en trabajar con el en uno de sus guiones, este tiene que abandonar la fiesta porque el mayordomo de Norma, le avisa que esta ha intentado suicidarse. Joe va corriendo hacia casa de Norma y se reconcilia con ella cuando le avisa que, si la abandona, volverá a intentar quitarse la vida.
Joe y Betty, la novia de su amigo, trabajan en un guion hasta que se enamoran, lo que hace enfadar a Norma. Sintiéndose culpable por mentir a Betty, el guionista decide contarle la verdad y pedirle que siga con su vida.
Norma, muestra su total locura cuando camarógrafos y periodistas van a su mansión, a cubrir la noticia del asesinato. Ella, cree que están ahí para filmar una escena. En su habitación, ella se está maquillando, para enfrentarse a las cámaras, mientras la policía la interroga.
Sale de su cuarto en un momento patético y triunfal para descender por las escaleras y su mayordomo y ex esposo Max se dirige hacia las cámaras gritando “¡Luces, cámara, acción!”, bajando con emoción y gozo ante los reflectores y las cámaras hasta que su rostro logra ocupar toda la pantalla.
Esta película es una de las historias más crueles sobre la grandeza y la decadencia en el cine y aunque han pasado 72 años desde que se estrenó, en 1950, esta maravillosa obra maestra no pierde sentido para el espectador, probablemente porque toca fibras fundamentales relacionadas con la grandeza, el olvido y las ilusiones. En ella se funden el drama psicológico, el cine negro, el terror y el humor negro.
Esta es una obra de cine que habla sobre el cine, mostrando un retrato duro y apasionado de la industria cinematográfica en Hollywood.
El papel de Norma Desmond, en principio le es ofrecido a Mae West, pensando en un perfil festivo, voluptuoso y sensual para el personaje. Pero esta no estaba interesada, así los guionistas decidieron que el personaje de Norma Desmond debería presentar una imagen de tragedia, de dignidad desgastada por el tiempo y olvidada por el público.
Se consideraron para el papel a: Pola Negri, Mae Murray y Mary Pickford, hasta que el director George Cukor sugirió contactar a Gloria Swanson. Billy Wilder la llama para hacerle unas tomas de prueba, a lo que Swanson se sintió humillada, entonces Cukor intercedió por Wilder ante la disgustada estrella, quien aceptó de mala gana la prueba. Cukor le dijo a a Gloria Swanson que ese sería el papel de su vida, por el que la iban a recordar.
Gloria Swanson conoció la gloria del cine mudo, nacio , el 27 de marzo de 1898, y desde niña quiso ser actriz. A los 17 años fue contratada por la compañía Essanay, interviniendo a continuación en dos cortos filmes realizados por Charles Chaplin, al año siguiente le llegó una nueva oportunidad, la de entrar a formar parte de la escudería de bellezas formada por Mack Sennet, trabajo con Cecil B. de Mille, y se convierte en el ejemplo de la mujer extravagante y caprichosa.
Fue contratada por Paramount Pictures y trabajo para directores como Sam Wood y Allan Dwan. Supo extraer de sus personajes todo tipo de complejidades que iban desde el dramatismo a la alta comedia. Poco después trabajaría con Raoul Walsh, y con Eric von Stroheim, con quien, al parecer, estuvo ligada sentimentalmente.
Al llegar el cine sonoro, intuye que los nuevos procedimientos iban a implicar una revolución profunda, tomó lecciones de declamación, trató de adaptarse a las nuevas condiciones de rodaje, pero su carrera entró en una fase de declive de la que ya no se recuperaría. Entrar en una oscuridad laboral de la que sólo la rescataría Billy Wilder en 1950, con Sunset Blvd.
Su personaje de Norma Desmond espera ser reconocido como superior, fantaseando con un éxito sin límites, creyéndose especial y que puede relacionarse solo con otras personas de alto estatus. Exige una admiración excesiva, carece de empatía, es arrogante y cree que los demás le envidian.
William Holden, construye a partir de un excelente guion un personaje tremendamente complejo y muy bien reflejado. Llevaba desde finales de los años 30 apareciendo en pantalla. Joe Gillis funciona porque lo construye un buen actor (además de partir de un buen guion). Es un guionista gigoló vulnerable que muestra sus puntos débiles, lo que le humaniza. Para este papel el inicialmente escogido era Montgomery Clift, quien incumplió su promesa de interpretar el papel ya que para aquel entonces tenía un romance en Nueva York con una mujer mayor y no quería involucrarse en un proyecto con una temática afín.
Sin dificultad, aceptaron interpretarse a si mismos Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner -Jesús en Rey de Reyes del año 1927, la actriz sueca Anna Q. Nilsson, el director Cecil B. DeMille, y la columnista de farándula Hedda Hopper.
Erich von Stroheim, encarna a Max von Mayerling, antiguo director de cine, ex esposo y ahora mayordomo de Norma Desmond. En la vida real era un director alemán del cine mudo. Este sugirió utilizar una secuencia de una de sus películas, la inconclusa Queen Kelly (1928), coprotagonizada precisamente por Gloria Swanson.
Cuando Nancy Olson es llamada para encarnar a la soñadora guionista de Sunset Blvd, Betty ni siquiera sabía quién era Gloria Swanson. Pero al leer el guion intuyo que este no era un proyecto normal. Vivió las docenas de pruebas de vestuario , y fue nominada a los premios Oscar como actriz secundaria por esta película.
Dicen que Sunset Blvd fue la película que le dio el espaldarazo definitivo a su director Billy Wilder en Hollywood, lo cual es chocante, cuando estamos hablando de una película que crítica más mordazmente el mundo de Hollywood.
El guión de la película representa con veracidad lo que le puede suceder a un actor o actriz tras la caída y el olvido del público. Corre a cargo de las manos de D. M. Marshman Jr. , Charles Brackett, y Billy Wilder.
La música de Franz Waxman transmite el lugubre ambiente de la casa de Norma Desmond a lo largo de la película.
La película obtuvo once nominaciones a los premios Oscar, ganado solo tres estatuillas: a guion, dirección artística y música. En los premios Globos de Oro premiaron a Gloria Swanson, así como al film, al director Billy Wilder y la banda sonora. Esta no es una película que envejece ya que su premisa es atemporal
Los títulos alternos de la película son: El crepúsculo de los dioses y El ocaso de una vida.
Esta es una película imprescindible para los cinéfilos, que gana más con cada visionado, es un film de culto que se considera una de las obras más relevantes del cine.
Frases celebres:
Norma Desmond: “Soy grande. Son las películas las que se han hecho pequeñas.”
Joe Gillis hablando de si mismos una vez muerto: “Pobre imbécil, siempre quiso una piscina. Al final consiguió su piscina, pero a un precio demasiado alto”.
Norma Desmond al final de la película acercándose a la cámara: "Cuando quiera, señor DeMille, estoy lista para rodar mi primer plano".
Muchas gracias por apreciar esta publicación, y espero haberte animado a ver esta verdadera obra maestra del cine. Hasta la próxima.
El collage presentado fue elaborado por mí, siendo las imágenes de dominio público.
›Film Commentary: Ten Parallels Between 'Sunset Blvd.' and 'Mulholland Dr.'@janenightshade2682d
*The great silent screen star Gloria Swanson basically played herself in Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd., the story of a has-been silent screen star who can't accept her faded fame.*
To be honest, I didn't realize the parallels between the famous David Lynch film, Mulholland Dr. (2001) and the even-more famous Billy Wilder film, Sunset Blvd. (1950) until very recently.
I had originally believed that the title of the Lynch film stemmed from the opening scene, which features a car crash on Mulholland Drive, a major traffic artery of Los Angeles. Then, I chanced upon an interview in which Lynch stated that Sunset Blvd. is his favorite film, and I realized that, of course, the title of Lynch's most famous film is a play on the title of the Wilder film. Call me slow to catch on for missing that one!
While Mulholland Dr., like all Lynch films, is open to multiple interpretations, it seems obvious that it is, at least in part, an homage to Sunset Blvd.
Here's my list of the ten most obvious homages/parallels to Sunset Blvd. in Mulholland Dr.:
1.) The title: Mulholland Drive is a famous, long boulevard in Los Angeles. (It was named after William Mulholland, the civil engineer who designed LA's water delivery system.) Sunset Boulevard is another famous, long thoroughfare in Los Angeles.
2.) The theme: Both are "Hollywood Babylon" films that expose the harsh penalties that the film industry extracts from its workers.
3.) The point of view: In a cynical voiceover by lead actor William Holden, Sunset Blvd. is narrated by his character Joe Gillis, who is already dead as the story begins, although the viewer doesn’t realize it until the end of the film. The first half of Mulholland Dr. is the dream of a woman who is also already dead (or dying) at the time the film opens, but the viewer doesn’t realize this until the end of the film.
4.) Plot points: The events of both films are set into motion by a fateful car incident. In Mulholland Dr., the dazed character of Rita survives a car crash and makes her way on foot down a slope to seek help at a huge Hollywood mansion. In Sunset Blvd., Joe Gillis seeks refuge at Norma Desmond’s lavish Hollywood mansion on that street, after his car has a flat tire while he's being chased by a repo man.
5.) Easter Egg A: In one scene in Mulholland Dr., Lynch’s camera focuses on the street sign for Sunset Blvd. as Rita walks by it.
6.) Easter Egg B: The main character in Lynch's film is a dual personality named Betty/Diane. Betty is also the name of Joe Gillis’s love interest in Sunset Blvd.
7.) Easter Egg C: Lynch used the same late 1920s car (an Isotta-Fraschini model) driven by Gloria Swanson's character in Sunset Boulevard in a scene for Mulholland Dr.
8.) The cast: Both films feature extensive cameos of faded or has-been stars and directors. In Wilder's film, they are old silent screen stars like Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson. In the Lynch film, they are people like Chad Everett (a famous TV star from the 70s) and Ann Miller (a singer-dancer from the 50s Golden Age of Hollywood musicals.)
9.) The writers: Both Lynch and Wilder (in partnership with his long-time writing partner Charles Brackett) wrote the screenplays for their respective films from their own original ideas.
10.) The influence: Both films are considered masterpieces of their genre and both highly influenced other film-makers. Both are featured on various lists of the greatest movies of all time.
*The great silent screen star Gloria Swanson basically played herself in Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd., the story of a has-been silent screen star who can't accept her faded fame.*