Sunset Boulevard (film)

Sunset Boulevard

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Billy Wilder
Produced by Charles Brackett
Written by
Starring
Music by Franz Waxman
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Edited by
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • August 10, 1950

[1]

Running time
 110 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1.75 million
Box office $5 million

Sunset Boulevard—stylized onscreen as SUNSET BLVD.—is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California.

The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent movie star who draws him into her fantasy world where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen, with Erich von Stroheim as Max Von Mayerling, her devoted servant. Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough and Jack Webb play supporting roles. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper play themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson.

Praised by many critics when first released, Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Academy Awards (including nominations in all four acting categories) and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited as one of the greatest films of American cinema. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989, Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1998, it was ranked number twelve on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century, and in 2007 it was 16th on their 10th Anniversary list.

Plot

At a Sunset Boulevard mansion, the body of Joe Gillis floats in the swimming pool. In a flashback, Joe relates the events leading to his death.

Six months earlier, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe tries selling Paramount Pictures producer Sheldrake on a story he submitted. Script reader Betty Schaefer harshly critiques it, unaware that Joe is listening. Later, while fleeing from repossession men seeking his car, Joe turns into the driveway of a seemingly deserted mansion. After concealing the car, he hears a woman calling him, apparently mistaking him for someone else. Ushered in by Max, the butler, Joe recognizes the woman as long-forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond. Learning he is a writer, she asks his opinion of a script she has written for a film about Salome. She plans to play the role herself in a comeback. Joe finds her script abysmal but flatters her into hiring him as a script doctor.

Moved into Norma's mansion at her insistence, Joe resents but gradually accepts his dependent situation. He sees that Norma refuses to face the fact that her fame has evaporated and learns the fan letters she still receives are secretly written by Max, who tells him Norma is subject to depression and has made suicide attempts.

Norma lavishes attention on Joe and buys him expensive clothes. At her New Year's Eve party, he discovers he is the only guest and realizes she has fallen in love with him. He tries to let her down gently, but she slaps him and retreats to her room. Joe visits his friend Artie Green to ask about staying at his place. At Artie's party he again meets Betty, who he learns is Artie's girl. Betty thinks a scene in one of Joe's scripts has potential, but Joe is uninterested. When Joe phones Max to have him pack his things, Max tells him Norma cut her wrists with his razor. Joe returns to Norma.

Norma has Max deliver the edited Salome script to her former director Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount. She starts getting calls from Paramount executive Gordon Cole but petulantly refuses to speak to anyone except DeMille. Eventually, she has Max drive her and Joe to Paramount in her 1929 Isotta Fraschini.[2] The older studio employees recognize her and warmly greet her. DeMille receives her affectionately and treats her with great respect, tactfully evading her questions about Salome. Meanwhile, Max learns that Cole merely wants to rent her unusual car for a film.

Preparing for her imagined comeback, Norma undergoes rigorous beauty treatments. Joe secretly works nights at Betty's Paramount office, collaborating on an original screenplay. His moonlighting is found out by Max, who reveals that he was a respected film director, discovered Norma as a teenage girl, made her a star and was her first husband. After she divorced him, he found life without her unbearable and abandoned his career to become her servant.

Although Betty is engaged to Artie, she and Joe fall in love. Norma discovers a manuscript with Joe's and Betty's names on it. She phones Betty and insinuates what sort of man Joe really is. Joe, overhearing, invites Betty to come see for herself. When she arrives, he pretends he is satisfied being a kept man, but after she tearfully leaves, he packs for a return to his old Ohio newspaper job. He disregards Norma's threat to kill herself and the gun she shows him to back it up. He bluntly tells her the public has forgotten her, there will be no comeback, the fan letters are from Max. As Joe walks away from the house, Norma shoots him three times and he falls into the pool.

The flashback ends. The house is filled with police and reporters. Norma, having lost touch with reality, believes the newsreel cameras are there to film Salome. Max and the police play along. Max sets up a scene for her and calls "Action!" As the cameras roll, Norma dramatically descends her grand staircase. She pauses and makes an impromptu speech about how happy she is to be making a film again, ending with "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."[3]

Background

An actual stenciled boulevard name was used as the opening title, as seen in this screengrab.

The street known as Sunset Boulevard has been associated with Hollywood film production since 1911, when the town's first film studio opened there. The film workers lived modestly in the growing neighborhood, but during the 1920s profits and salaries rose to unprecedented levels. With the advent of the star system, luxurious homes noted for their often incongruous grandeur were built in the area. The stars were the subject of public fascination throughout the world as magazines and newspapers reported the excesses of their lives.

As a young man living in Berlin in the 1920s, Billy Wilder was interested in American culture, with much of his interest fueled by the country's films. In the late 1940s, many of the grand Hollywood houses remained, and Wilder, then a Los Angeles resident, found them to be a part of his everyday world. Many former stars from the silent era still lived in them, although most were no longer involved in the film business. Wilder wondered how they spent their time now that "the parade had passed them by" and began imagining the story of a star who had lost her celebrity and box-office appeal.[4]

The character of Norma Desmond mirrors aspects of the twilight years of several real-life faded silent film stars, such as the reclusive existence of Mary Pickford and the mental disorders of Mae Murray and Clara Bow. It is usually regarded as a fictional composite inspired by several different people, not just a thinly disguised portrait of one in particular, but some commentators have made claims for specific models: one asserts that Norma Talmadge is "the obvious if unacknowledged source of Norma Desmond, the grotesque, predatory silent movie queen" of the film.[5] The most common analysis of the character's name is that it is a combination of the names of silent film actress Mabel Normand and director William Desmond Taylor, a close friend of Normand's who was murdered in 1922 in a never-solved case sensationalized by the press.

Cast

As Themselves

Cast selection

Wilder considered many actors for the lead roles, but chose Swanson and Holden.

According to Brackett, he and Wilder never considered anyone except Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Wilder, however, had a different recollection. He recalled first wanting Mae West and Marlon Brando for the leads, but never approached either with an offer. He contacted Pola Negri by telephone, but had a difficult time understanding her heavy Polish accent. They also asked Norma Shearer if she would portray Norma Desmond, but she rejected the role due to both her retirement and distaste for it. They were considering Fred MacMurray to play opposite her as Joe. The filmmakers approached Greta Garbo, but she expressed no interest. Wilder and Brackett then visited Mary Pickford, but before even discussing the plot with her, Wilder realized she would consider a role involving an affair with a man half her age an insult, so they departed. They considered pairing Montgomery Clift with her.[6]

According to Wilder, he asked George Cukor for advice, and he suggested Swanson, one of the most feted actresses of the silent-screen era, known for her beauty, talent and extravagant lifestyle. At the peak of her career in 1925, she was said to have received 10,000 fan letters in a single week, and from 1920 until the early 1930s she lived on Sunset Boulevard in an elaborate Italianate palace. In many ways she resembled the Norma Desmond character and, like her, had been unable to make a smooth transition into talking pictures. The similarities ended there. Swanson accepted the end of her film career and in the early 1930s moved to New York City, where she worked in radio and, from the mid-1940s, in television. Though, Swanson was not seeking a comeback, she was intrigued when Wilder discussed the role with her.[4]

Swanson was chagrined at the notion of submitting to a screen test saying she had, "Made twenty films for Paramount. Why do they want me to audition?" Her reaction was echoed in the screenplay when Norma Desmond declares, "Without me there wouldn't be any Paramount." In her memoir, Swanson recalled asking Cukor if it was unreasonable to refuse the screen test. He replied that since Norma Desmond was the role for which she would be remembered, "If they ask you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests, or I will personally shoot you." His enthusiasm convinced Swanson to participate,[7] and she signed a contract for $50,000.[8] In a 1975 interview, Wilder recalled Swanson's reaction with the observation, "There was a lot of Norma in her, you know."[9]

Montgomery Clift was signed to play Joe Gillis for $5,000 per week for a guaranteed twelve weeks, but just before the start of filming he withdrew from the project, claiming his role of a young man involved with an older woman was too close to the one he had played in The Heiress, in which he felt he had been unconvincing. An infuriated Wilder responded, "If he's any kind of actor, he could be convincing making love to any woman."[10] It has been suggested the fact Clift was himself having an affair with a much older woman (the singer Libby Holman) was his real reason for withdrawing from the film.[11]

Forced to consider the available Paramount stars, Wilder and Brackett focused on William Holden, who had made an impressive debut in Golden Boy in 1939. Following an appearance in Our Town (1940), he served in the military in World War II, and his return to the screen afterward had been moderately successful. He was enthusiastic about the script and eager to accept the role. He did not know that his salary was $39,000 less than that offered to Clift.[12]

Erich von Stroheim, a leading film director of the 1920s who had famously directed Swanson, was signed to play Max, Norma's faithful servant, protector and former husband. For the role of Betty Schaefer, Wilder wanted a newcomer who could project a wholesome and ordinary image to contrast with Swanson's flamboyant and obsessive Desmond. He chose Nancy Olson, who had recently been considered for the role of Delilah in DeMille's Samson and Delilah.[13]

Writing

Wilder and Brackett began working on a script in 1948, but the result did not completely satisfy them. In August 1948 D.M. Marshman Jr., formerly a writer for Life, was hired to help develop the storyline after Wilder and Brackett were impressed by a critique he provided of their film The Emperor Waltz (1948).

In an effort to keep the full details of the story from Paramount Pictures and avoid the restrictive censorship of the Breen Code, they submitted the script a few pages at a time. The Breen Office insisted certain lines be rewritten, such as Gillis's "I'm up that creek and I need a job," which became "I'm over a barrel. I need a job." Paramount executives thought Wilder was adapting a story called A Can of Beans (which did not exist) and allowed him relative freedom to proceed as he saw fit. Only the first third of the script was written when filming began in early May 1949, and Wilder was unsure how the film would end.[13]

The script contains many references to Hollywood and screenwriters, with Joe Gillis making most of the cynical comments. He sums up his film-writing career with the remark, "The last one I wrote was about Okies in the dust bowl. You'd never know, because when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat." In another exchange, Betty comments to Gillis, "I'd always heard that you had some talent." He replies, "That was last year. This year I'm trying to make a living."[3]

The fusion of writer-director Billy Wilder's biting humor and the classic elements of film noir make for a strange kind of comedy, as well as a strange kind of film noir. There are no belly laughs here, but there are certainly strangled giggles: at the pet chimp's midnight funeral, at Joe's discomfited acquiescence to the role of gigolo; at Norma's Mack Sennett-style "entertainments" for her uneasy lover; and at the ritualized solemnity of Norma's "waxworks" card parties, which feature such former luminaries as Buster Keaton as Norma's has-been cronies.[14]

Several of Desmond's lines, such as, "All right Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up," and "I am big, it's the pictures that got small!" are widely remembered and quoted. Much of the film's wit is delivered through Norma Desmond's deadpan comments, which are often followed by sarcastic retorts from Gillis. Desmond appears to not hear some of these comments, as she is absorbed by her own thoughts and in denial, and so some of Gillis's lines are heard only by the audience, with Wilder blurring the line between the events and Gillis's narration. Gillis's response to Desmond's cry that "the pictures got small" is a muttered reply, "I knew something was wrong with them." Wilder often varies the structure, with Desmond taking Gillis's comments seriously and replying in kind. For example, when the two discuss the overwrought script Desmond has been working on, Gillis observes, "They'll love it in Pomona."[15] "They'll love it everyplace," replies Desmond firmly.[3]

Film writer Richard Corliss describes Sunset Boulevard as "the definitive Hollywood horror movie," noting that almost everything in the script is "ghoulish." He remarks that the story is narrated by a dead man whom Norma Desmond first mistakes for an undertaker, while most of the film takes place "in an old, dark house that only opens its doors to the living dead." He compares Von Stroheim's character Max with Erik of The Phantom of the Opera, and Norma Desmond with Dracula, noting that, as she seduces Joe Gillis, the camera tactfully withdraws with "the traditional directorial attitude taken towards Dracula's jugular seductions." He writes that the narrative contains an excess of "cheap sarcasm," but ultimately congratulates the writers for attributing this dialogue to Joe Gillis, who was in any case presented as little more than a hack writer.[16]

Wilder preferred to leave analysis of his screenplays and films to others. When asked if Sunset Boulevard was a black comedy, he replied, "No, just a picture."[17]

Score

The score was composed by Franz Waxman. In 2002 a CD was published of the score re-recorded by Joel McNeely and the Scottish Symphony Orchestra.[18]

Key creative personnel

The film's dark, shadowy black-and-white film noir cinematography was the work of John F. Seitz. Wilder had worked with him on several projects before, and trusted his judgment, allowing him to make his own decisions. Seitz recalled asking Wilder what he required for the pet chimpanzee's funeral scene. Wilder replied, "you know, just your standard monkey funeral shot." For some interior shots, Seitz sprinkled dust in front of the camera before filming to suggest "mustiness," a trick he had also used for Double Indemnity (1944).

Wilder was adamant that the corpse of Joe Gillis be seen from the bottom of the pool, but creating the effect was difficult. The camera was placed inside a specially constructed box and lowered underwater, but the result disappointed Wilder, who insisted on further experiments. The shot was finally achieved by placing a mirror on the bottom of the pool and filming Holden's reflection from above with the distorted image of the policemen standing around the pool and forming a backdrop.[13]

Film historian Tom Stempel writes, "In both Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, Seitz does something that has always impressed me. Both are films noir, and he finesses the fact that both are set in the sunniest of locales, Los Angeles... he brings together the light and the dark in the same film without any seams showing... he brings together the realistic lighting of Joe Gillis out in the real world with the gothic look of Norma Desmond's mansion. Again with no seams showing."[13]

Edith Head designed the costumes. Wilder, Head and Swanson agreed that Norma Desmond would have kept somewhat up to date with fashion trends, so Head designed costumes closely resembling the Dior look of the mid-1940s. Embellishments were added to personalize them and reflect Norma Desmond's taste.

Swanson recalled in her biography that the costumes were only "a trifle outdated, a trifle exotic."[7] Head later described her assignment as "the most challenging of my career," and explained her approach with the comment, "Because Norma Desmond was an actress who had become lost in her own imagination, I tried to make her look like she was always impersonating someone." Head later said she relied on Swanson's expertise because "she was creating a past that she knew and I didn't."[13] Head also designed the costumes for William Holden and the minor characters; but for authenticity, Wilder instructed Von Stroheim and Nancy Olson to wear their own clothing.

The film was scored by Franz Waxman. His theme for Norma Desmond was based on tango music, inspired by her having danced the tango with Rudolph Valentino. This style was contrasted with Joe Gillis's bebop theme. Waxman also used distorted arrangements of popular film-music styles from the 1920s and 1930s to suggest Norma Desmond's state of mind. The film's soundtrack was released on compact disc for the first time in 2002.

The overstated decadence of Norma Desmond's home was created by set designer Hans Dreier, whose career extended back to the silent era. He had also been commissioned to complete the interior design for the homes of movie stars, including the house of Mae West. William Haines, an interior designer and former actor, later refuted criticism of Dreier's set design with the observation, "Bebe Daniels, Norma Shearer, and Pola Negri all had homes with ugly interiors like that."[13]

During filming, considerable publicity was given to health-conscious Gloria Swanson's youthful appearance, which did not contrast enough with William Holden's mature looks. Wilder insisted that the age difference be delineated, and instructed makeup supervisor Wally Westmore to make Swanson look older. Swanson argued that a woman of Norma Desmond's age, with her considerable wealth and devotion to self, would not necessarily look old, and suggested Holden be made up to appear younger. Wilder agreed, and Westmore was assigned this task, which allowed Swanson to portray Norma Desmond as more glamorous a figure than Wilder had originally imagined.[13]

Touches of authenticity

In dissecting Hollywood's "world of illusion," Wilder carefully placed the story within as authentic a setting as possible and made use of Hollywood history. Norma Desmond's name is believed to have been inspired by actor/director William Desmond Taylor, who was murdered in 1922, and his close associate and friend Mabel Normand, whose career was marred by scandals surrounding the murder.[13]

Swanson was considered a fitting representative of Hollywood's past, remembered nostalgically by older fans but unknown to many younger movie viewers. Her personal collection of photographs decorated the set of Norma Desmond's home, causing Desmond's fictional past to resemble Swanson's authentic career.[13]

The script/film refers to real films such as Gone with the Wind and real people such as Darryl F. Zanuck, D. W. Griffith, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, Tyrone Power, Alan Ladd, William Demarest, Adolphe Menjou, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Bánky, Mabel Normand, Bebe Daniels, Marie Prevost, Betty Hutton, Pearl White and Barbara Stanwyck along with the Black Dahlia murder case. Norma Desmond declares admiration for Greta Garbo.[3]

Wilder extended his Hollywood references into some of his casting choices. Erich von Stroheim was a leading director of the silent era. In the role of Max, he watches a film with Norma Desmond, and the briefly shown scene is from Queen Kelly (1929), which von Stroheim himself directed with Swanson in the title role. Cecil B. DeMille, often credited as the person most responsible for making Swanson a star, plays himself, and was filmed on the set of his current film Samson and Delilah at Paramount Studios. He calls Norma "young fella," as he had called Swanson, a tiny detail of authenticity suggested by DeMille.

Norma's friends who come to play bridge with her, described in the script as "the waxworks", are Swanson's contemporaries Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H. B. Warner, who, like DeMille, play themselves. Hedda Hopper also plays herself, reporting on Norma Desmond's downfall in the film's final scenes.[13]

In a comic scene, Norma Desmond performs a pantomime for Joe Gillis as a Mack Sennett Bathing Beauty, in homage to Swanson's earliest film roles. She also performs a Charlie Chaplin impersonation identical to one she performed in the film Manhandled (1924).

The bed in the shape of a swan that Norma Desmond slept in was actually owned by the dancer Gaby Deslys, who died in 1920. It had originally been bought by the Universal prop department at auction after Deslys's death. The bed appeared in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) starring Lon Chaney.

Wilder also made use of authentic locales. Joe Gillis's apartment is in the Alto Nido, a real apartment block in central Hollywood that was often populated by struggling writers. The scenes of Gillis and Betty Schaefer on Paramount's backlot were filmed on the actual backlot, and the interior of Schwab's Drug Store was carefully recreated for several scenes. The exterior scenes of the Desmond house were filmed at a house on Wilshire Blvd. built during the 1920s by the millionaire William O. Jenkins. Jenkins and his family lived in it for just one year, then left it abandoned for more than a decade, which earned it the nickname, The Phantom.[19] By 1949 it was owned by the former wife of J. Paul Getty. The house was later featured in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause. It was demolished by the Gettys in the early 1960s to allow construction of an office building .[20][21]

Previews and revision

Wilder and Brackett, nervous about a major screening in Hollywood, held a preview in Evanston, Illinois in late 1949. The original edit opened with a scene inside a morgue, with the assembled corpses discussing how they came to be there. The story began with the corpse of Joe Gillis recounting his murder to the others. The audience reacted with laughter and seemed unsure whether to view the rest of the film as drama or comedy. After a similar reaction during its second screening in Poughkeepsie, New York and a third in Great Neck, the morgue opening was replaced by a shorter poolside opening,[22] using footage filmed on January 5, 1950.[23]

In Hollywood, Paramount arranged a private screening for the various studio heads and specially invited guests. After viewing the film, Barbara Stanwyck knelt to kiss the hem of Gloria Swanson's skirt. Swanson later remembered looking for Mary Pickford, only to be told, "She can't show herself, Gloria. She's too overcome. We all are." Louis B. Mayer berated Wilder before the crowd of celebrities, saying, "You have disgraced the industry that made and fed you! You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!" Wilder's reply was both insulting and abrupt. Upon hearing of Mayer's slight, in characteristic fashion, Wilder strode up to the mogul and said "I am Mr. Wilder, and go fuck yourself!" Another source claims that he also said "Go shit in your hat!" The severity of Wilder's response was allegedly because Mayer, who was Jewish, suggested that Wilder, who was also Jewish, would be better off being sent back to Germany. Such a statement so soon after the war and the Holocaust, in which Wilder's family perished, marked the extraordinary depth of Mayer's tirade.[24][25] The few other criticisms were not so venomous. According to one often-told but recently discredited anecdote,[26] actress Mae Murray, a contemporary of Swanson's, was offended by the film and commented, "None of us floozies was that nuts."[27] The same quote, with the word "zonked" in place of "nuts", has also been attributed to actress-comedienne Marion Davies.

Premiere and promotion

Sunset Boulevard had its official world premiere at Radio City Music Hall on August 10, 1950.[1] After a seven-week run, Variety magazine reported the film had grossed "around $1,020,000", making it one of that theater's most successful pictures. Variety also noted that, while it was "breaking records in major cities, it is doing below average in ... the sticks." To promote the film, Gloria Swanson traveled by train throughout the United States, visiting 33 cities in a few months. The publicity helped attract people to the cinemas, but in many provincial areas it was considered less than a hit.[13]

Critical reception

Sunset Boulevard attracted a range of positive reviews from critics. Time described it as a story of "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best",[28] while Boxoffice Review wrote "the picture will keep spectators spellbound."[29] James Agee, writing for Sight and Sound, praised the film and said Wilder and Brackett were "beautifully equipped to do the cold, exact, adroit, sardonic job they have done." Good Housekeeping described Swanson as a "great lady [who] spans another decade with her magic,"[13] while Look praised her "brilliant and haunting performance."[28]

Some critics accurately foresaw the film's lasting appeal. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that future generations would "set themselves the task of analyzing the durability and greatness" of the film, while Commonweal said that in the future "the Library of Congress will be glad to have in its archives a print of Sunset Boulevard."[13]

The rare negative comments included those from The New Yorker, which described the film as "a pretentious slice of Roquefort," containing only "the germ of a good idea."[13] Thomas M. Pryor wrote for the New York Times that the plot device of using the dead Joe Gillis as narrator was "completely unworthy of Brackett and Wilder, but happily it does not interfere with the success of Sunset Boulevard."[30]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 98% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 56 reviews.[31]

23rd Academy Awards (Oscars) – 1951

Sunset Boulevard received 11 Academy Award nominations and won three Academy Awards.[32]

Award Result Nominee
Best Motion Picture Nominated Paramount (Charles Brackett, Producer)
Best Director Nominated Billy Wilder
Best Actor Nominated William Holden
Best Actress Nominated Gloria Swanson
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Won Charles Brackett, D. M. Marshman, Jr., Billy Wilder
Best Supporting Actor Nominated Erich von Stroheim
Best Supporting Actress Nominated Nancy Olson
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Black-and-White) Won Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Samuel M. Comer, Ray Moyer
Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) Nominated John F. Seitz
Best Film Editing Nominated Arthur Schmidt, Doane Harrison
Best Music (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Won Franz Waxman

Of the various films that have attracted nominations in all four acting categories, Sunset Boulevard is one of only three not to win in any category, the others being My Man Godfrey (1936) and American Hustle (2013). Its eleven Oscar nominations were exceeded only by the fourteen received by All About Eve, which won six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Many critics predicted that the Best Actress award would be given to Gloria Swanson or Bette Davis for All About Eve and were surprised that the recipient was newcomer Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday. Swanson recalled the press's reaction following Holliday's win: "It slowly dawned on me that they were asking for a larger-than-life scene, or better still, a mad scene. More accurately, they were trying to flush out Norma Desmond."[28]

In an interview years later, Davis bluntly stated that she and Swanson had "cancelled each other out,"[33] though in 1982 she told Playboy of her admiration for Swanson's performance, saying, "If she'd won, I'd have shouted hooray. She was sensational, just fantastic."[34]

Sunset Boulevard also received Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Motion Picture Actress (Swanson), Best Motion Picture Director and Best Motion Picture Score. Wilder and Brackett won a Writers Guild of America, East Award for Best Written American Drama, while the Directors Guild of America nominated Wilder for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. The National Board of Review voted it Best Picture, and Swanson received Best Actress.

American Film Institute recognition

Aftermath

The film earned an estimated $2,350,000 at the U.S. box office in 1950.[35]

Sunset Boulevard was the last collaboration between Wilder and Brackett. They parted amicably and respected their long-term partnership by not airing any grievance publicly. Their mutual respect and courteous integrity remained in force throughout the rest of their lives. In later years, Brackett confided in screenwriter/director Garson Kanin that he had not anticipated the split, or had ever understood exactly what happened or why. He described it as "an unexpected blow" from which he never recovered fully. When asked to respond to Brackett's comments, Wilder remained silent.[36]

The two men briefly reunited in October 1951 to face charges they had plagiarized Sunset Boulevard. Former Paramount accountant Stephanie Joan Carlson alleged that in 1947 she had submitted to Wilder and Brackett, at their request, manuscripts of stories, both fictional and based on fact, she had written about studio life. She claimed that one in particular, Past Performance, served as the basis for the Sunset script, and sued the screenwriters and Paramount for $100,000 in general damages, $250,000 in punitive damages, $700,000 based on the box office returns, and an additional $350,000 for good measure, for a total of $1,400,000. Carlson's suit was dismissed after two and a half years. In 1954, a similar suit was filed by playwright Edra Buckler, who claimed material she had written had been the screenplay's source. Her suit was dismissed the following year.[37]

Brackett's Hollywood career continued after his split with Wilder. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Titanic (1953), and wrote Niagara (1953), the breakthrough film for Marilyn Monroe as a dramatic actress. It was Wilder, however, who realized Monroe's comedic abilities in The Seven Year Itch and Some Like it Hot. Brackett's career waned by the end of the decade, though he did produce the critically praised and Oscar-nominated film The King and I (1956).

William Holden began receiving more important parts and his career rose. In 1953, he won the Best Actor Oscar for Stalag 17, also directed by Wilder, and by 1956 he was the top box-office attraction in the United States.

Nancy Olson's pairing with William Holden was considered a success, and she appeared opposite him in several films during the 1950s, although none of them repeated their earlier success. She went on to star in The Absent-Minded Professor (1960) and Son of Flubber (1961), in which she was paired with Fred MacMurray, but despite the films' popularity with movie-goers, her career stalled.

Similarly, Gloria Swanson was not able to leverage her own success in Sunset Boulevard. Although offered scripts, she felt that they all were poor imitations of Norma Desmond. Imagining a career that would eventually reduce her to playing "a parody of a parody," she virtually retired from films.[4]

Sunset Boulevard was shown again in New York City in 1960, and drew such a positive response that Paramount arranged for a limited rerelease in theaters throughout the United States.

Stature

In 1989 the film was among the first group of 25 deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[38]

Polls conducted by the American Film Institute have demonstrated the lasting appeal of Sunset Boulevard and the esteem in which it is held by the modern filmmakers who respond to these polls. In 1998, it was ranked number twelve on a list of "100 Greatest Films".[39] In 2004, two quotes from Sunset Boulevard were included in their poll of "Greatest Movie Quotes": "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" and "I am big, it's the pictures that got small!" at #7 and #24 respectively.[40] In 2005, Franz Waxman's score was named #16 of the top 25 film scores in the AFI's "100 Years of Film Scores" list.[41]

Roger Ebert has praised the acting of Holden and von Stroheim and has described Swanson's as "one of the all time greatest performances." He says Sunset Boulevard "remains the best drama ever made about the movies because it sees through the illusions."[42] Pauline Kael described the film as "almost too clever, but at its best in its cleverness,"[43] and also wrote that it was common to "hear Billy Wilder called the world's greatest director."[44] When Wilder died, obituaries singled out Sunset Boulevard for comment, describing it as one of his most significant works along with Double Indemnity (1944) and Some Like it Hot (1959).[45]

By the late 1990s, most Sunset Boulevard prints were in poor condition, and since the film was one of the last to be filmed on cellulose nitrate filmstock, much of the original negative had perished. Paramount Studios, believing the film merited the effort of a complete restoration, mounted an expensive project to have it digitally restored. The restored version was released on DVD in 2002.[46] A 2003 BBC review of the restored film described it as "the finest movie ever made about the narcissistic hellhole that is Hollywood."[11]

Other films about Hollywood

Hollywood had been making films about itself since the 1920s, such as What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Star Is Born (1937), and It's a Great Feeling (1949). Sunset Boulevard was soon followed by The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and the musical remake of A Star Is Born (1954).

Sunset Boulevard also was followed by other films which varied the story of an older actress desperately clinging to her past glory, such as Bette Davis in The Star (1952) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Joan Crawford in Torch Song (1953), Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Susan Hayward in Valley of the Dolls (1967) and Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest (1981). The scenario of an older woman with a gigolo was also used without the Hollywood setting in such films as Senso (1954) with Alida Valli and Farley Granger and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961), which starred Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty, while Katharine Hepburn's descent into madness in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) has been compared to Norma Desmond's final scene. The Day of the Locust (1975), The Last Tycoon (1976), and S.O.B. with William Holden and Julie Andrews (1981) depict Hollywood and, like Sunset Boulevard, make use of real backstage settings. Rainer Fassbinder's 1982 film Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss was set in the post-war German film industry, and detailed a similar tragic love affair between a doomed faded movie star and a younger reporter.

Films that discuss Sunset Boulevard in their screenplays or pay homage in scenes or dialogue are Soapdish (1991), The Player (1992), Gods and Monsters (1998), Mulholland Drive (2001),[13] Inland Empire (2006) and Be Cool (2005). The ending of Cecil B. Demented (2000) is a parody of Sunset Boulevard's final scene.

Holden and Wilder also rejoined forces in 1978 for Fedora, another film critical of Hollywood.

Television

Musical versions

Sunset Boulevard was adapted into a musical in 1993 with a book written by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It opened in London, later Los Angeles and then to Broadway starring Glenn Close as Norma Desmond. Other Norma's include Patti Lupone, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige and Diahann Carroll, who in the Canadian run of the musical became the first African-American actress to play the part in a major professional production.

Stapley and Hughes

From around 1952 to 1956, Gloria Swanson herself worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer/pianist Dickson Hughes on an adaptation titled Boulevard! (at first Starring Norma Desmond). Stapley and Hughes first approached Swanson about appearing in a musical revue they had written, About Time (based on Time). Swanson stated that she would return to the stage only in a musical version of her comeback film. Within a week, Stapley and Dickson had written three songs which Swanson approved.[48]

In this version, the romance between Gillis and Schaefer was allowed to blossom, and rather than shoot Gillis at the end, Norma gave the couple her blessing, sending them on their way to live "happily ever after."

Although Paramount gave verbal permission to proceed with the musical, there was no formal legal option. In the late 1950s, Paramount withdrew its consent, leading to the demise of the project.

In 1994, Dickson Hughes incorporated material from Boulevard! into a musical Swanson on Sunset, based on his and Stapley's experiences in writing Boulevard!.

Other failed attempts

Around 1980, Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince were working on a musical adaptation with Norma to be played by Angela Lansbury.[49]

Sondheim gave up the venture after meeting Billy Wilder, who proposed he write an opera instead of a musical. John Kander and Fred Ebb were asked to write it. Finally Andrew Lloyd Webber took the opportunity to create a musical.

Lloyd Webber and Black & Hampton

A musical titled Sunset Boulevard with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton was performed at the 1992 Sydmonton Festival, before opening in London the following year. It closely followed the film story, retained much of the dialogue and attempted to present similar set designs.

Title

The title of the film is commonly spelled Sunset Boulevard, as it was for the film's original theatrical trailer and the National Film Registry. However, since the film opens with a shot of a street curb which has a stencil of Sunset Blvd in capital letters (instead of a title sequence), the title is sometimes spelled "Sunset Blvd.", for instance by Leonard Maltin's Film Guide, the IMDb, and the registration with the Library of Congress.

Adaptations to other media

Sunset Boulevard was dramatized as an hour-long radio play on the September 17, 1951 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Gloria Swanson and William Holden in their original film roles.[50]

Digital restoration

In 2012, the film was digitally restored by Paramount Pictures for Blu-ray debut. Frame-by-frame digital restoration by Prasad Corporation removed dirt, tears, scratches and other defects.[51][52]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Staggs (2002), pp. 154-156
  2. ↑ "Isotta Fraschini Mod. 8 A". Museo dell'automobile di Torino.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Sunset Boulevard script. dated March 21, 1949, by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Perry, p. ??
  5. ↑ Kehr, Dave (March 11, 2010). "An Independent Woman, Nobly Suffering in Silents". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ Sikov, p. 286
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Swanson, p. ??
  8. ↑ Sikov, p. 285
  9. ↑ Billy Wilder – "About Film Noir. Interview July 1975. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  10. ↑ Sikov, p. 288
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Adrian Hennigan, "Exploring Sunset Boulevard". BBC, March 13, 2003. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  12. ↑ Sikov, pp. 288–289
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 Staggs (2002), p. ??
  14. ↑ Kirgo (1979), p.276.
  15. ↑ Theaters in the then-semi-rural Los Angeles suburb of Pomona were favored by Hollywood studios for sneak previews of newly completed films so that the responses of a "normal" American audience could be studied. The Pomona Fox Theater is an example.
  16. ↑ Corliss, p. 147
  17. ↑ Michael Wood, review of Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe, London Review of Books, March 2, 2000. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  18. ↑ "Soundtrack details: Sunset Blvd". SoundtrackCollector. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  19. ↑ 'Wilshire Phantom House Soon to be Only Memory", Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1957 (via Skyscraper)
  20. ↑ Sunset Boulevard film locations, The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations, 2013
  21. ↑ "The top houses from the movies". Daily Telegraph.
  22. ↑ Staggs (2002), pp. 151-152
  23. ↑ Production dates per the online AFI Catalog of Feature Films detailed listing
  24. ↑ Sikov, Ed (1999). On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder. Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8503-3.
  25. ↑ Eyman, Scott (2005). Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0481-6.
  26. ↑ Ankerich, Michael G. (2013). Mae Murray: the girl with the bee-stung lips (lack of capitalization sic per colophon), The University Press of Kentucky. According to Kevin Brownlow's foreword (page ix), the "rigorous work" of Ankerich "indicates that Murray never made this remark".
  27. ↑ Staggs (2002), pp. 161-163
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Wiley and Bona, p. ??
  29. ↑ Box Office Movie Review Review dated April 22, 1950. Retrieved July 21, 2005. Archived October 31, 2004 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ↑ Thomas M. Pryor, "The Screen: Inner Workings of Filmdom" (review of Sunset Boulevard), New York Times, August 11, 1950; excerpted in program notes, American Museum of the Moving Image, 2007. Archived by the Wayback Machine, September 28, 2007.
  31. ↑ Sunset Boulevard at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: March 5, 2013.
  32. ↑ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, award nominations for Sunset Boulevard. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  33. ↑ Hadleigh, p. ??
  34. ↑ Staggs (2001), p. ??
  35. ↑ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1950', Variety, January 3, 1951
  36. ↑ Sikov, pp. 305–306
  37. ↑ Sikov, pp. 310–311
  38. ↑ List of selected films 1989–2004. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  39. ↑ American Film Institute 100 Years, 100 Movies – America's Greatest Movies. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  40. ↑ American Film Institute 100 Years, 100 Stars – Greatest Film Quotes. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  41. ↑ "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores", AFI. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  42. ↑ Roger Ebert review June 27, 1999. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  43. ↑ Kael, s.v. Sunset Boulevard.
  44. ↑ Myrna Oliver. "Writer-Director Billy Wilder Dies", Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2002. Retrieved July 21, 2005.
  45. ↑ Anthony Breznican, "Oscar winning filmmaker Billy Wilder dies at 95" (Associated Press), Gettysburg Times, March 29, 2002. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  46. ↑ Robert A. Harris, "Saving Sunset", The Digital Bits, November 15, 2002. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  47. ↑ Staggs (2002), pp. 299–300.
  48. ↑ Based on liner notes to Boulevard! demo recording CD release, by Richard Stapley, Tim J Hutton and Steven M Warner
  49. ↑ Andrew Gans, "Diva talk: Chatting with Four-Time Tony Winner Angela Lansbury", Playbill, 3 November 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  50. ↑ Staggs (2002), p. 297
  51. ↑ "'Sunset Boulevard' digitally restored for its Blu-ray debut", November 5, 2012, by Susan King, Los Angeles Times
  52. ↑ prasadgroup.org, Digital Film Restoration

References

  • Corliss, Richard (1974). Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema, 1927-1973. Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-007-2
  • Hadleigh, Boze (1996). Bette Davis Speaks. Barricade Books. ISBN 1-56980-066-9.
  • Kael, Pauline (1982). 5001 Nights at the Movies. Zenith Books. ISBN 0-09-933550-6.
  • Kirgo, Julie (1979). "Sunset Boulevard". In Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward, eds, Film noir: An encyclopedic reference to the American style. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87951-055-2.
  • Perry, George & Andrew Lloyd Webber (1993). Sunset Boulevard, From Movie to Musical. Pavilion. ISBN 1-85793-208-0.
  • Sikov, Ed (1998). On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-6194-0.
  • Staggs, Sam (2001). All About "All About Eve". St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-27315-0.
  • Staggs, Sam (2002). Close-up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream. New York St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-27453-X.
  • Swanson, Gloria (1981). Swanson on Swanson, The Making of a Hollywood Legend. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-20496-0.
  • Wiley, Mason and Damien Bona (1987). Inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.

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