I remember the first time I saw this movie. It starts out like a real film noir. Holden trying to outsmart the finance company boys. Car chases on Sunset Blvd. Wisecracks. Then, like Psycho, the star turns into a driveway with a creepy house and the movie goes in a totally different direction
I saw this first in my early 20's but had a deeper affection for it in my 40's. I thought Ms.Swanson was over the top and had never seen Bill Holden. What an immense surprise when the characters were superb, the writing so intense, and the marvelous Norma Desmond. I did actually hold my breath at the ending, but what a spectacular Film and this narration helping the viewer know things that weren't known before. Those were the days when Films set the bar high.
Watching this, reminds me that I'm SPOILED! I've seen many of the "best" from the last 80 years of Hollywood, BEFORE IT BECAME HOLLY WEIRD (and stupid). I knew about Gloria Swanson the and failed "epic" (used for the "historical film work" shown in Norma Desmond's showing rooms, from reading a book called "The Kennedy s". I also READ a written version of her "interview comments" about "I am NOT the person in the film! I am NOT a recluse! I have plenty of friends, I'm SEEN around town.." I just LOVED hearing here saying that out of her own mouth. Because of Sunset Blvd I kept an eye out for information about her, and INDEED I found out that she NEVER let the past "control" her in her later life. She was a CHAMPION! And LAST, I love the IRONY of having been a "silent" film star, in THIS FILM she was a "talkie" star, and she (in many ways) could "out act" many of the younger stars of the era! BRAVO GLORIA SWANSON your attitude on life was WONDERFUL!
The first thing I saw Nancy Olson in was "Flubber". She just seems so genuine. I've seen "Sunset Boulevard" twice. What a great movie. Billy Wilder was a genius. I don't think I've ever seen any of his movies that I didn't like. I'm glad William Holden was in it and not Montgomery Clift. Not a fan of his all.
Gloria Swanson had a fantastic profile...her nose is perfect!... ...but at the same time; the pouting mouth & the half closed eye lids...she looks like she's impersonating Mae Murray...
I have read she didn't have a chance. Oscars are not a meritocracy. She was very unpopular in Hollywood. Generally it is said that Bette Davis and Anne Baxter split the vote for All About Eve, so Judy Holliday won, a rare Oscar win for a comedic performance.
Wilder tried to recreate some of the magic he had w/ Holden again in a later film somewhat similar to Sunset (dealing w/ a famous aged reclusive star) but not so well received - FEDORA Holden does the same style narration he did in Sunset. Fedora is on youtube
This is a superb video. Thank you so much for posting this. Doesn’t get much more classic than this… William Holden is always brilliant, but Gloria Swanson I must say even having watched this as a young man was totally freaking hot. Hats off to everybody involved.
This just popped up on my computer this morning. What a fine job of commentary about the actors! And the music in the background. This should be on TV, if not already, for TCM maybe. I'm old now, but always thought that Gillis should have been attracted to a still beautiful Norma. Besides, he had nothing to lose other than his ego or perhaps his conscience.
I remember reading that Gloria Swanson never wanted to play a role as a mother, even mother of a small child. She said it made her feel "old" and unglamorous. It seems like Gloria kind of lived in a dream world of her own just like Norma. Even Garbo played the mother of a child twice--in "Love" and "Anna Karenina." And maybe 3 times. Garbo starred in "Conquest" with Charles Boyer who played Napoleon. Garbo played Napoleon's Polish mistress Marie Walewska and she may have had a child as a result of that. I have never really seen "Conquest". I've just read a little about it.
It's a good film for Garbo and more or less historically sound. Boyer is excellent as Napoleon. Walewska followed the Emperor to France after the Retreat from Moscow. I think she saw him once more, in the film it's a very dramatic scene. Maria had a son by Napoleon they named Alexander. I believe they settled in France and never returned to Poland..
It does, but originally the opening was for corpses in a morgue to tell how they came to be there. Preview audiences thought that was unintentionally hilarious, so they went for the dead man in the pool opening. Mirrors were used to capture Holden floating in it.
