The line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" is the most famous line from this picture, but what precedes it deserves more recognition. "It's just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark" sums up Hollywood movie making. The double meaning "in the dark" refers not only to the audience sitting in a darkened movie theater, but also to the ignorance of the those who are in the dark about what a destructive place Hollywood can be.
Plus what DeMille said after Norma came to see him "A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit." That is another red flag regarding Hollywood and all its evils. Especially now with social media that line is more real than ever.
Gloria Swanson wanted to descend the staircase without looking down at her feet. To do this she came down the staircase without shoes in order to be able “feel” the steps. This, of course, added to the drama of the last scene. The director would only allow the scene to take place if Ms. Swanson could be prevented from injury in case she missed a step or lost her balance. For this reason she agreed to have several men strategically placed on the staircase acting as “photographers “ to catch Ms Swanson in case she slipped.
She was only 49 when this film was shot and she lived to be 84. She wasn't going to fall down a flight of stairs. The cameramen are on the stairs were placed there for dramatic and cinematic effect.
fosbury68 sorry, but you are incorrect. Coming down the staircase had nothing to do with her age. In her autobiography, Gloria Swanson stated that she wanted to do the scene barefooted so she could feel the steps and would be able to keep her head up while descending the stairs for dramatic affect. The directors would only allow Miss Swanson to do that if there were some safeguards in the event she tripped or missed a step. Hence, the reporters on the steps were not for dramatic affect, but to prevent a possible accident.
In 1966, I was attending the Hull House Film Festival in Chicago, standing in a lobby packed with people. Suddenly, a "hole" in the hubbub opened in one corner of the room and magically spread outward. It was followed by an eruption of applause, as tiny Gloria Swanson made her way through the throng. And it was at THAT moment that I understood what "star quality" really was!
" I ready for my close-up." It is a final bitter and heart beaking irony of the film- (and so brilliantly realized by director Wyler)- that as she moves in for her final closeup, the focus dissolves into nothingness. She is robbed of even that small token of success; she is denied her close-up.
One of the great closing scenes of cinematic history, from a brilliant movie that showed how the make-believe world of Hollywood could swallow its stars whole. Gloria Swanson is brilliant here -- alternatively creepy, pathetic, and heartbreaking. Thanks for posting this.
One of the greatest depictions of a descent into insanity in Hollywood history. Brilliant acting by von Stroheim too. Look at his face and the gulps in his throat when he isn't saying anything. The heartbreak! And then there's Franz Waxman's music as she comes down the stairs: typical 50's exotic music for a "Salome" epic DeMille might have made, wrenched apart by dissonant chords. Everything's perfect.
Interestingly, Wilder doesn't grant Norma her close up, instead he blurs the image just before. Sunset Blvd is a film that at every aspect is completely satisfying. We can question what is the fate of Norma, Max, and Betty after the events in the film, but because it ends so satisfyingly with an incredible final line, the questions disappear and we are left in the dark, contemplating how unfathomably amazing this film is. It ends as if it were destiny and as the opening implies... it was.
@@edwardlynch4060 And, tragically, despite the Oscar nomination for her amazing performance, Swanson thereafter was typecast and never had another good role offered, and her career sunk.
They're there because people were worried she'd fall down the stairs as she descends barefoot without looking down or holding the railing. Gloria wanted barefoot and the studio didn't. This was their compromise.
@@Grimlock-ry8fgThey are there because the shocked cooperation of the cynical newspapermen with Norma’s fantasy adds another layer of depth to this astonishing scene.
absolutely I've been thinking for 10 years that he won the Oscar, it was yesterday when I found out that he didn't.If at least I had lost it against bette davis I would understand
I agree, Waxman really outdid himself, love Norma's exotic tango theme, Joe Gillis' jazzy bebop theme, and how he quotes elements from the Strauss opera "Salome" (mainly the flute trill) to insinuate madness, just as Strauss had.
I saw this movie, with my parents, in as a very small child a classic theater in Connecticut. … GIANT screen, dark room. … That final scene, the building intense music, and the eyes, facial expressions of Norma totally stunned me. … I was terrified. … Just watching this clip can speed up my pulse, more than half a century later. … Amazing how a short sequence can leave such a devastating scar. … Compelling and spectacular cinematography. … Astonishing that Ms. Swanson did not win and academy award.
@@danawinsor1380 @Giselle Gazda It was the only point in the film that Max referred to her as 'Norma', rather than 'Madam', & I think that says something,
He deserves some credit here. He realizes the only way to get her down the stairs is to play into her fantasy. He shines all the lights and cameras on her and says "action". And then he looks so sad as she's coming down the stairs, because he knows she's just crazy and it's the last time she'll get to play. He's quite good.
muggedinmadrid Beguilingly theatrical & overdone, if you wish to experience a woman decking into mental cardiac arrest, l submit to to DeHavilland in Snake Pit Gena Rowland's under the influence, Ullman in Face to Face & heartbreakingly beautiful Marisa Berenson in Barry Lyndon. Bette Davis towered head & shoulders above the others & she should won..Anne Baxter or not
@@jeffreysuggs2799 Anne Baxter didn't rob Bette Davis of the Oscar, though; Miss Baxter won for Best Supporting Actress. As for your preference of other actresses portraying "drscrmt into madness,"in the (very good) examples you cited (I'll throw in Vivien Leigh as Blanch Dubois, for that matter), only Gloria Swanson was playing a former diva of the silent screen. And I think Miss Swanson's performance ranks right up there with the other great examples you cited.
This scene, the actors and directors will be remembered as part of movie history forever, it's in the psyche of popular culture and even today people still make references to it.
Is there anything more trite, more dismissable than a jerk like you? The consolation one gets for your childish intrusion on a great moment in film is the knowledge that this stark failure of empathy that you proudly evidence here is something anyone unfortunate enough to have to know you has to deal with when ever you're a round...
eoselan7... i think you might be taking the comment a little too seriously... from someone who has done that in the past, it is okay to laugh and be silly.
Probably the best ending scene to a movie in the history of film. I could watch Swanson's "Mr. DeMille" delivery 100 times in a row and still get the chills every single time.
Franz Waxman's score absolutely sells this last scene. It's the emotional punch needed for such mellodrama. Wilder knew it as well. Waxman's score is one of the finest in cinema history.
The glamour of Hollywood turned RANCID...Director Billy Wilder said people like Louie B Mayer did not appreciate his befouling the nest so to speak and wanted to run Wilder out of town on a rail after the tar and feathering....BRILLIANT cinematography from first to last shot; casting (Mary Pickford and Mae West were both considered or approached) Gloria Swanson is superb and ironically she was one one of the most level headed women in Tinsel Town; William Holden mixed his all American nice guy charm with cheap oiliness and of course Von Stroheim was superb casting as well (the idea that he directed Swanson in an unfinished silent epic in real-life gives the film an added layer...CB DeMille who directed Swanson in many a modern marriage epic in the '20's gives the film another layer..Franz Waxman's score is one of his best- going from poignant to complete madness mixing in "Paramount on Parade" and his variations on "Salome" type music for the descent down the stairs into complete madness as she comes at us like Dracula's Daughter with claws outstretched! A TRUE CLASSIC
+Michelle Barajas Thanks for the kind words... At one time I wanted to be a film historian/ writer like William K Everson, Carlos Clarens, etc Trying to "paint" with words...
Thank you for the praise! I went for r check up last month and was struck by how the doctor ( Dr D Tavady) resembled director Billy Wilder...I mentioned this to him and he said "director of SOME LIKE IT HOT?" So the moral of this is: there is a bit of film buff in ALL OF US...
It was Louie B. Mayer who told Garbo to leave Metro when he was done with her. She had fulfilled her purpose until she was no longer a viable money maker for the studio. Mayer was probably feeling guilty while viewing Sunset Blvd.
As Norma Desmond descends the staircase into madness, she mentions 'Salome' in her speech at the bottom. The music for that sequence was adapted from the opera 'Salome'. It is a heartbreaking film. "All right, Mr. DeMille. I am ready for my close-up."
It's so brilliantly unsettling how she breaks the fourth wall by looking directly at the camera when she says, "...and those wonderful people out there in the dark."
Genius. She goes from sweet to brokenhearted, hopeful to hopeless, chilling to dangerous. In literally a paragraph. One of the best movies of all time for sure
02:35 how ironic, Norma Desmond wanted to get back to being a successful actress after her downfall from the era of silent films and unfortunately descended to madness, but the real life actress, Gloria Swanson, actually found success again with this role, after a period in which she could not repeat her past success in the era of spoken films. She eventually got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for this whole, and entered history with her unforgettable quotes, like this one, and the one that I think is one of the most accurate quotes ever produced: "I am big, it's the pictures that got small". Indeed! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
There is a reason this is in my top 25 films of all time. Genius directing from the great Billy Wilder. Genius performance from Gloria Swanson. Genius script. From the incredible opening to this unforgettable ending Sunset Boulevard is a cinematic masterpiece. I cannot praise the film enough.
The greatest final scene of any film, rivalled only slightly but the final image of another exceptionally brilliant film of that year, All About Eve. What a year 1950 was.
I've watched this movie about 30 times since I was a kid and I always find something new in it. Everyone and everything about this movie is pure genius, it' in the psyche of popular culture, you'll notice references to everywhere.
Gloria Swanson is so charismatic she makes insanity magnetic. One gets the sense that she tore something from her raw guts and distilled it into Norma Desmond. Although she didn't write her role, she snatched it off the page, took possession of it, and in the process forged an archetype. There is Cassandra. And then there is Norma Desmond.
My favorite actress and movie star of all time, Gloria Swanson. I love the ending scene where she is walking toward the camera before the fade, my favorite movie ending.
As soon as Norma approaches to the camera, she is like then changing into the Paramount logo. She took a one-way ticket into the portal of fantasy world. Great stuff by Billy Wilder.
Gloria Swanson did more in that short scene that many of today's actors can do over a lifetime of movie-making! She is thoroughly, and frighteningly, convincing!
For the last 35 years since I first was fortunate enough to see this movie in a real movie theatre , it has been my favorite film . I felt it had everything ..... great acting , script , murder , pathos and everything in between. . I loved the real silent stars as her waxwork friends , the use of Cecil De Mille as himself which made the movie even more real . And Swanson nailed the performance . I never tire of her perfect brilliance in portraying a deluded star but still living in her fame from yesteryear . A perfectly done masterpiece .
Just watched this movie for the first time in 2021. I was blown away, and got such chills at this scene. I was also surprised how many lines I had heard referenced in other media but never recognized. I’m ready for my close-up, Mister Demille…
I'm an amateur singer, and in some of my performances I say, "I'm here for all of you wonderful people out there in the dark," then turn to my pianist and say, "I'm ready for my song, Dan." I get you Norma, I get you.
FAVOURITE FILM EVER. the way the music stops at the end... speechless so many quotes: "I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small!" "maybe one...Garbo.." "All right, Mr. DeMille.. I'm ready for my close-up" "No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star!" "I hate that word. It's a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen!" just to name a few..
Hey, now I agree movies were way better back then, but the 2010s has given us A Separation, Boyhood, 12 Years A Slave, Black Swan, etc and those are amazing films IMO.
I think Hollywoods actors and directors of this time had a relationship to theater ... in this scene with Swanson you can feel the influence of this... very strong - today you just have special effects ...
As @DerekMathis said down below: for me, the saddest part of the scene is the cutaway to the top of the stairs. For those not in the know, the blonde woman in the hat is Hedda Hopper, the most legendary gossip columnist of her age, playing herself in a cameo. Hopper was BRUTAL in her column--she took people down without a second thought. Scandal, intrigue, murder...that was her bread and butter, and she didn't care who she hurt with her stories. And yet for all that, even she's heartbroken by the sight in front of her: a broken woman collapsing into insanity. That flash of humanity from Hedda elevates the scene: if Hollywood's most notorious gossip is shedding tears of pity, then you have pure tragedy on your hands. This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time...
Billy Wilder was a genius with a body of work from Sunset Blvd to Some Like It Hot to The Apartment et al. A genius who worked with Swanson, Dietrich, Monroe, Lemmon, Stanwyck, Cagney, Hepburn, Holden, Novak, MacLaine, Jean Arthur Double Indemnity, A Foreign Affair, Stalag 17, Fedora, et al, I think Sunset Blvd and Some Like It Hot are his two greatest films. Ms. Swanson was beyond perfect in this movie and MM was heavenly in Some Like It Hot, neither won the Oscar, MM wasnt even nominated!
"This is my life and it always will be. There's nothing else!! Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark"..... So many actors and actresses succumbed to the price of fame with their own life. And still reflects the life and death in Hollywood nowadays.
Yes. Even all that money she had and that huge mansion, Desmond was still profoundly unhappy. The only thing that fulfilled her was working and be wanted. A commentary that money can’t buy happiness.
love how "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" satirized the golden era of Hollywood...the floor show scene of the movie, with the RKO radio tower in the background.
And let's not forget Von Stroheim's magnificent contribution to this scene. The heartbreaking look of love on his face as he stoically arranges the fake "directing" of the scene. And on top of that his assuming his role after so many years as a great director. A brilliant performance in an extroadinary scene.
1:48 The woman in this shot is Hedda Hopper, a notoriously ruthless gossip columnist of the time, playing herself. That she's crying here, at Norma's madness, would have said something profound to those audiences in the know.
