Sunset Blvd. at 70: Broken Dreams - 70th Anniversary Video | Movie Birthdays 

Gloria Swanson was insanely good in this movie.

My daughter is 31 years old now, when she was about eleven years old, I rented Sunset Boulevard, of course in black and white. When the movie started she shouted.. Oh Daddy this is some old movie it is even in black and white... Because she loved me, I was able to assure her and said give it a few minutes and lets see how it goes. When she sees Gloria Swanson up there in Sun Glasses saying to William Holden; "young man, come here" in that Hollywood elite old style accent... Well my daughter asked: "Gosh daddy who is that?" I got a chance to explain to her the long history of film and how the movie is a commentary on time , Hollywood, popularity and our lives itself. I never saw a young child so transfixed by a black and white movie while eating pizza. Since then all movies she has watched is now measured against the genius of Billy Wilder and the ability of actors and actresses to actually act and create mystery, drama, and take us into their world which is seriously and cleverly crafted. She also enjoyed me telling her about such types in the background as Eric Von Stroheim, Buster Keaton... My little girl, in one movie, by seeing quality became an instant and quite profound movie critic. Who knows what other powerful outcomes have happened due to this film. I think it is one of Hollywood's best movies, daring to take itself under study and showing it is much more than stars and tensil, but love, hate, drama, and tragedy in its deepest and most profound realities. Peace!!!

“I am big…it’s the pictures that got small “ what a line to a great movie 🎥🍿😊

God, haven’t seen this film in forever. That ending still gives me chills. Fantastic coverage as always, loving the channel

such a great film

I sometimes wonder if Rudolph Valentino would have survived the transition from silent to talkies. Of course, we will never know since he died tragically in 1926. Still, it would be interesting if he did survive and it was him cast in a film like this. R.I.P. Swason and Valentino. There’s still people who remember you both.

What a wonderful Movie! 💋

Wonderful exposition of this wonderful movie. Thank you! I'm in my late seventies which didn't make me a part of the first run audience though it did leave me appreciating Bill Holden and so Sunset Boulevard. That led to looking into the work of Gloria Swanson and Eric von Stroheim. "It's the pictures that got small," has never seemed so apropos.

This is a very superior analysis, a head and shoulders above the usual RU-vid video. You are right also about modern audiences ability to connect with older films generally. A great deal of rubbish is made in today’s cinema but that has always been the case. Cinema has always been a business first which is the reason that relatively few films become classics compared to the number that have been made. I do believe that there will always be people who appreciate great films from every era. As you rightly mentioned, Billy Wilder did eventually fall out of favour but he left behind an incredibly impressive body of work. Sunset Boulevard is an incredible film. I wish Gloria Swanson had won an Oscar for her performance but it doesn’t really matter, she was deeply invested in making this film. Gloria Swanson was not Norma Desmond but there were elements of her in the character, she had lived that period and she stars who had become like Norma. There was a slight cruelty in Wilder’s nature that showed in his work and gave it an edge, this was true in the “waxworks” scenes.

When you want to know all about movie technique - watch the Hitchcocks. When you want to know about people - watch a Billy Wilder movie.

Some Like It Hot!!! Fabulous! Marilyn! Sunset Blvd, a High Drama masterpiece! Gloria!

I know that this word gets used so much but Billy Wilder was a true genius.

Thank you. I love the picture, and it is not a criticism to say that it seems like a gothic vampie movie somewhat brought up to date. Such a basic story never becomes too old fashioned, they are always re-imagined.

Fantastic video, your points are absolutely spot on. The film is masterpiece on the hypocrisy of the legend and glamour of Hollywood, on how those in denial are clutching at straws and how the inevitable passing of time is being fought by those who wish to stay in their heyday. This hypocrisy is played out even further when Desmond visits the soundstage at Paramount and sees the aging extras, those who never had a chance of the limelight and are still working, the extras, the staff and ultimately Cecil B DeMille himself who represents the past glamour of Hollywood and still managed to hang in there through to the 50s. There is a line that has always resonated with me and that is near the end when Gillis tells Desmond; Norma, grow up. You're a woman of fifty. There's nothing tragic about being fifty - not unless you try to be twenty-five. Theoretically, he is right, but this is 1950s Hollywood and, according to the late Robert Evans referring to Ava Gardner, once you reached thirty five, it was over. Injustice and cruel, the theme of ageism is still hanging over the film industry and sadly has still not been overtly addressed. Sure there has been a change, with an ageing population there are films now cater towards them, but the theme is still there. Pretty serendipitous that you included a clip of Mulholland Drive, a film that started off as a TV pilot and, according to some, was put on ice due, in part, to the age of the two female leads (absolutely bonkers if you ask me)

Mrs Swanson managed to meld together the mystery and drama of the silent movie age to the very different modern age of movies as they were in 1950 at the end of the studio system which now seems passe and old fashioned.

The movie set where norma came to meet demille is actual set of samson and delilah

one of my all time favorite movies by one of my all time favorite directors. Carol Burnett used to do a wonderful parody of Norma Desmond. There's something unmistakable about a Wilder movie. They certainly don't make movies like that anymore, such a pity.

my all time favourite

OMG why now that i found your channel Please never stop making videos

You keep mispronouncing DeMille's first name. It's SESS-ul, not SEE-cill.

I was 10 y old in 1961 and my cousin living in NY and her friends who were in NYU took me to see the 10th anniversary of the film In an Art House. It is one of the top 25 films and of course the poet and genius writer/director Billy Wilder. All his films are great

The sheer PERFECTION of this movie! Best lesson in film writing + film making ever. And in film history as well, of course. Human nature had definitely no secret for Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett.

Billy Wilder, the template for guys like Kubrick and Soderbergh. Great vid.

Excellent summary of one of the greatest movies ever made. I've watched it a hundred times and I'd watch it another hundred. Ultimately it is a very sad story but one which is also incredibly profound and uplifting. It isn't remotely sentimental or mawkish or depressing. The melodrama is spine-tingling, captivating and compelling. There is nothing downbeat, pretentious or insincere. The word masterpiece is overused but it is entirely apt here. x

My favorite movie!

Wilder made The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Avanti later on, both very good imo 🤔☺️👍

Billy wilder was fifty when he did sunset boulevard he lived to be around a hundred

Tk you Is there one on the apartment as well?

Arnie became jack Webb a police drama producer

This presentation was a complete pleasure to watch...excellent editing meets clear and concise commentary... You've got my full attention.... Subscribing immediately...

Thanks, MB, for an interesting and thought provoking video essay. I've enjoyed the famous line "It's the pictures that got small!" many times without giving it a second thought. But your comment -- that our screens are literally getting smaller, along with our attention spans -- snapped this cliché into sharp focus for me. Amidst a plague of handheld devices and inane Twitter feeds everywhere: What tiny fraction of the great films are being properly viewed, as intended, on the silver screen nowadays? It's enough to make one weep for what has been lost. There may be more to the "Mad about the Boy" note in the solid gold cigarette case than its echo of a Noel Coward tune (11:59). First, please accept that nothing happens in a Wilder & Diamond film by accident or by luck -- notwithstanding BW's "typische Wiener Ironie" (4:38). Specifically, consider the jocular query at the house party: "Who'd you borrow that from? Adolphe Menjou?" (8:25) Mindful of the 1939 minor screen classic "Golden Boy", starring -- wait for it -- Barbara Stanwyck, Bill Holden and Adolphe Menjou, it's possible that Gillis' "Close, but no cigar" wise-crack ought to be taken as a similarly ironical "Bull's eye!" reply.

Really marvelous -- thank you! Everytime somebody does another essay on this movie new insights are brought out. You give it both a long and close-up view. It is interesting how long the classics are keeping their luster, isn't it -- and which ones don't. In Sunset Boulevard we all glimpse our own failures of purpose and principle. Every time I watch it I hopelessly hope Gillis won't invite murder by dumping Norma so callously -- but kindness isn't the quality you think of first when it comes to the movie business.

Fantastic, keep up with the great work. thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your "Take" on Sunset Boulevard. It is just Excellent.

Never seen this film but a very informative video, enjoyed it cheers.

Nice critique!

Absolutely brilliant! Your commentary was concise and superb. You really got to the heart of this production and the spot on comparisons of film and Hollywood today. This type of picture will never be made again. Today's filmmakers can't capture it, and the audiences with their smaller screens and shorter attention spans can't appreciate it. The drek made today isn't art.

Billy Wilder: genius, brilliant. Okay- I adore him.

Favorite video on my fav movie

Now Broadway has turned it into a piece of CRAP!

Hollywood of the 21st century IS Norma Desmond. Going... going...

Bravo!👏

Excellent review.

10:31 Is that Ann Miller making a quick cameo?

Love your content, great as always! Keep it up!

Trump is Norma Desmond, aging, has-been, waving at people that are not there! This anniversary is timely! GRIN

This channel has really great reviews, and the speaker voice is cool.

Great video. Thanks for all the effort it took to string this together!