Sunset Boulevard (1950) | |
| Director(s) | Billy Wilder |
| Producer(s) | Charles Brackett |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Noir |
| Top Topics | Fame |
Featured Cast:
Sunset Boulevard Overview:
Sunset Boulevard (1950) was a Drama - Film Noir Film directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Charles Brackett.
SYNOPSIS
Wilder's acid-etched portrait of Hollywood must be placed at the top of any classic-movie fan's required-viewing list. From the macabre opening scene, which establishes the film's narrator as a dead man, through Swanson's final, sweeping exit, there is not a frame or line out of place. B-movie screenwriter Holden floats facedown in a pool as he begins the story of his demise. Ditching his about-to-be-repossessed car in a Hollywood mansion's driveway, Holden wanders the premises until he's mistaken for the undertaker meant to preside at a funeral for aging silent-film queen Swanson's pet monkey. When she discovers that Holden is instead a screenwriter, Swanson envelops him in a web of gifts, flattery, money, and curiosity that makes Holden the monkey's stand-in. Holden continues to feed Swanson's delusions, aided by her faithful butler-former director-former husband von Stroheim, until he can't find a way out - even when studio script reader Olson offers him her heart and help with a screenplay. Out of many resonant moments, the highlights include the weekly card game with silent-era stars Keaton, Anna O. Nilsson, and H. B. Warner; Swanson's viewings of her own performance in Queen Kelly, a disastrous silent picture actually directed by von Stroheim; and Swanson's slow march down the grand staircase, fully lost in her past, as her eloquent face portrays all the elation and fear that lead to the film's last line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up now."
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.Sunset Boulevard was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1989.
Academy Awards 1950 --- Ceremony Number 23 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actor | William Holden | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | Erich von Stroheim | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Gloria Swanson | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actress | Nancy Olson | Nominated |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Hans Dreier, John Meehan; Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Ray Moyer | Won |
| Best Cinematography | John F. Seitz | Nominated |
| Best Director | Billy Wilder | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Arthur Schmidt, Doane Harrison | Nominated |
| Best Music - Scoring | Franz Waxman | Won |
| Best Picture | Paramount | Nominated |
| Best Writing | Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D. M. Marshman, Jr. | Won |
BlogHub Articles:
William Holden and Gloria Swanson are prisoners of Sunset Boulevard
By Stephen Reginald on Nov 7, 2023 From Classic Movie ManWilliam Holden and Gloria Swanson are prisoners of Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard (1950) is an American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, and Eric von Stroheim. The screenplay was written by Charles Brackett, Wilder, and D. M. Marshman Jr. The su... Read full article
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 15, 2018 From The Stop ButtonThe third act of Sunset Boulevard just gets darker and darker. The film digs down into one level, then finds another, then another, then maybe even another. Director Wilder and co-writers Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr. find a way to fully condemn the film?s setting?Hollywood, with Paramount ... Read full article
Win Tickets to see “TCM Big Screen Classics: Sunset Boulevard” (Giveaway runs through April 28)
By Aurora Bugallo on Apr 6, 2018 From Classic Movie Hub BlogWin tickets to see “Sunset Boulevard” on the big screen! In Select Cinemas Nationwide Sun May 13 and Wed May 16! “They took the idols and smashed them, the Fairbankses, the Gilberts, the Valentinos! And who’ve we got now? Some nobodies!” CMH continues into our?3rd year ... Read full article
1001 Classic Movies: Sunset Boulevard
By Amanda Garrett on Jan 16, 2017 From Old Hollywood FilmsSunset Boulevard (1950), starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, and Erich von Stroheim, is one of the 1001 classic movies you should see. Each Monday, I'm going to recommend a classic movie you should see (for the reasons behind the 1001 series and reviews of earlier films covered go here). Jan... Read full article
Sunset Boulevard: But What about the Monkey?
By FlickChick on Sep 9, 2016 From A Person in the DarkNo, I don't think he committed suicide..... I can’t help it. I want to know more about Norma Desmond’s monkey. Monkey, we hardly knew you..... Oh sure, we know he’s dead, and that he serves as the plot device to get Joe Gillis into Norma’s cage, but, really, who was he?... Read full article
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Quotes from
Norma Desmond: It's not true! Max!
Max Von Mayerling: Madame is the greatest star of them all.
Norma Desmond: Don't be silly.
[hands Joe a present]
Norma Desmond: Here, I was going to give it to you at midnight.
Joe Gillis: Norma, I can't take it, you've bought me enough.
Norma Desmond: Shut up, I'm rich! I'm richer than all this new Hollywood trash! I've got a million dollars.
Joe Gillis: Keep it.
Norma Desmond: Own three blocks downtown, I've got oil in Bakersfield, pumping, *pumping*, pumping! What's it for but to buy us anything we want!
Joe Gillis: Cut out that "us" business!
Norma Desmond: What's the matter with you?
Joe Gillis: What right do you have to take me for granted?
Norma Desmond: What right? Do you want me to tell you?
Joe Gillis: Has it ever occurred to you that I may have a life of my own? That there may be some girl I'm crazy about?
Norma Desmond: Who? Some car hop, or dress extra?
Joe Gillis: What I'm trying to say is that I'm all wrong for you. You want a Valentino, somebody with polo ponies, a big shot!
Norma Desmond: What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you. Say it. Say it!
[slaps him hard across the face]
Norma Desmond: My astrologist has read my horoscope, he's read DeMille's horoscope.
Joe Gillis: Has he read the script?
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Facts about
Highly unusual at the time, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder had Joe Gillis narrate, from beyond the grave, the sad tale of the final months of his life, while the film simultaneously depicts the still-living Gillis experiencing those events unaware of the fate his dead self already knows. This parallel narrative - two perspectives from the same character, one omniscient, the other blissfully ignorant - that converge at the moment of Joe's death, are a major reason the film retains such dramatic and emotional power.
Eugene Walter was a prolific Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. 1851 Ivar Street was the address of the Alto Nido Apartments, where Walter lived, sometimes worked, and, ultimately died in 1941. As Sunset Blvd. opens, William Holden's character Joe Gillis describes himself as a Hollywood screenwriter "living in an apartment house above Ivar Street." As the camera cranes up into the apartment, we can see it's the Alto Nido. The apartments, and the "Alto Nido" sign out front that is glimpsed briefly in the film, are still there today.
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