Hitchcock is my favorite Hollywood director. battling for second place are Wilder & Altman. last week I saw Wilder's "Avanti" a late film which may have been his worst. to gargle away its taste last nite I saw one of his best "Sunset Blvd."
I don't know how many times I've seen this film but it never looses its allure. it's that perfect blend of script & art direction of casting & score. Swanson's Norma Desmond is such an indelible performance that it deserves its legendary status. I get lost in her face. Holden is so sexy he's lickable. but he's more than a hot body. he was a subtle sensitive actor whose naturalness balances Swanson's grand guinol performance. throw in Von Stroheim for more ghoul & a minute & a half of Keaton for comedy. mix all that up with those zingy lines & Franz Waxman's magnificent score.
because the movie has been around for 55 years it's accumulatd layers of meaning. & I suppose as with all great art there are universal layers & then those personal ones. as a cinemaddict I find the Hollywood levels irresistable. mentions of silent stars Marie Prevost & Wallace Reid & of star getaways Catalina & Palm Springs. Hedda Hopper playing herself. that mansion & pool being used again by Nick Ray for "Rebel Without a Cause." the car at the Paramount gate being referencd by David Lynch in "Mulholland Drive."
then there's a fascinating true crime connection. we first see Holden's character Joe Gillis in the Alto Nido Apartments. legend has it that Elizabeth Short once livd there. later in the film Gillis shows up at a party & is introducd as a "Black Dahlia suspect." the actor mouthing that line is Jack Webb who 8 years later wd write a book abt the LAPD calld "The Badge" which includes a discussion of the Short case. that book was a favorite of a young man by the name of James Ellroy who wd write a novel calld The Black Dahlia the manuscript of which I purchasd for Kent State University Libraries during my tenure as curator of Special Collections.
all these layers make the movie more & more fascinating to me. so it's a work of which I never tire.
3 comments:
I loved this post! Sunset Boulevard is one of those "I can watch it forever" films for me.
Moi
The whole time I was watching this, I was thinking about how it could be remade again, using a compelling drag queen in the role of Desmond, and the layers of meaning that would add to the script.
I did enjoy it, though—and who knew William Holden had a such a great bod under that camel hair coat? Foxy.
I haven't seen the stage musical but it looks as if Norma is being playd as a drag queen. the glory of Gloria is that she's believable. she's never truly a grotesque.
as for Holden he was one of the great beauties of his day. if you only know him from "Wild Bunch" or "Network" you've missd his hot period. try to watch "Picnic w/o drooling.
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