Sunset Boulevard (1950) Billy Wilder Review

Barry Germansky
Contributor
As the state of Hollywood worsens each passing year, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a scathing satire of the industry’s inner workings, only gets better.
When struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) pulls into the driveway of an apparently deserted mansion in order to escape a team of angry creditors, he is shocked to find it inhabited by a forgotten silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) and her butler Max (Erich von Stroheim).
Joe never really leaves this gothic setting, as he is seduced by Norma to write her comeback picture. The trouble is that Hollywood doesn’t want her back.
Adding extra bite to this satire is the fact that Swanson and von Stroheim were real washed-up silent film celebrities, but it doesn’t end there. Wilder also cast Buster Keaton and Cecil B. DeMille, two other prominent figures of the silent period. Keaton had already been given the cold shoulder by Hollywood when Sunset Boulevard was made, but DeMille, who thrived on the industry’s commercialism, was still as prominent as ever. It’s almost unimaginable that Wilder was able to get his hands on these legendary real-life personalities to lend further credibility
to his film.
William Holden is sublime as the justifiably cynical Joe Gillis, who is let down by the same system that neglects its old stars. Holden also manages to inject some guilt into Joe as he witnesses Norma destroy herself, preserving his character’s humanity.
As Norma, Swanson gives one of the top five greatest female performances in cinema history. Her character is a meticulous caricature of vanity and vulnerability, benefiting from an expressive demeanour naturally developed from working in silent movies. That neither Holden nor Swanson won Oscars for their performances is not just insane – it’s a travesty.
Wilder’s script, which he co-wrote with Charles Brackett, contains lines so great they’ve entered popular culture. Most of them, ironically, are uttered by Gloria Swanson: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” and the famous last line, “Alright, Mr. DeMille.
I’m ready for my close-up,” are probably familiar to viewers who haven’t seen Sunset Boulevard.
For classic satire, it doesn’t get any better than this.