Sunset Boulevard (1950): The classic film noir is still a powerful commentary on the dark side of Hollywood

Chad’s Grade: A

Billy Wilder was one of the most fascinating directors in Hollywood history. The quirky and provocative writer/director has an eclectic filmography that pushed the boundaries of the restrictive censor codes of the time. And the variety of genres he worked on is astonishing. He’s done romantic comedy (Sabrina), film-noir (Double Indemnity), war film (Stalag 17), screwball comedy (Some Like it Hot), and helped invent the dramedy with the witty and brilliant The Apartment. It’s hard to believe that many screen classics came from the same brain.

But there is one more classic film that can be added to that already impressive list, and many critics consider this his magnum opus. Working with co-writers Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr., Wilder took an honest look at his home industry, skewering the studio system to devastating effect with Sunset Boulevard. The film noir follows Joe Gillis, a failed B-movie screenwriter who gets ensnared by the crazed Norma Desmond, a forgotten starlet from the silent era still clinging to a career that has long passed her by. It’s a bitter and unsparing reflection of the harsh treatment of the aging star system, focusing on the dark side of the mythical Hollywood dream.

And Sunset Boulevard features one of the best stunt castings in film history. The part of Norma Desmond, that desperate star of the silent era, was tailor-made for a former silent film actress. Wilder originally wanted Mae West, with Montgomery Clift playing Joe Gillis, but West wanted script approval, and Clift was nervous playing such a morally grey character. Wilder looked at dozens of actresses from the 1920s, approaching such names as Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Norma Shearer, and Greta Garbo.

Wilder eventually settled on Gloria Swanson, one of the great beauties of the silent era who had enjoyed a robust career. Despite having a perfectly fine-speaking voice, Swanson decided to retire after the transition to sound, feeling it best to leave her screen success untarnished. But Wilder’s strong, sharp script coaxed Swanson back to play the meaty role. Wilder also secured Erich Von Stroheim, the Austrian silent actor/director who directed the controversial Greed in 1924, to play Norma’s imposing manservant Max. The notoriously difficult director and Swanson were an item during their 1920’s heyday, and it’s a relationship that brilliantly plays into the “art imitates life” subtext of Sunset Boulevard.

The plot of Sunset Boulevard follows Joe Gillis, a failed screenwriter under a mountain of debt, deftly avoiding creditors trying to repossess his car. When the creditors spot Joe in his vehicle, a chase ensues, with Joe pulling into the driveway of a large, decaying Hollywood mansion. There he meets the alluring but crazed Norma Desmond, a former silent film star who still clings to her long-forgotten career. Despite her immense wealth, Norma lives a sad but sordid life with her strange house servant Max. But she takes a shine to Joe and hires the desperate writer to adapt the biblical Salome as a comeback vehicle for “DeMille to direct.”

Joe reluctantly agrees as he has no other good options. Soon he becomes Norma’s “kept” man (and the film heavily implies that their relationship turns sexual). But complications ensue when Joe meets Betty Schaefer, a fellow screenwriter and the fiancé of his best friend, Artie Green. Betty convinces Joe to rework and co-write one of his old screenplays in the hopes of reviving his stalled career. And Joe discovers that he’s a much better writer with Betty and falls in love with her, setting him on a collision course with the mad ravings of Norma Desmond. One with tragic and deadly consequences. 

It’s interesting that Sunset Boulevard is considered a film noir, as there are no morally compromised police, gangsters, or corrupt politicians in sight. The film plays like a chamber piece that uses a small cast of characters with a bizarre tone that recalls the classic Twilight Zone tv series, especially when Joe encounters Norma in her creepy mansion. And the 1950 black & white film has a remarkable modern sensibility and style, with a brisk pace that keeps the twist and turns coming. If you have any friends who hate “old” black and white movies, this is the one that might change their minds.

And the film noir has one of the great screenplays of all time, full of crafty movie dialogue that has been endlessly parodied in the pop culture lexicon. Who hasn’t quoted, “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille,” or my personal favorite, “I am big; it’s the pictures that got small.” Director Wilder, who started as a screenwriter, enjoys ribbing his chosen profession with intimate detail. This is one of the rare Hollywood productions that explore the life of a screenwriter and how they’re treated by the studio system. Most audiences forget that film starts with a script, and Joe and Betty are the standard bearers for those crazy dreamers constantly hustling, trying to make their ideas tangible.

But Sunset Boulevard wouldn’t be the classic without the grand dame performance of Gloria Swanson, who, much like Norma Desmond, had faded from the spotlight. Swanson uses her silent film background to great effect, with melodramatic gestures and facial tics as a window into Norma’s demented state of mind. Watch how Norma’s bandaged hands coil around Joe like a spider after the New Year’s Eve party. Her performance is a perfect blend of camp and tragedy, but Swanson allows her beauty and natural charisma to shine through in critical moments, allowing audiences to accept that Joe would be attracted to this sad figure.

Swanson was perfectly paired with William Holden as Joe, who was enjoying a career resurgence in the 1950s. Holden was one of Wilder’s favorite leading men, and he gives one of his great screen performances as the cynical and downtrodden screenwriter. Holden brings much-needed sardonic wit to this morally grey character, and watching his beaten-down pessimism blossom to hopeful optimism as he works with Betty makes the ending all the more tragic.

The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, with Nancy Olson as the appealing Betty, whose screenwriting ambition intermingles with her romance with Joe. And the imposing Erich Von Stroheim makes for a creepy Max, but once you learn his tragic backstory, it makes his stunt casting even more effective. In fact, Wilder fills Sunset Boulevard with real-life Hollywood legends, giving Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, and H.B. Warner cameos during Norma’s “waxworks” card game. Even legendary director Cecil B. DeMille plays himself, greeting Norma as she makes her dramatic return to Paramount Studios. All these little details give the film an air of authenticity to this dark and critical gaze at the Hollywood dream factory.

This is one of those near-perfect films where I can’t find any flaws. Its influence on the film industry is immense, with many parodies and memes, and it was even skewered on an episode of The Simpsons. Sunset Boulevard’s success would inspire many other pictures that explored Hollywood’s dark side, such as All About Eve, The Bad & the Beautiful, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Even The Player in 1992 featured many homages to the classic film noir, adding a clever layer to Robert Altman’s razor-sharp satire of the modern film industry. And the upcoming Babylon, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, looks to be a wild exploration of the seismic changes to the industry with the arrival of the talkies in 1927.

SUNSET BOULEVARD: THE STAGE MUSICAL

Andrew Lloyd Webber, the famed composer of Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, produced a glitzy musical adaption of Sunset Boulevard. The original production debuted in 1993 at London’s West End, with Patti Lupone as Norma and Kevin Anderson as Joe Gillis. The stage musical then moved to Los Angeles the following year, with Glenn Close playing the part of Norma to great acclaim. Eventually, Glenn Close took her powerhouse performance to Broadway (a move that caused the legendary feud between Patti Lupone and Lloyd Webber that lasts until this day), where she won the Tony Award for Best Actress.

The musical adaption received the blessing from director Billy Wilder and surviving co-star Nancy Olson. It’s actually a good adaption of the classic film, keeping the story’s dark elements and thematic subtext intact. And it features a unique score from Lloyd Webber, mixing 50’s era jazz with haunting melodies inspired by the silent film era. The Sunset Boulevard movie had an inherently operatic nature, particularly the final scene as Norma descends the staircase. It’s also a more dialogue-driven musical, eschewing the rock opera nature of Lloyd Webber’s other works, highlighting most of the iconic lines and quotes found in the near-perfect screenplay.

And in a head-spinning ironic twist, a movie version of the stage musical (that was based on the 1950 film) is being developed, with Glenn Close set to reprise her Tony Award-winning portrayal. It’s stuck in development hell, with many directors wary of following in the footsteps of the great Billy Wilder.

Below is a snippet of Glenn Close’s performance at the 1995 Tony Awards: