Sunset Boulevard is a tale narrated by down in his luck screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), who is attempting to restart his career all the while avoiding the repo man and his landlord. But there’s a catch, the narrator is currently floating dead in a pool. Gillis take us on his journey of how his fate ended with three bullets in him at an aging silent screen star’s dilapidated estate.
Trying to elude the repo guys, Gillis turns into a driveway of what appears to be an abandoned mansion. After hiding his car in the garage, he soon finds the place is in fact occupied by a butler and a mysterious eccentric woman. The woman turns out to be the once famous Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who disappeared, like many silent screen stars, when the “talkies” took over motion pictures. Gillis is at first mistaken as the undertaker for her deceased monkey. However, Desmond soon proposes a working relationship with him when she realizes he is a screenwriter. Desmond has aspirations for her “return” to the pictures and has been working on a script. Gillis looks at the idea as a way to temporarily hide out and make some fast money.
So begins this classic film noir story that came out at the tale end of its classic period. Film noir is a term that means “Black film” in French and refers to a style of black and white film that has it’s origins from German Expressionist film style. These Hollywood films appeared during the 1940’s through the 1950’s and explored the seedy worlds that were popularized by pulp fiction novels. These films ranged from detective stories, gangster films and psychological dramas. Film noir were unique in their dark style, urban settings, yet in many ways were simple cheap b-pictures. However, their look and feel were so original and artistic that they became immensely popular.
Sunset Boulevard was listed last year with the American Film Institutes as the sixteenth, in a list of a hundred, for cinematic milestones. In fact it was nominated at the time for eleven Academy Awards and winning three. Sunset Boulevard was restored and released back in 2002 with few extras but Paramount has now done the film justice with its Centennial Collection. Along with the film, we have a second disc full of bonus material that will give you hours and hours of entertainment. The featurettes include everything from The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard to one on Gloria Swanson. However, one of the hightlights has to be the one entitled - Morgue Prologue Script Pages. This feature includes the script pages for the missing opening scene that was cut out after early screenings of the film were negative. Although it is setup as a readable script, you do have options to click on a icon that shows you some of the original footage shot for the sequence. Why not the whole completed scene with sound? Who knows, maybe it has actually been lost though the years. Regardless, this second disc truly has given everything we need to fully understand and appreciate this outstanding film.
Through the years, Hollywood has often parodied and exposed themselves naked on the big screen. But none have done it as deliciously dark as Wilder with Sunset Boulevard. There’s a reason why this film is considered a classic, it’s a masterpiece in every way. See for yourself and pick up the Centennial Collection.
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