Reviews

It's hard to imagine this movie not making anyone interested or even more interested in Hollywood, but if it doesn't, it's still enjoyable as quality noir, especially with its hard-boiled dialogue.

He'd never win, despite being nominated 7 times (4 of those being Billy Wilder films.) Wilder and Seitz would usually disturb every speck of dust on the set before filming indoor segments of the film, creating a tomb-like, old and creepy atmosphere for Desmond's home.

The voice-over from our lead character invokes so many film noir instances that once the dead body shows up I was wondering...wait, what IS this film really about?

Speaking of references, the entire film was filled with mentions of an "Old Hollywood aristocracy", like Darryl F Zanuck, Alan Ladd and Cecile De Mille, who even had a noticable cameo in the film.

(1950) Director: Billy Wilder Writers: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim Genre: Film Noir, Drama Satire

In any case, this is most definitely a film that emphasises its razor-sharp wit and scathing deconstruction of old Hollywood over any type of superficial flair (save for the occasional bizarre image such as Swanson's elaborate funeral for a recently deceased chimpanzee), and as such definitely holds...

A couple of years ago, The Artist won the hearts of film fans all over the world as a much loved film that covered the transition from silent films to talkies in a fairly hopeful and uplifting manner.

All in all, it's tough to find a film which is anywhere remotely similar to [I]Sunset Blvd.[/I], and if you can, it's a pale imitation.

Billy Wilder does an amazing job of creating this dark story.

In Sunset Boulevard, Swanson plays the role of an aging silent film star, who was incredibly popular in the heyday of silent film, long forgotten in the time of talkies, or films with sound.