This is a perfect film, from the sets to screenplay to the outfits. it is a beautiful depiction of the fear and chaos that ensued with the introduction of talkies, in contrast to "Singin' in the Rain," which viewed the talkies with more optimism and hope, "Sunset Boulevard" sees the talkies as something terrifying and career-ruining, it views it as more of a dangerous creature and less like an evolution in Hollywood.
Sunset Boulevard is a spectacular movie of its own but it kinda feels like it’s one of the multiverses of Twilight Zone or Black Mirror in a modern sense.
Twilight Zone generally utilizes the supernatural and Black Mirror uses hyperbole to comment on modernity; Sunset Boulevard is closer to a Jordan Peele film in the sense that it's essentially a documentary with actors.
JOE GILLIS : "I was living in an apartment house above Franklin and Ivar. Things were tough at the moment. I hadn't worked in a studio for a long time. So I sat there, grinding out original stories...two a week. Only I seemed to have lost my touch. Maybe they weren't original enough. Maybe they were too original. All I know is, they didn't sell."
Ha, I see what you mean. But I gotta admit, I find those effects a bit more distracting than charming. I can easily see why so many later comedies made fun of them.
No “green screen” back in those days. It was rear projection. They’d set up the shot with the rumbling car passenger compartment in the foreground while they projected film of the moving road in the background.
I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes But it's home to me, and I walk alone I walk this empty street On the Sunset Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Yes, it seems to me like a similar phenomenon to people avoiding foreign-language films. People are much too easily put off by even the slightest difference from a format they're used to.
Gillis's narration isn't intended to point up his being a hack, nor is the character supposed to Be one, per se. In fact, we are told he's written several screenplays that have impressed Betty Schaefer, the studio script reader - including the one which prompts her suggestion (or, really, her Request) that the two of them collaborate together. Gillis, rather, is meant to be an Average, struggling writer - one who, it is implied, at least has Potential to be quite good. Gillis's narration can be seen as giving voice to the alter ego of Billy Wilder, who is simply doing his snappy, witty, sardonic best "making with the words," as he might say. And while "the ghost of a swimming pool" might not be the cleverest of phrases, it is precisely the kind of verbiage used in scripts - concise, visually evocative, easily understood, etc.; it is also a phrase a newspaperman - especially one in 1950 - would be quite at home using. It is, in the last analysis, no cornier than "like a script he's ready to sell for cheap," or "our stalwart narrator," et al.
YO SOY UNGRIPPED? Ancient FILM spoiler ALERT UNneccessary. Haven’t seen it in last 90 years that’s ON ME. Beautiful sunsets aren’t BLack AND WHite needs the COLOURS!!!
I love anything related to this iconic production
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Genius.
Agreed! This movie is full of great quotes/lines.
I watch this movie compulsively. I want to live in the early Los Angeles world. Los Angeles after dark still feels like this movie.
Billy Wilder sure can write a darn good script
This is a perfect film, from the sets to screenplay to the outfits. it is a beautiful depiction of the fear and chaos that ensued with the introduction of talkies, in contrast to "Singin' in the Rain," which viewed the talkies with more optimism and hope, "Sunset Boulevard" sees the talkies as something terrifying and career-ruining, it views it as more of a dangerous creature and less like an evolution in Hollywood.
Both Gloria Swanson & William Holden deserved Oscar gongs.
A narration of a narration! Nice job!😎
Sunset Boulevard is a spectacular movie of its own but it kinda feels like it’s one of the multiverses of Twilight Zone or Black Mirror in a modern sense.
Twilight Zone generally utilizes the supernatural and Black Mirror uses hyperbole to comment on modernity; Sunset Boulevard is closer to a Jordan Peele film in the sense that it's essentially a documentary with actors.
I love absolutely everything about Billy Wilder’s filmography and I really hope someday you’ll talk about the apartment
Shut up and deal.
I'm ready for my close up Mr. Demille!
Stone cold classic movie. Watch it once a year.
JOE GILLIS : "I was living in an apartment house above Franklin and Ivar. Things were tough at the moment. I hadn't worked in a studio for a long time. So I sat there, grinding out original stories...two a week. Only I seemed to have lost my touch. Maybe they weren't original enough. Maybe they were too original. All I know is, they didn't sell."
Theres something charming about those old driving a car green screen shots
Ha, I see what you mean. But I gotta admit, I find those effects a bit more distracting than charming. I can easily see why so many later comedies made fun of them.
No “green screen” back in those days. It was rear projection. They’d set up the shot with the rumbling car passenger compartment in the foreground while they projected film of the moving road in the background.
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the Sunset Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Nice
Cool movie, thanks for the recommendation and spoiler warning.
I love me some film noir
Goes to show that peeps really shouldn't discard a movie because it's in black and white - I know too many people who do :'(
Yes, it seems to me like a similar phenomenon to people avoiding foreign-language films. People are much too easily put off by even the slightest difference from a format they're used to.
U need to find better circles of people. Only MAGA filth would care whether it is black and white
Haven't heard anyone say purple prose in a while, took me a sec to remember what that was lol
Gillis's narration isn't intended to point up his being a hack, nor is the character supposed to Be one, per se. In fact, we are told he's written several screenplays that have impressed Betty Schaefer, the studio script reader - including the one which prompts her suggestion (or, really, her Request) that the two of them collaborate together.
Gillis, rather, is meant to be an Average, struggling writer - one who, it is implied, at least has Potential to be quite good.
Gillis's narration can be seen as giving voice to the alter ego of Billy Wilder, who is simply doing his snappy, witty, sardonic best "making with the words," as he might say.
And while "the ghost of a swimming pool" might not be the cleverest of phrases, it is precisely the kind of verbiage used in scripts - concise, visually evocative, easily understood, etc.; it is also a phrase a newspaperman - especially one in 1950 - would be quite at home using. It is, in the last analysis, no cornier than "like a script he's ready to sell for cheap," or "our stalwart narrator," et al.
If I were Norma, I will just go travelling and explore the world and just enjoy my hard earned money 😂… why make a comeback? Why need a gigolo?LOL.
LOL to that Blade Runner clip
Blade runner is a perfect work. There are no shortfalls in it
gillis is a ‼sagittarius‼of course he is brutally honest
Too bad Morgan Freeman wasn't available back then.
YO SOY UNGRIPPED? Ancient FILM spoiler ALERT UNneccessary. Haven’t seen it in last 90 years that’s ON ME. Beautiful sunsets aren’t BLack AND WHite needs the COLOURS!!!
Ha, I assure you it's much younger than that . . . a spry 72, in fact.