SUNSET BLVD. (1950)

Polish poster art for "Sunset Blvd."

There is a scene at the end of Billy wilder’s classic 1950 production of “Sunset Blvd.” where Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, finally driven mad and to murder by an obsession with her faded stardom, addresses the viewer by looking directly into the camera.  She revels in the thrill of making a movie again, and then thanks “all those wonderful people out there in the dark.”  I had not realized how chilling this moment was until I finally saw it in a theater with a large audience.  Upon delivery of the line an audible shudder passed through the crowd.  I guess if you are a filmmaker who is going to break the forth wall, it had better be for a good reason and to maximum effect.

Wilder is often referred to as a cynical and darkly humorous director.  Certainly these qualities can be found in “Sunset Blvd.”  The opening scene of a dead man floating in a swimming pool, and in voice over narrating the tale of his fall from grace and eventual shooting was originally done as a scene in the Los Angeles County Morgue. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          His sheet covered corpse waits until the room is clear, then sits up and regales his fellow cadavers with the story.  Preview audiences laughed, but not with a spirit that satisfied Wilder’s intent.  The footage was cut and replaced with a re-shot scene as it exists today.

Even with William Holden’s sardonic and somewhat bitter tone of self-deprecation, the narration reveals a type of sympathetic respect for Norma and her destructive foibles.  The last lines of the dead screenwriter reflect an understanding that goes beyond bitterness and into the territory of compassion.

 “Life which can be so cruel was being strangely merciful to Norma Desmond. The dream that she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her.”

Wilder’s original desire had been to tell the story as it exists, but to make both of the two main characters men (Norman rather than Norma, I guess).  This was an idea he knew from the beginning would not be allowed; by the Studio, by the Production Code, by anybody.  It certainly would have made the final exposure of Joe Gillis’ situation to Nancy more shockingly profound, especially in 1950.

Gloria Swanson and Billy Wilder on set.

Casting Gloria Swanson and Eric Von Stroheim in roles that closely mirrored their turbulent mutual history together lent an air of authenticity that Old Hollywood recognized and, in some cases, did not appreciate.  Legend has it that at a Studio screening Louis B. Mayer, still a powerful figure in the business, called Wilder and his film, “a disgrace to the industry” to the director’s face.  Wilder replied with a highly audible reply for all to hear.  “F--- you, Mayer,” he said.  Things were changing in Tinseltown.

“Sunset Blvd.” is perhaps the best film ever made about Hollywood and the nature of the celebrity fantasy it inspires.  When Cecil B. DeMille is asked about the eventual difficulty of working with Norma Desmond, he responds that, “It’s a tragedy what ten press agents working overtime can do to the human spirit.”  With this and Norma’s final lines to the “wonderful people out there in the dark”, Billy Wilder is asking his audience to examine their own relationship with the Dream Machine.

Billy Wilder (looking through camera) shooting Gloria Swanson poolside.

Original Belgian poster art