Movie #32 – Sunset Boulevard (1950) - 110 min, cert PG.
A struggling screenwriter gets thrown a lifeline when aging actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) whose fame has faded hires him to edit her own screenplay with which she intends to relaunch her career. As time goes by she becomes more and more dependent upon him, and he becomes more and more distant from her and disillusioned with his new life.
While I found this film enjoyable, a lot of the subtle references that were relevant at the time were completely lost on me, and I get the impression that these play a large part in why the general consensus of film critics consider this such a great film. This is a film about the film industry, made predominantly for the film industry. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good movie, and I enjoyed it, but it would never be one of my personal favourites.
Having read about it since, I can now appreciate how some of the characters, particularly Erich van Stroheim who plays Norma’s butler Max, are essentially playing parodies of themselves. Van Stroheim, just like Max, used to be a well respected director of silent films, but failed to make the transition to talkies and was reduced to minor acting roles. Indeed, there’s a scene in the film where Norma is watching her old films while Max runs the projector. The clip seen in the movie is actually an excerpt from Queen Kelly, a film that Swanson starred in and van Stroheim directed, so for a moment the two actors are essentially playing themselves.
Anyway, it’s a good film, and I’m glad that I’ve seen it, but it’s not going to make a lasting impression on me.
Score – 7/10.
Next up is Forrest Gump, which I’ve not seen for a while, but I know that it’s a good one.
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