Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm Ready For My Close-Up

#16--Sunset Blvd.

This year's Academy Award winning Best Picture is a great film titled Birdman (Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The film is about an aging actor looking to resurrect his career by producing a Broadway play. This isn't the first film to delve into the lives of forgotten actors trying to make a comeback. Films like Barton Fisk, Postcards from the Edge, and The Player have all had plots about Hollywood and/or achieving a comeback. These films are good in their own right, #16 on AFI'S Top 100 set the precedent on this subject matter. Billy Wilder's film noir Sunset Blvd.  showcases just how difficult that comeback just might be.

Joe Gillis (William Holden The Wild Bunch) is a struggling Hollywood screenwriter and he seems to be having a little trouble paying his car payment. So when he lies to the repo men about where his car is, Gillis decides to drive around trying to scrounge up some work. What Gillis didn't plan on was those same repo men noticing him driving on Sunset Blvd. In a panic, Gillis tries to out run the repo men and swoops into what he thinks is a deserted driveway for an old mansion. The mansion, however, is owned by silent movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson Queen Kelly). After finding out whose house he has stumbled upon, Gillis devises a plan to earn some money. It seems that Ms. Desmond has a script that she would like to have polished up so that she may take it to Paramount Studios and relaunch her illustrious career. What neither Gillis nor Desmond realizes is what comes after they agree to a partnership.

This film is not at all what I thought it was. Billy Wilder is known more for his comedies such as The Seven Year Itch and The Apartment. This film is more of a character study, much like Birdman, into the need in all of us to feel important. The film is a much darker film than I had previously though, but not in a bad way. I was pleasantly try surprised by the tone and the nature of the film and was happy to see something besides a comedy from Wilder.

William Holden gives a great performance as the conniving, and sometimes unethical, screenwriter Gillis. Gillis has realized that Hollywood is a cutthroat business and Holden personifies his willingness to do anything. It is only when Gillis' conscience starts to show is when Holden seems to become flat for me. It is Swanson's acting in this film that is perfect. She was a true star of silent films, so this gives her a chance to express those feelings of longing, but she slaps a little crazy in there. Swanson's character has become so detached from the rest of the world that her desire to become famous again has worn away at her psyche. Swanson skates on that fine line of sanity and insanity so beautifully that you question every time she is on screen if that will be the moment she finally snaps.

As I have mentioned, Billy Wilder directed this legendary movie. I think the best thing Wilder did with this film, is the way he used the lighting. Throughout the movie, Wilder highlights Swanson as if she is in a spotlight where ever she goes, giving the audience a peek into Desmond ' mind set. While Desmond is brightly lit, the rest of the cast is a little dimmer, also displaying that Desmond feels that they are unworthy of standing in her light. A great example of this is when she is playing cards with other silent film stars and they are brightly lit with her and all the while Holden, who is trying to speak with her, is dimly lit. Wilder also gets his actors to bring palpable tension some of more important scenes.

I have to admit that I am a little surprised that this film isn't a little higher on this list. I would have thought Swanson's acting alone would have boosted this film at least in the high teens. Oh well, I still recommend this film to anyone. Especially to those of you that would like to have a glance at how Hollywood worked during the golden age of film. Watch for that glimpse, but keep watching for the crazy.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time.