The last several months have given us DVD retreads and double-dips of some of the best films ever made. Rear Window, Vertigo, Touch of Evil, The Godfather and its sequels are amongst the library of films that have had new editions. Now comes Sunset Boulevard, yet another classic, released onto a new two-disc special edition.
Joe Gillis (William Holden) is a failing screenwriter who manages to evade people trying to repossess his car by pulling into the mansion of silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Moving in with her while trying to reboot his career, and hers, they go through a series of events lead to his death and her eventual descent into insanity. We know this at the start of the film, as his body is floating in her pool in an iconic moment. How it gets there is the bulk of one of Billy Wilder’s greatest films, perhaps his greatest, and earned a handful of Oscar nominations including one for his star (and frequent collaborator) William Holden.
It’s an interesting film because it’s Wilder and his most basic. He was never a flashy director, focusing more on simple camerawork and story telling then anything else. It’s a minimalist style of directing, using some longer shots to tell his story and focusing mainly on getting the required emotion out of the scene as opposed to fancy camerawork. If there’s a film that boils down Wilder’s story-telling style into its most accessible form, Sunset Boulevard is it.
It’s more on telling the story, and in this case it’s a magnificent one. Wilder crafts the story magnificently about a man trying to redeem himself and finding that the more he tries, the more he fails. As he tries to find his career in the cesspool that he finds himself in, Joe winds up in the one place he never imagined he’d find himself in.
For Holden it was his finest hour, the film he should’ve won an Oscar for, and it’s a marvelous performance. Gillis is a man at the bottom and Holden plays him with enough charm to make us like him but at the same time leaving him at the end of his rope.
Sunset Boulevard is a classic of cinema and for good reason.
Presented in its original black and white, full-screen format, Sunset Boulevard has been upgraded somewhat for this new release but the transfer is limited because of the source material. It’s a solid transfer but like every film from the era, it isn’t superior.
Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning focuses a lot on Billy Wilder and his unique type of story-telling as it relates to the film itself. It’s interesting to hear producers, film-makers and people who were around some of his favorite workers discuss the film. Gloria Swanson hadn’t been this first pick, as he went to all the former silent film stars and went through almost all of them to get to Swanson. She had been a big time film star, but had fallen out of the public eye by the time the film had begun pre-production. It’s interesting to note how the principles of the film, Holden especially, got a sort of redemption from the film. Holden had become a minor actor, as this was years before the films he’s mainly known for (Stalag 17, The Wild Bunch, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Towering Inferno and < I>Network) made him an enduring icon of cinema. In terms of looking at that particular era of film-making this is a wonderful piece, getting into little details about the film like its wardrobe and how Wilder got Cecil DeMille to play himself by virtue of their friendship and that DeMille was shooting Samson and Delilah on a stage nearby.
The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard by Joseph Wambaugh is a piece featuring Wambaugh, formerly of the LAPD and a best-selling author of several books, talking about the film. His favorite film, one he first saw in high school, Wambaugh discusses the noir aspects of the film. It’s fascinating to hear him discuss how the film takes several of the noir concepts and dissects lots of small moments in the film and how they have noir sensibilities. It makes for an interesting piece.
Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic focuses on the historical aspects of the film and how it’s become a classic in the years since its release. The main focus is on how the test of time has shown that the film hasn’t aged, discussing story and Wilder’s way of telling it.
The Two Sides of Ms. Swanson is a look back at Gloria Swanson and her pivotal role in the film. Featuring her granddaughter and others who worked with her in various capacities, discussing her career from silent film star to Sunset Boulevard.
Stories of Sunset Boulevard is a piece featuring some of the stories surrounding the film, mainly focusing on Wilder’s style throughout the film. It’s interesting to hear those who are still around discuss Wilder’s directorial style, how he was focusing more on the scene than on the shot, as well as a couple humorous anecdotes involving the shooting of the film.
Mad About The Boy: A Portrait of William Holden is a quick piece about Holden, a guy who didn’t seem as willing to embrace celebrity like many actors do nowadays. The piece mainly focuses on how Holden never wanted to have the guy on the marquee to be confused with who he actually was.
Recording Sunset Boulevard is a six minute piece on the film’s Oscar winning score.
The City of Sunset Boulevard focuses on the film’s setting of Hollywood, California, and how most of the film was filmed on sound sets as opposed to on location directly. Wilder used mostly sets for his film, using exterior shots to set everything up.
The film’s original opening is including as Morgue Prologue Script Pages, a text of how the film was supposed to open in a morgue.
Franz Waxman and the Music of Sunset Boulevard is a profile of Waxman, who composed the film’s score. Waxman was part of the mass exodus of creative talent who left Germany for France and other countries after the rise of Hitler. It makes for an interesting piece to see the background of one of the great composers of yesteryear.
Behind the Gates: The Lot is a historical look at Paramount, from its humble origins and its rise as one of the top studios in the industry. Looking back on the Paramount lot, the last of the giant studio lots, it’s a short but interesting piece.
There’s a Hollywood Location Map where you can see where the real life places would be in the world of Sunset Boulevard. Each location has a brief piece on it.
Edith Head: The Paramount Years is a look back at Head, the designer of Paramount’s costumes on many of its films. Having started out as costumer for the up and coming stars, her ability to work with them earned her their loyalty when they would become top lining stars. It would help propel her to the top, as even an Oscar was established for Costume Design in part because of her. Responsible for the costuming in Sunset Boulevard, obviously, it’s interesting to hear everyone discuss her ideas in costuming the film.
Paramount in the ‘50s is a retrospective on the studio during that decade. It’s an interesting year by year look at the decade in film from Paramount as it covers a lot of ground and is a neat little microcosm of the time period.
The film’s Theatrical Trailer is included as well as three picture Galleries.
Sunset Boulevard is a classic of cinema for a reason. One of the many classics by Billy Wilder, it’s a film without a genre
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Paramount presents Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector’s Edition). Directed by Billy Wilder. Starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim. Written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M Marshall Jr.. Running time: 110 minutes. Not Rated. Released on DVD: 11.11.2008. Available at Amazon.
