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Mood:
- CleverWittyCaptivatingTenseBiting
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Plot:
- Actor's LifeFemme FataleDesire for FameObsessionHaunted By the PastMurderShowbizAmbition more...
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Genres:
- DramaFilm NoirHollywood Tone
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Time/Period:
- 20th Century50s
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Place:
- CaliforniaHollywoodLos AngelesUSA
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Praise:
- Award WinnerClassicCritically AcclaimedMasterpieceOscar WinnerPrestigious Awards
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Humor:
- Satire
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Style:
- Film in Film
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Based on:
- Based on Short Story
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealistic
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Look:
- B&W
Does this gene fit Sunset Boulevard?
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Sunset Boulevard, 1950
English
USA
Profile of Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard can be described as clever, witty, and captivating. The plot revolves around the desire for fame, a femme fatale, and the life of an actor. Its comic aspect comes from satire. Sunset Boulevard's main genre is drama. In terms of style, it is a film in a film, is a film noir, and has a Hollywood tone. In approach, it is serious and realistic. Sunset Boulevard is located in Hollywood. It takes place in the 1950s. Visually, it is black and white. Sunset Boulevard is derived from a short story. The movie has received attention for being a classic, a masterpiece, and an Oscar winner.
Summary of Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder's masterpiece Sunset Boulevard, a corrosive black comedy that remains the most memorable assault on the emptiness and vanity of the movie business, stars William Holden as young, down-and-out screenwriter Joe Gillis. Narrated in flashbacks by the now-deceased scribe, the film unwinds the series of events that left him lying face down in a pool. Unable to sell his most recent chef-d'oeuvre, and in hock up to his eyeballs, Joe stashes his car in the driveway of what appears to be an abandoned mansion on Sunset Boulevard while trying to elude some persistent repo men. Closer inspection reveals the decrepit property to be inhabited by grandiose former silent movie goddess Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), and her zombie-like manservant Max (Erich von Stroheim). Upon hearing that he's a writer, the lonely but still wealthy woman offers to pay him generously to stay at the house and work on her "comeback" script on the life of Salome. Although spooked by the people and the surroundings, in desperate straits, Joe takes the job, little suspecting the madness of the netherworld he's entered. Wilder's merciless portrait of the dangers of a profession that trades in fantasy cagily couples the cynical amorality of the never-was with the near-psychotic narcissism of the has-been to reveal the vacuity of wealth and the transience of fame.
Details
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 10 August 1950 |
| Runtime: | 110 min |
| Awards: | Academy Awards |
Awards
Cast and Crew
as Norma Desmond
as Joe Gillis
as Max von Mayerling
Photos
Clips
Critics Reviews
Variety
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- by: Staff (Not Credited)
TV Guide
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- by: Staff (Not Credited)
Users Reviews
- 17.August.2008
- |
- by: ani
- ani rated this movie
8/10Great
- 09.August.2008
- |
- by: fletcher.munson
- fletcher.munson rated this movie
0/10
