Rating: 
Summary: ...
Review: Often cited definative "black comedy", I was a bit suprised at the definition it implies. Although it's as funny as it is dark and depressing, other than the "taken as a whole" element of satire, the mood alternates frequently, rather than being generally "bittersweet" (as it stood before Sunset Blvd., my definition of black comedy was more something that made you feel terrible about laughing... a la Storytelling or something...). Visually it's also very successful.. . probably the only aspect of Sunset Boulevard that really deserves complaints is the pacing - even though it's not very long, it drags at many points and creates an unbalanced feeling between the ridiculousness and the darkness.However good it was, I don't feel compelled to see it again, so it's probably more of a rental than a purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Film, Flawless DVD
Review: I do not plan to rehash a review of this film. If you're reading this, you know the plot. Needless to say, this is one of the best films ever. It is also one of the best DVD's ever. The transfer is flawless, the sound and images are perfect. The extras are out of this world. A full-feature length running commentary by an informed and interesting expert, interviews with Nancy Olson (I guess she's the only one left alive), a whole section about the original opening scene, stuff about the stars, this DVD is actually worthy of this movie. For any fan of Sunset Boulevard, this is a must-purchase-immediately item.
Rating:
Summary: Holden Virtuous? Not!
Review: I watch this film for one reason - Gloria Swanson's outstanding performance as Norma Desmond. However, the more I watch this film the more Holden's character bother me. The audience hears his scathing thoughts through voice-over in his assessement of the people (The Waxworks) he is around and the world in which he lives. It has been stated that this film shows how dark and demented Hollywood is through the character of Norma Desmond. I thought Norma was the sanest person in the film, until the end that is. She knows her world and pulls all it's strings with the hand of a virtuoso. Even before Holden meets Norma we see that he is no more than a Hollywood hustler, whether he admits it to himself or not. He doesn't pay his bills, he hustles bad scripts, begs for loans and eventually loses his car. Oh, did I forget to mention that he considered taking his good friend's girl? Arrogantly this character still believes that he is better than Norma because, well, he's young - another underlying theme. Maybe this film holds up so well because we know that on Sunset Boulevard there are no saints. Holden is not virtuous, Norma isn't 'that' creepy by Hollywood's standards and there is no such thing as dreams without a price. The transfer of this disc is simply outstanding and the supplements are well done. This is indeed a collector's edition.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: I forgot how much I loved this movie. Is there a greater character than Norma Desmond? Over 50 years after this movie was released, people are still quoting her dialogue. I happened to catch SB by chance on AMC a few years ago and it's become one of those films I can watch over and over again. This movie is smart and funny storytelling without having to use gratitious sex, violence or cursing. Everything about this movie is perfect from the writing and sets to Billy Wilder's direction. The opening and closing scenes have to be among the greatest in the history of film. William Holden's subtle and smart alecky acting plays well against Gloria Swanson's over the top Norma. Although they weren't the first choices, it's hard to imagine anyone besides Holden and Swanson in these roles as they nailed their characters perfectly. Erich Von Streim as Max and Cecil B. Demille as himself are also great. Wilder's sense of mishief pervades this movie and one suspects that he had much of Hollywood squirming when Sunset Boulevard was first released. In lesser hands this movie could have been a disaster. It's hard to believe that the movie won no Academy Awards.
Rating:
Summary: "It's the movies that have become small"?
Review: Well, if ole Norma thought that was the case in 1950, she would've needed a microscope to see the movies of 2003. -- Anyway, there's not much to add about this perennial favorite that has not already been said, here and elsewhere. I'll join the chorus in praising the dialogue, the delineation of the characters, the acting, the exciting score by Franz Waxman, and the occasionally startling bits in Wilder's direction. (Most famous of which is the underwater shot that looks up at William Holden floating dead in a swimming pool.) Not praised as often is the clever cross-pollination of the noir and black-comedy genres -- this was four decades before Tarantino, remember. Billy Wilder could sometimes exhibit a truly rancid wit, and he does that here better than in any of his other movies. The subject-matter makes it easy for him. (To exhibit the rancid wit, that is. NOT easy, however, to be truthful about the movie to his bosses at Paramount: they thought he was making a musical called *Hill of Beans*, or something.) But then, if you can't make a funny film about a washed-up actress and her hack-screenwriter/gigolo, you'd better just hang it up. Having said all this, however, I still can't bring myself to give *Sunset Boulevard* a 5-Star rating. The movie is dishonest, let's face it: it purports to be a scathing indictment of Hollywood, but it never presents that place in anything less than a glamorous light. (Even the scenes with Holden and his screenwriter girlfriend, pounding keys and coffee together at Paramount's back-lot after-hours, makes the Hollywood lifestyle seem exciting.) And isn't there something just a bit icky about Wilder's self-righteousness? He pretends to condemn the Industry for exploiting and later discarding talent like Gloria Swanson and the great director Erich von Stroheim, but isn't he doing precisely the same thing to them with this film? Louis B. Mayer's angry retort to Wilder, upon finally seeing the film, was that the director was biting the hand that feeds: this seems rather apt to me. While this is a serious quibble, it in no way diminishes the pleasure of watching Gloria Swanson have the time of her life playing the One and Only Norma Desmond. [This Special Collector's Edition of *Sunset Boulevard* is a MUST if you care at all about this movie. The picture-quality is equal to Warner Bros. DVD release of *Citizen Kane*, by which I mean it's FLAWLESS: both look better than anything I've seen from Criterion, for Pete's sake. The extra features are good, too . . . though the commentary, by a Wilder biographer, is of the "And-here's-the-famous-shot-of-Holden-in-the-pool" variety. One would expect contextual analysis of this important film, not a simple rehash of what we're seeing on the screen. But who listens to commentaries, anyway? Get this DVD, Norma fans.]
Rating:
Summary: Most Certainly Not a "Small Picture"
Review: Boldly, director Wilder begins this film with a shot of a man floating in a swimming pool. Who is he? What's his story? We learn from a voiceover that the dead man is Joe Gillis (played by William Holden) who provides the voiceover and eventually explains what happened. The focus of this film is on Joe's relationship with Norma Desmond, long ago one of Hollywood's greatest stars. (Comparable with Gloria Swanson, for example.) Billy Wilder suggests that she (played by Swanson) is concluding a personal sunset, forgotten or assumed to be dead by a once-adoring public . Many Sunset Boulevard as an indictment of an industry in which Wilder enjoyed such great success. My own opinion is that he and his three co-screenwriters tell a story which features characters which are hardly unique to "Hollywood." For example, Norma Desmond could also be a wealthy widow and grand damme living in Westchester County when not ensconced at her summer home in the Hamptons. Her disruption at the studio in Hollywood could just as easily have occurred at a corporate headquarters in Manhattan. As for Joe Gillis, parasitic creatures such as he can be found in almost every segment of our society. Wilder and his associates wrote about a world they understood so well, one in which illusions, delusions, and realities are so often considered to be essentially the same. In my opinion, Wilder includes a character such as Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) to set her balance and decency in sharp contrast with Desmond's psychoses and Gillis' amorality. Indeed, there are so many stunning contrasts throughout this film. Note how brilliantly Wilder uses scenes set at night, indoors, or in sunlight to develop several of his themes. Understandably, Gillis feels smothered and confined when in Desmond's mansion. The tone of his voice and his body language are quite different when visiting friends at a studio (without Desmond) or when he mingling with Artie Webb (Jack Webb) and others at a party. Other key contrasts involve Max Von Mayerling (Eric von Stroheim), Desmond's former director and husband who now serves as her chauffeur and all-purpose house servant. He alone provides the loyalty and devotion she once attracted from so many others. Even those who occasionally play cards with her (Buster Keaton and H.B. Warner playing themselves) indicate no interest in her whatsoever, much less affection. This is probably about as close to being a "noir" film as Wilder ever created. Frankly, I still wonder what he thinks of Norma Desmond. Perhaps some deference which DeMille indicates when she descends upon him at the studio. Perhaps some pity which Gillis (albeit briefly and rarely) suggests. Perhaps both. For me, the most memorable scene occurs near the end when she slowly descends the winding stairway, her addled mind locked in on circumstances which occurred decades ago. Yes, I feel some sympathy for her...but, as an indication of Holden's skills as an actor, none for Gillis. Unlike Sefton in Stalag 17 (another film directed by Wilder), he has no redeeming virtues and deserved his fate...his own sunset. It's a wrap!
Rating:
Summary: I'm ready for my close-up, Mr De Mille
Review: Just brilliant. One of cinema's most beautiful tributes to itself, full of bittersweet tenderness and irony. Swanson is fabulous, and watching Von Stroheim portraying his own decadence with such sober dignity makes my heart bleed. The most beautiful ghost movie ever made. Watching it is like dreaming of loved ones long gone : in those dreams that everybody experiences every once in a while, the ones you love come back from the dead just for a short while, and you want to talk to them, hear them say that they return to stay, but they are vague, distant, blurry, they say that they can't stay, that it's not allowed, and they speak to others that you can't see, they know something that they can't tell, and just when you thought they were back for good, they disappear again, ignoring your cries. That's what this movie does. It's the final curtain call of legends of the past, to whom this movie gave the opportunity to take one last bow, as if saying : "it was good, but we are no more - take a good look at us, it's the last one you'll ever have".
Rating:
Summary: A HEAVENLY PERFORMANCE FROM LA SWANSON.
Review: I just viewed this gem after many years, and I was captivated by the brilliant performances of Swanson and Holden: truly inspired! It is quite amusing to think that both Mary Pickford and Mae West(!) were both originally sought to play the key role of Norma Desmond: the role seems to belong entirely to La Swanson. She's perfection personified in the part, giving her role much more dimension than I remembered priorly. Her fascinating voice and face make the film work when combined with Holden's repulsion at having to play gigolo to such a woman. Holden's voice is music to the ears, and his playing is quite excellent: a finely etched study of a desperate young man caught in circumstances which simultaneously both benefit and disgust him, ironically. As the normal girl who falls for Joe, Nancy Olson is an adequate 1950 All-American twenty-something gal and as Joe's true blue pal, Jack Webb can be seen in a very untypical performance. And that brings us to Von Stroheim: his performance is rather kind and heartfelt - you feel a strange mixture of pity and anger for his character, who, in its own way, is just as pathethic as Ms Desmond herself. A Hollywood satire on Hollywood. And a classic black comedy to boot! P.S. As a footnote, the egotistical & definitely eccentric silent star, Mae Murray made a classic one-liner after seeing this film: "None of us floozies was ever THAT nuts"!
Rating:
Summary: It's a classic
Review: What can one say about "Sunset Boulevard"? If you haven't seen it, see it! If you've seen it, watch it again!
This is one of those films that illustrates how stunningly beautiful black and white can be. The mood, the atmosphere that Wilder creates is unlike any other film. Others have tried, but none have succeeded.
Norma Desmond is one of the most unforgettable characters captured on film. As portrayed by Gloria Swanson, she's funny, tragic, scary, sad, manipulative, vulnerable, and every inch the star, however faded she may be.
No matter what your area of interest, be it as a film maker, writer, actor, cinematographer, or film buff, "Sunset Boulevard" is required viewing. Any one remotely involved with or interested in film can learn volumes from this one.
Rating:
Summary: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small!"
Review: Forget every movie you've ever seen. Forget who won the Best Picture Oscars. Forget the AFI lists of the "best" movies. Sunset Boulevard tops them all.
What is the plot, you ask? It is a story of both sides off Hollywood. The realistic side is represented by Joe Gillis, a struggling screenwriter who is in debt to almost everyone (his landlord, the bank, etc.). To hide his car from repo men, he pulls into the garage of a house he thinks is deserted. He is spotted by the residents, a forgotten star named Norma Desmond and her butler, Max. Norma is angry at first when she learns he isn't the man who was supposed to deliver a coffin for her deceased pet chimpanzee, but when she learns he is a writer, hires him to edit her script ("Salome"). As soon as he accepts the offer, Joe begins sliding down a slippery slope: from writer to gigolo. When he finally realizes what he has become, he tries to leave, but Norma, unable to bear the thought that he doesn't love her, kills him.
With the exception of a few other movies (i.e. "Sadie Thompson," the best silent movie I've ever seen and also starring Gloria Swanson, and "The Matrix," which has the most intriguing concept since "Dark City" and beautiful execution), it is the best film ever made.
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