Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Sunset Boulevard
Review: "Sunset Boulevard" is one of the best films ever made. I could go on for hours describing the sheer brilliance of this film, but I'll be brief. The story is about this young Hollywood writer that's trying to write a new screenplay, but he somehow finds himself meeting a former silent film legend. The movie engulfs you into a dark world full of deceit, betrayal, lies, death, love, and envy. The film noir aspect of this film is used quite brilliantly, so it's no wonder why this film is hailed as a big classic. This movie is truly one of the most definitive Hollywood films ever made. I highly recommend this film to anyone that enjoys movies, so they'll know what a great film is.

Rating:
Summary: Dripping with Edgy Cynicism
Review: Film Noir, as it was filmed in black and white in the late 40's, early 50's is divided into three distinct categories. For the lowbrow, there is the brilliant Detour, so primitive and shot so cheaply, yet delivering a massive result. Then there is The Big Heat with Glenn Ford, a middlebrow film with the dark shadows, tragedy, and cynicism of Noir. Finally, for the highbrows, we have Billy Wilder's finest film, a true landmark dripping with edgy cynicism by a man that lost his parents to the Holocaust.

In Sunset Boulevard William Holden gives his finest performance. Holden is a very likable man and that comes through on the screen no matter which role he performs, but always that All-American persona, that likeability leaks to the screen. Part of this quality is his obvious intelligence. As Norma Desmond's kept man, he knows it's wrong, at times it's downright creepy, but he works with Billy Wilder's vision and melds a bizarre group of Hollywood types into an indictment of the industry up to 1950.

Are exploitation, the money grubbing, and the status quest pertaining only to the early era of Hollywood? I don't think so. Ha, ha, ask Jessica Simpson, Jana Jamison, Michael Jackson, adnauseam.

Gloria Swanson is a great actress. She lures Joe Gillis like a black widow spider. Her delirium is a cross between silent movie actress and Betty Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Perhaps Davis got the idea from Gloria's earlier film. Curiously, Betty's 1950 picture All About Eve won the Oscar. It is a fine film, but SB scared the studio heads, indeed horrified them, and the picture was passed over. Anyhow, this was a comeback for Swanson and she went for it. I don't know if she did a lot of work after this film, but it solidified her reputation as a Prima-Donna film actress. Her performance is unforgettable.

Also kudos for Erich von Stroheim as Max, Nora's butler, ex-husband, and first director. Stroheim indeed was a fine silent film director and remarkable in Renoir's Grand Illusion. This fellow looks like he was born to wear the Kaiser's helmet.

Finally, Nancy Olsen, pulled from obscurity, a college girl from Wisconsin, she is lovely as Holden's inspiration, and love interest. Her wholesomeness certainly contrasted with all the other grubby Hollywood types in the film.

I have seen thousand's of films; many are of very high quality. I can't rattle them all off for you, but SB is in the top 25. Think about that!


Rating:
Summary: One of The Best Films of All Time!
Review: I am a wannbe film maker who loves great films. I thought I would get this one for a try and thought it would be okay, but not as good as they said it was. Boy was I wrong! This is the one of the best films ever made! It is also one of the first to go against the anti-artistic corruption of Holloyood. Even today they are surpressing great film makers works of art and turning them into formulas. This movie set the record straight on what makesa a good films great, and at the same time became a great films itself. See this film!

Rating:
Summary: HOLLYWOOD GOTH!
Review: Got the nostalgia bug after seeing "Broadway: The Golden Age" and everyone recommended this one. Gloria Swanson is too scary for words! But, William Holden is a hottie and the movie is seriously brilliant. it was so dark, so deeply upsetting that you can almost TASTE it as you watch it. Not the "That's Entertainment" look at Old Hollywood, but much more disturbingly great!

Rating:
Summary: A tribiute to old Hollywood
Review: I confess that before seeing the movie, I had already heard the soundrack of the outstanding Andrew Lloud Webber's omonymous musical. So, there where no script surprices for me - exept fot the fact of how close musical and original movie are. Anyway, the main thing is that the '50s Hollywood through this movie honours the silent prehistory. And it's not only Gloria Swanson, but the instant pass of people acting themselves, such as Cecil B. De Mill, or Buster Keaton. Don't forget the mascile figure of William Holden, some kind of a meta-Gary Kooper hero. A classic movie for the sunset of some true entertaiment pioneers, who "taught the world new eays to dream"

Rating:
Summary: Like all true classics (which this is; have no doubt),
Review: Sunset just gets better and better with every viewing. Gloria Swanson and Von Stroheim basically play themselves, which makes Wilder's genius all the more apparent. This was Swanson's finest moment, and one of Bill Holden's, too. At this price, it's one of the best bargains on Amazon. An ABSOLUTE must-own for any true film fan.

Rating:
Summary: SWANSON SHOULD HAVE WON THE ACADEMY AWARD
Review: While widescreen films date back as early as 1930 (The Bat Whispers), Sunset Boulvard is not a widescreen DVD because Sunset Boulevard is not a widescreen film.