Sunset Boulevard (Centennial Collection) DVD Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 11.11.2008

One of the greatest film noirs of all time gets the treatment it deserves.

Directed by: Billy Wilder
Written by: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr.

Starring:
Gloria Swanson - Norma Desmond
William Holden - Joe Gillis
Erich von Stroheim - Max von Mayerling
Nancy Olson - Betty Schaefer
Fred Clark - Sheldrake
Lloyd Gough - Marino
Jack Webb - Artie Green
Franklyn Farnum - Undertaker
Cecil B. DeMille - Himself
Hedda Hopper - Herself
Buster Keaton - Himself
Anna Q. Nilsson - Herself
H.B. Warner - Himself
Ray Evans - Himself
Jay Livingston - Himself

Domestic Gross: $2,500,000

DVD Release Date: 11/11/2008
Running Time: 110 minutes



Films about Hollywood and film-making are a particular subgenre of movies that always seems to be in vogue and is fairly unique in that crosses all other genres. Such diverse films as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Player, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Shadow of the Vampire and Gods and Monsters find a common thread through the subject of Hollywood and movie-making. All of these films owe a debt, in one way or another, to Sunset Boulevard. The 1950 film, directed by Billy Wilder, is considered one of the true classics in cinematic history. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards upon the year of its release, was one of the first films included in the National Film Registry, and is considered to be one of the top twenty films of all time by the American Film Institute. It brought silent screen star Gloria Swanson back into the public spotlight and presented a harrowing look at the movie-making business. It has received only one release on DVD up until now, a single-disc remastered Collector's Edition in 2002 as part of their Paramount Collection. Now, as the studio hits its one-hundredth birthday, it has released the movie in a two-disc version as the first of their Centennial Collection.

The Movie

The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter who is in financial straits due to the "hot one moment, not the next" mentality of Hollywood. He is in such a low point that his car is about to be impounded for a three hundred dollar debt; in order to escape his pursuers he hides the car in an apparently-abandoned mansion's garage. That house turns out to not be abandoned, but in fact the home of Norma Desmond (Swanson). Desmond is a star of the silent screen, who's been pushed aside by the advent of talkies. Desmond is clearly certifiably insane, holding a funeral in her home for a pet chimpanzee when Joe first comes upon her, but her charisma and charm lure the poor man in. When she learns he is a writer, she offers him money to read the script she plans to make a comeback with, an offer he can't help but accept and that plunges him into Desmond's insane world, a world he finds himself unable to escape from.

Much has been said in the nearly sixty years since Sunset Boulevard's release; it's almost difficult to view the noir classic in an objective light in the weight of so much that has been said before. The movie is one of the classics of the Golden Age of Hollywood, a time when silent pictures were still a thing of only the not-so-distant past and the studio system was churning out movies faster than Henry Ford could get cars off the assembly line. Most films of the era adhered to specific genre formulas, such as Westerns or musicals. The most successful and best films to come out of that era were the ones that could cross genres and become something deeper; Billy Wilder's noir film certainly qualifies. It contains elements of satire and comedy, thriller and even early-era horror, and of course drama as it skewers Hollywood's attitudes of the day in a way that hasn't been matched since. Through the characters of Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond, co-writers Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr. portray their critiques on the movie-making industry and its worst traits. The theme of how enthralling celebrity and those larger-than-life individuals who have it can be is no less compelling today in the world of Brangelina and paparazzi-plagued "celebrities" like Paris Hilton then it was then. The story is nicely paced and as much as something is clearly wrong with Desmond, it is difficult not to sympathize with him as he's drawn into Norma's world, and then tries desperately to escape her web. The film deals with some very deep topics, and handles them all eloquently and in a way that, even now in a very different era, it makes for an enthralling story. And of course, it provides some of the most well-known lines in movie history, from "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" to "I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

Of course, as good as the story is, it is the performances that spellbind. Gloria Swanson was, much like Norma Desmond, a product of a bygone era when Billy Wilder cast her in his movie. In that, she perhaps is able to resonate with the role in a way that others couldn't have; whatever the reason, her performance as Desmond is nothing less than spell-binding. When one thinks of the great performance of insane characters, most people think of Hannibal Lector, Norman Bates, Michael Myers and the like. Swanson's portrayal of the faded film star deserves to be ranked with the best of them, as she slowly reveals more and more of Desmond's issues until by the end she's utterly certifiable. Desmond's seduction of Gillis is akin to Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula's seduction of Mina Harker, and it's an acting feat that easily matches the undead count.

In the opposite role, that of Gillis, William Holden holds his own quite nicely. It can be very difficult for an actor to give a performance that remains memorable when matched up with such a larger-than-life role as Desmond; Holden, however, holds his own quite admirably. It is a more low-key performance and, while not quite etched within the public consciousness like Swanson's, has still provided a role to be scrutinized and studied by actors for decades. Holden conveys the persona of a man thrown aside by the Hollywood machine; in this, Gillis can identify with Desmond, and it gives her the opening she needs. The resulting chaos that follows is as much of a credit to Holden's ability to make the audience see things through his eyes as it is to Swanson's ability to spellbind them. In a supporting role, Erich von Stroheim gives an equally good performance as Desmond's ex-husband and former director who, while lowering himself to serve as her butler and servant, still has found ways by doing so to "direct her." Nancy Olsen is also fine as Betty, the script reader with whom Joe falls in love with but is unable to get away from Norma for. Several cameos abound from the era of the silent film, brilliantly put in by Wilder, from director Cecil B. DeMille to actor Buster Keaton, and they all add touches of authenticity to an already great film to make it something truly special.

In the end, as powerful as the actors are, this is Billy Wilder's film. Wilder is one of the great directors of all-time, and in a resume that includes such classics as Double Indemnity, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, The Lost Weekend and The Front Page, it is Sunset Boulevard that stands as his greatest achievement. He takes the greatest elements of movie-making in the Golden Age and film noir and adds several of his own touches to make the movie great. Some innovative shots were used, such the opening pool scene where a mirror was used to film the scene so it looked like the camera was underwater. Ultimately, Wilder's best work here is in its bravery; he holds nothing back in taking shots at the very studio system he was working in. Credit also has to be given to Paramount for its enthusiasm about being the studio in the film. Sunset Boulevard is the rare Hollywood story of everyone working together in perfect synchronicity to great something great; or, as Time magazine called it, "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best."

Film Rating: 9.0

The Video

Some leeway would be expected for a film as old as Sunset Boulevard when discussing the video transfer of the film. After all, we are discussing a movie that was filmed far before many technologies that have allowed movies to become crystal clear and true to life. Amazingly, despite the age of the film and the fact that the original negative was nearly gone, the studio did an amazing job restoring it for the 2002 DVD release. This is by and large the same video transfer with some additional tweaks added for clarity. There are still a few flaws, ones that will likely never come out of the film, but by and large the film looks quite crisp and defined, with only minor flaws and the like. Blacks are full and not overwhelming, as can happen in improper black and white transfers, and the 1.33 fullscreen transfer just plain looks good for its age.

Video Rating: 8.0

The Audio

The Dolby 2.0 audio track is an improvement over the 2002 set, which at times lacked proper balance. This track is easier on the ears, providing a much clearer sound that is appropriately leveled between the score, dialogue and sound effects. Clearly, there is nothing here that will give a speaker system any sort of workout, but it's a nice transfer nonetheless and very easy to listen to.

Audio Rating: 7.5

Special Features

In accordance with the Centennial Collection set, Paramount has put together a wealth of features that were not present on the 2002 Collector’s Edition DVD. While the Commentary Track, the Morgue Prologue Script Pages, “Franz Waxman and the Music of Sunset Boulevard,” the Hollywood Location Map, “Edith Head: The Paramount Years” and the trailer and Gallery are all rehashes, every other feature is new specifically for this DVD. The featurette “Sunset Boulevard: A Look Back” was left off from the 2002 set, but that’s entirely understandable considering the redundancy it would have due to the new stuff.

Commentary by Ed Sikov (author of "On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder): The only feature on the first disc is this commentary track. Sikov delivers a very listenable track that is full of analysis of the film. He talks at great lengths about the film from several angles, giving insight into the original "morgue" opening scene that was never used and providing several details the cast, crew, and the touches of authenticity within the film. It's a nice commentary track that is worth a listen to.

Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning: (22:45) This is the first feature from Disc Two, a high-level discussion of Billy Wilder and the initial production notes. This features a fair amount of interviews talking about Wilder, Swanson, Holden and others, and Nancy Olson in particular has a lot to say. She provides several interesting stories of her experiences working on the film, and we get some behind-the-scenes stills on top of it while Paramount executives and historians talk about the development process. It’s an immersive twenty three minutes that is definitely worth a look.

The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard by Joseph Wambaugh: (14:18) This featurette involves Wambaugh, a former detective for the Los Angeles Police Department and author—who’s book The Blue Knight, incidentally, was made into a TV miniseries starring Holden—discussing the film’s darker noir aspects. Wambaugh is a very knowledgeable person about the genre and is able to talk quite intelligently about Boulevard’s elements of such, from Desmond’s portrayal as a femme fatale to the symbolism used in the movie.

Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic: (14:28) This short looks back at the movie’s reception, both from the time of release and how it has become a classic film. Olson again gets some good face time, and we get an old interview of Swanson talking about her experiences during the film’s screening. The critical reaction is covered, as well as Hollywood’s take on the film at the time including how it met up with the movie that took home the Oscar that year, All About Eve.

Two Sides of Mrs. Swanson: (10:37) This eleven minute short is, obviously, dedicated entirely to the actress who helped immortalize the film. We get an interview with Swanson’s granddaughter and others who knew her, and focuses as much on her as a person as it does an actress. It’s an interesting character piece that could easily be expanded to something greater if so desired; one gets the feeling there was far more to Swanson then meets the eye.

Stories of Sunset Boulevard: (11:22) This featurette would, perhaps, have been better merged in with the first short as, while it’s all different material, it covers a lot of the same ground. This features film critics, cast and crew relating various stores about the movie. Wilder again gets a lot of attention, particularly in his directorial style and sarcastic manner, and Olson gets more time to talk.

Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William Holden: (11:13) This eleven minute piece focuses on Holden, both as an actor and an individual, in the same way that the Swanson piece did. We get some information about the relationship between Holden and Stephanie Powers from his personal life, as well as how the actor and Olson bonded on the set. The short covers everyone’s opinion on what Holden brought to the role, as well as his later life and his interest in animal welfare.

Recording Sunset Boulevard: (5:51) This short focuses on the score by Franz Waxman and features Andrew Sarris and Robert Townson talking about it. It’s a fairly standard score production featurette and is a little bit superfluous with the larger short from the 2002 edition here too, but there’s some new information, particularly about the re-recording of the score for a new soundtrack.

The City of Sunset Boulevard: (5:36) This featurette focuses on the locations within Hollywood that Wilder used for the film, spoken about by Sikov and author Borislav Stanic. There’s some good stuff about the history of the spots and other films they were used in, as well as how Wilder made changes in order to fit the film better.

Morgue Prologue Script Pages: A holdover from the 2002 set, this is the script for the original “Morgue Prologue” that was intended to open the film. There are two versions, the original and revised prologues, and the pages have a camera icon which will show the shot footage. This was a nice little funny scene that, while best not used in the film, is worth checking out.

The Score of Sunset Boulevard: (14:28) This is the longer discussion of the score, and is the more informative short of the two. Waxman’s son John talks about his father’s love of music, and then they move on to discuss the process used for creating the movie’s score. There is a lot of nice behind-the-scenes information on how a film was scored in the day, as well as how Wilder’s input was given to influence Waxman’s work.

Behind the Gates: The Lot: (5:06) This short is basically a five minute chronicle of Paramount’s history through the silent era all the way up to the world of color, and for casual movie historians there is some good stuff here, though serious students are surely aware of all of this already.

Hollywood Location Map: This is an interactive map that shows the different locations in the film, selectable with a lot of anecdotal information along with the short montages.

Edith Head – The Paramount Years: (13:43) Another 2002 holdover, this chronicles the career of Edith Head, one of the most famous costumers in Hollywood history. It covers her career all the way through Paramount and her work on various films, and for those who are interested in one of the influential people in Hollywood’s history, this is an excellent piece.

Paramount in the 50's – Retrospective: (9:37) This is a nice little piece that covers several of the studio’s biggest films; Sunset Boulevard, Ten Commandments, White Christmas and more. I imagine most of these films will become Centennial Collections in their own right soon enough.

Original Theatrical Trailer: (3:16) Always fun to look at to see how studios market films, the theatrical trailer is included here.

Galleries: We get three photo galleries ported over from the 2002 set, covering the Production, the movie itself, and the Publicity facets.

Special Features Rating: 10.0

The 411: Sunset Boulevard is one of those films that no one who is a serious film student should have any excuse for not seeing. It is arguably Billy Wilder's best film, and quite possibly the greatest film noir ever made. Gloria Swanson and William Holden give virtuoso performances as Wilder takes uninhibited shots at the movie business's yesteryear and the dangerous lure of fame. An excellent audio and video transfer, spiffed up a bit from the 2002 DVD, is accompanied by a brilliant set of DVD features to create a must-own for those who don't yet have this movie; even those who have it in their collection might well want to check it out for the Special Features.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]