RIP Joan Fontaine/The Emperor Waltz (1948)

Yesterday, December 15, 2013, Joan Fontaine passed away at age 96. She was one of the last actresses alive from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She made films from the mid 1930s to the mid 1960s and TV films and appearances until 1994. Fontaine’s passing yesterday was one of several among Classic Hollywood this month. Eleanor Parker, Audrey Totter, and Peter O’Toole all passed within days of one another.   

            Even though Fontaine was 96 years old her death came as a bit of shock and it broke my heart. She and her sister Olivia de Havilland are two of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood who were/are still alive. All my other favorite actresses have been dead for many years (In all honesty I thought de Havilland would have been the first to go!) so I have never experienced one passing away. This is probably odd but to me whenever I watched Fontaine in a film it was cool to know she was still alive and in some way that made me enjoy her films even more. Weird I know but it is the truth. I guess I was proud of her for still being alive!

            Joan Fontaine is one of the reasons I became a fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Back in 2006 I was working at Best Buy in the Media section (which at that time included CDs, DVDs, video games, and MP3s). It was around that year that I began to become really interested in old movies. My great grandma mother is in love with Cary Grant (she is 96 now and still alive) and she always went on and on about him. I decided to see what all the fuss was about so with my discount I bought An Affair to Remember and Notorious. I loved him in those films especially Notorious. From Notorious I fell in love with Ingrid Bergman so I bought Spellbound and Casablanca. I also became a big Hitchcock fan and wanted more of his films. For Christmas that year I bought my great grandma Spellbound and Notorious on DVD. I asked her about Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rebecca since the store was selling that as well. She told me it was a great movie and it is one of her favorites and that I would love it . And boy was she right. At the time I had no idea who Joan Fontaine was since she was not listed as one of the “big” iconic classic actresses. I adored Fontaine in Rebecca she was wonderful as the shy timid young girl in a big house full of sinister secrets. I could not wait to see more of Fontaine in other films and the more I saw of her the more I came to admire her. She became less of the shy timid girl from Rebecca and Suspicion and more a beautiful confident and at times funny woman. I can never get enough of her young innocent sweetness in The Women. I love her comedic side in You Gotta Stay Happy and Casanova’s Big Night. Fontaine truly had a wide range of talent as an actress and played every one of her parts to perfection. I have enjoyed all her films I have seen so far… yes, even The Witches which was truly terrible.

            Joan Fontaine will forever be that shy, timid twenty-three year old from Rebecca to me no matter how many of her films I have seen her in. I feel I was meant to be a fan of Joan Fontaine’s when I was working at Best Buy all those years ago and I am very proud to say I am and will always be.

            For today’s post I have decided to watch one of Joan Fontaine’s films from the late 1940s called The Emperor’s Waltz. I chose this film because I wanted to watch something light and funny, not something dramatic and heavy.

 

“Who is he?”

“The most vulgar, impossible, obnoxious, ill-mannered...”

 “In one word, he's an American!”

            I love history. I always wish I could go back in time and experience it. I say “experience” because I would never want to live in the parts of history I would like to go visit. Well, maybe I would like to live in 1920s and 30s Paris and hang out with all the Surrealist artists and photographers. Actually, never mind the living in the time either, I do not think I would have fit in too well. I would just want to meet Lee Miller, Many Ray, Chanel, Schiaparelli, and Jean Cocteau. Anyway… one time period I would like to visit would be the late 1800s/early 1900s. The world at this time was coming into a new modern age. Art was moving away from the academies and into new unexplored territories. Fashion for women was slowly becoming less restrictive, less elaborate with layers of fabric, and beautifully simple. Industries were booming. Needless to say this time is one of my favorite time periods to study especially in terms of art history. The Emperor Waltz takes place in turn-of-the-century Austria, a time when the world was still peaceful and quiet and somewhat innocent. A time I would like to experience.

            The film opens with a man sneaking into a ball. He finds the woman he is looking for and she is not happy to see him. He wants to speak to her. Some old bats sitting above the party see the man who one of them says his name is Virgil (Bing Crosby) and he is an American. The same woman says that Virgil and the woman Countess Johanna (Fontaine) had been having an affair that rocked Vienna for four months and what makes everything worse is that Virgil is not only an American but he is a traveling salesman.

            The film then goes to telling the story in a flashback form of how Virgil and Johanna fell in love. Virgil had gone to castle of Emperor Franz-Josef with his small dog Buttons and a big black case with his record player inside. Inside the castle he is told to wait in a hallway with dozens of other people. Two of the people waiting are Johanna and her father with their poodle. Father and daughter have been summoned to meet the Emperor. The father believes the Emperor will arrange a marriage for her with someone rich from a foreign country. Johanna does not think the same way as her father. She is still getting over the loss of her husband from two years before. When they meet with the Emperor he has arranged for a match but the match is not for Johanna it is for her dog and his dog who have pure pedigree blood lines. Johanna’s dog begins to bark and outside in the waiting area Buttons hears her and he begins to bark.

            When the barking is under control everyone in the waiting area hears a clicking sound. Virgil says the wrong things about what is in his box and everyone panics thinking he is there with a bomb. Once he is brought outside he demonstrates the box. The Emperor’s protector tells Virgil there is no way he will ever be allowed to see the Emperor and show him the product. Johanna, her father, and dog come out and just as they are about to leave when Buttons sees the dog and runs towards her. Virgil is mad because Buttons is hurt and Johanna just left. He finds out where she lives and goes to yell at her and show her what happened to Buttons. Johanna does not really care for a scroungie dog like Buttons or Virgil for that matter because of their difference in class. Before he leaves her house Virgil walks right up to Johanna and kisses her. She lightly pushes him away. He does not say much he just walks away whistling.

            Virgil found out the Emperor will be up at his hunting lodge for a while. His plan is to play the record player while the Emperor is in the woods thinking the man would like what he hears and want to buy one. Johanna and her father and dog are heading up to the lodge as well. Their car passes Virgil as he is walking. The two dogs attack each other yet again. Not long later Johanna’s dog has a nervous breakdown because of Buttons. A doctor tells her the only way the dog can get over her fear is if she confronts the dog that has scared her. Johanna finds Virgil staying at an inn in the village. Virgil has a talk with Buttons about being nice to the girl dog and to not let his pride get in the way with being nice to her. Buttons and Johanna’s dog become friends and Johanna falls in love with Virgil.

            Johanna cannot stop thinking of Virgil. She tells her dog not to think of Buttons when really she is telling herself not to think of Virgil. For weeks owners and dog are inseparable. Virgil wants to marry Johanna and take her back to his mother in Newark, NJ (**woo Old Hollywood Jersey reference!!**). Johanna does not want to at first but then agrees. She tells Virgil he has to speak to the Emperor first. The Emperor asks Virgil if he really love Johanna and wants to see her happy. If she were to go live with him and his mother and live their lifestyle she would never be happy again. Virgil does love her so he decides to break things off.

            Now back at the party, Virgil wants to tell Johanna he loves her and he broke things off because he loves her. After a series of events Johanna decides to be Virgil.

            Joan Fontaine and Bing Crosby were cute together. This is only the second time I have seen Crosby in a film and I found him very charming and quite funny. There was a scene where he just went crazy with anger and it made me laugh. Fontaine looked wonderful in color she was so pretty in light colored dresses against light backgrounds. She was so elegant and beautiful in her costumes. It seems as though she was meant that period.

            The dog scenes were hilarious. The scene where Johanna’s dog is in psychoanalysis was so damn funny. Every time to psychologist mentioned Buttons or another dog she freaked out. Oh, the dog was actually laying on a couch just like a human which made the entire scene. I was dying a slow death of adorableness when Johanna brings her dog to see Virgil and Buttons. Virgil gives Buttons the command to kiss the dog’s paw in an act of kindness. I am a dog owner (my “little” nine month old spoiled girl is a yellow lab) so I was going crazy with all the cute dog scenes.

            I thought it was awesome how the character if Virgil was supposed to be from Newark. I just recently wrote a paper about Victorian house that is a part of the Newark Museum called The Ballantine House. The Ballantine’s were a prominent Newark family who owned a brewery and the son built his house that is now part of the Museum. It used to face a nice quiet beautiful park and was surrounded by houses similar in size to it. Now of course the houses and park gone and it remains a symbol of a lost time when Newark was respectable and thriving. Newark was also home to many groups of immigrants. It was also home to many important businesses including jewelry. When Virgil said he was from Newark I immediately imagined what type of business he worked for and where he would have lived in the city in this time. It actually depended on what his ethnicity was because there were different quarters for the different cultures during the late 1800s early 1900s. (If any of you reading this live in NJ please go to the Newark Museum it is a beautiful wonderful place. It is in a decent area Rutgers is right next to it and Seton Hall Law is not too far away. I promise nothing bad will happen to you here).  

            The Emperor Waltz was entertaining and a good light watch. The storyline is really silly and not good by any means. Joan Fontaine and Bing Crosby carry the entire boring story. You watch for their scenes together and the dogs and that is about it. And maybe for the clothing and beautiful scenery that takes your imagination away. Only watch The Emperor Waltz if you are fan of either Joan Fontaine or Bing Crosby. 

Some Like It Hot (1959)

“Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it's a whole different sex!” 

            The first I ever heard of Some Like It Hot I was young and I saw it as a high school play. To this day I can remember sitting in the high school auditorium and being a little overwhelmed because I was in a high school seeing older cool kids put on a play. Flash forward several years later to when, as a classic film buff, I finally see the film version of Some Like It Hot. I cannot remember if I had bought the DVD or saw it on TV first but I do know I have had the DVD for years. Some Like It Hot is a flawless comedy. The story and the acting are truly funny from beginning to end.

            Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are struggling musicians in 1929. They have a job at a speakeasy that is disguised as a funeral parlor. The club is owned by a well known gangster named Spats Colombo (George Raft). Joe and Jerry have no money whatsoever. They keep borrowing money from the girl in the show at the club, they are two months behind their rent, and owe a lot of money to the butcher. One night the club is raided by the police. Joe and Jerry manage to avoid being arrested. Joe comes up with the idea to pawn their jackets to get money to bed on a horse race. Joe, naturally, loses all the money. They go searching for a job at every talent agency they can think of. The only job available for a saxophone and a bass player is for a traveling women’s orchestra headed down to Florida called Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators.

              Their luck depending on how you see it changes either for good or for worse. Joe has managed to borrow a car from a secretary he has been seeing in one of the talent agencies. The car is in a garage where Spats just so happens to be as well. Spats and his men have found out that another gangster named Toothpick Charlie was the one who ratted their club out to the police. He rounds up Charlie and some of his men and shoots them (a la the St. Valentine’s Day massacre). Joe and Jerry took cover by the side of the car but are given away when the gas tank is full and the pump is pushed out. They manage to get away unharmed but now they have run out of town if they want to keep their lives. As Joe sees it the only way out is for them to head down to Florida.

            The next scene is Joe and Jerry dressed as women. Jerry is panicking because the clothes are bothering and he keeps tripping on his heels. Joe is calm and just goes with it. Of course they had to change their names along with their appearances- Joe goes by Josephine and Jerry was supposed to go by Geraldine but at the last minute changed his name to Daphne.

            On the train they are introduced to lead singer Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe). Both Jerry and Joe’s jaws drop when they get their first look at Sugar. Joe is quickest to react and gets some alone time with Sugar in the bathroom, not as a man but as Josephine. Sugar tells Joe that she has not had the best luck with men. Her last two boyfriends had been saxophone players and when they play a certain song she falls apart at their feet. She also mentions a few things about men with glasses and yachts.

            When the band arrives in Florida, the hilarity of the film begins. Daphne is hit on literally the moment she/he walks through the door by a man named Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Brown). Joe has stolen the band manager’s clothing and glasses and pretends to be an heir to Shell Oil so he can get some time with Sugar.

            Unfortunately the boys have not gotten far enough away from Spats and his gang. Spats arrives in town for a meeting of gangsters and they are all staying at the same hotel the band is at!

            Every single actor is this film was perfectly cast. I am not fan of either Jack Lemmon or Tony Curtis but they are fabulous as Joe/Josephine and Jerry/Daphne. Lemmon steals the film. He is constantly talking a mile a minute and always worrying until he gets on the train with all the women. His laugh cracks me up it is so silly and giggly. Curtis looked awesome in drag. I love the way he carried himself as if he was a pro (he was way better than I ever could be in heels and a dress) and even had a face of a masculine woman. He  does a spot on impression of Cary Grant that if you were not looking you would swear Grant was on the screen. This was the first time I ever saw Marilyn Monroe in a film. At first I was not thrilled with her at all she drove me up a wall with her voice and she is not the greatest actress. I have since seen several of her films and I have come to like her somewhat. Joe E. Brown steals the film along with Jack Lemmon. Their scenes are so hilarious because his character constantly chases Daphne and then Lemmon almost forgetting he is a boy gets engaged to Osgood! George Raft looked good as Spats. He was older but I think he was more handsome older than when he was younger (I find Raft to be oddly handsome). Since had played several variations of gangsters in the 1930s Raft was great as Spats.

            The last time I watched Some Like It Hot was a few years ago. At the time I was just getting into classic films so I did not really appreciate the story or the acting or the direction. Billy Wilder to me was just the name of the director of the film. I have seen several of Wilder’s films and appreciate his talent so much. It was nice to go back and watch this film with appreciation for Wilder’s storytelling and direction. His humor is dark and dry and quick. Wilder to me was a man ahead of his time with his screenplays and direction. I could not believe how much he was able to get away with in the film as far as the story and the content.

            Some Like It Hot is flawless in every way. Marilyn Monroe could be seen as a flaw but she is not once the film gets going because of all the other characters and actors around her. I think Sugar is a character all women can relate, we are all looking for Mr. Right particularly one who is rich, good looking, and smart. There is a scene for everyone to laugh at with its smart dialogue and sassy characters. Some Like It Hot is a film that should not be overlooked by anyone.

 

Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

“You needn't be afraid, Miss Brown. Not a bit. You see, we are like ... two trains, halted for a moment at the same station. But we're going in different directions. We can't change our course, any more than we can hold back the dawn.”

            I am always a sucker for films with my favorite actors or actresses. I will watch any film by anyone I like. Hold Back the Dawn had a big bonus because it included two actresses I greatly admire Olivia de Havilland and Paulette Goddard. As the film progressed I found it to be a great story of wanting a better life and the want to live life.

            The film starts off with Georges Iscovescu (Charles Boyer) looking to get into Paramount Studios (can you guess which studio released the film?) to talk to a director. He bypasses some officials and finds the director. Georges knows the director from the Riviera so he asks the director if he could tell him his story so that it could be used for a movie. From here the film is told through flashbacks.

            Georges traveled to Mexico so he could get a visa into the United States. The US Immigrations Office has a quota of how many people from certain countries can enter the US. Georges is Romanian and is told he will have to wait four or five years to enter the country. This is a big blow to him but there is nothing he can do.

            At a bar one night his friend Anita (Paulette Goddard) finds him. She and Georges used to run around Europe scamming people out of money. They both still have feelings for each other as each seems to turn up the heat in their conversation. Anita had once been living in Mexico and at the same hotel as Georges until she met an American, married him, and then divorced him, and now she is an American citizen. She plants the idea of marrying an American woman into his head and now Georges is on the prowl. The time could not be more perfect with Americans coming to celebrate the Fourth of July.

            In the morning as he is walking along the sidewalk a kid from a car throws a firecracker out the window and startles him. The kid is in a car full of boys being driven by a young woman who is their teacher. She tells the boy to apologize but then Georges gets rude because he is upset with everyone coming through the border so easily when he can’t. She then tries to drive off in a huff but hits the car in front of her instead. The whole day Georges is putting the moves and being charming to a women he found alone at a bull fight. By the end of the day he finds out she has a husband who was in the car all day.

            On his way back to the hotel he runs into the woman who was driving the car. She has is in a garage trying to get the car fixed with the boys running around like animals. He goes over to see how she is doing and she is all frazzled. He finds out her name is Emmy Brown (de Havilland) and she is a teacher from Azusa, California and all she wanted to do was show her class a fiesta and teach them about the Mexican culture. The car will not be ready until the morning and Emmy and the students will have to sleep at the hotel.

            After he gets Emmy settled downstairs Georges goes up to his room and waiting for him is Anita. She has gotten the room next to his. She tells him that once he can get in America they can be together again and go to New York to scam people and that she will give him anything. He takes her ring planning to ask Emmy to marry him. In the early morning hours he pretty much plays a trick on the naïve young school teacher by asking her to marry him saying that he is lonely and that she has brought him happiness. She agrees because she wants to live her life she does not want to be lonely anymore.

            The teacher and the gigolo marry. Georges has to wait four weeks until his visa clears to enter the US. Emmy brings her students back and in the mean time they write letters to each other. Georges and Anita spend time together planning what they will do once they are together again. He tells his partner that he will only take a half hour to break things off with Emmy by telling her she is nice and that the marriage will not work out. As they walk out of a café he sees across the street at the hotel that Emmy’s car is in the front.

            Emmy is in his room with a whole bunch of things. She is so excited to be married and really loves Georges. The head immigration officer has been cracking down on foreigners marrying Americans just to get into the States so Georges suggests to Emmy that they go away anywhere for a few days and have a real honeymoon.

            On the impromptu trip Georges begins to really fall in love with Emmy. He sees that she is from a small town where nothing really happens and how this quick marriage has really added something to her life. She is so excited to be married and truly in love with him and he feels bad that he is just marrying her to use her. When they get back to the hotel after their trip he tells Anita their plan is off he wants to stay with his wife. Angry, Anita tells Emmy the whole truth.

            Emmy is called down to be questioned about Georges by the immigrations officer. She tells the officer that it was she who asked Georges to marry her and that they are very happy together. The officer is miffed over the whole thing but he lets it go. Emmy leaves Georges angry but she still loves him.

            On the way home something happens to Emmy and when Georges hears about it he risks his visa by driving to her.

            This is a love story made in 1941 of course it is going to end happy.

            The cast was excellent all the way down to the featured players. Olivia de Havilland was all kinds of fantastic and adorable. She was nominated for her first Academy Award for Hold Back the Dawn but was very unfortunately beaten out by her sister Joan Fontaine for her performance in Suspicion. Now I adore Fontaine almost as much as de Havilland (in fact I knew who Joan was before Olivia and would not have heard of Olivia without knowing her sister) but Suspicion was terrible she should not have even been considered for any sort of award let alone an Oscar. I think Fontaine won just because she was snubbed the year before for her performance in Rebecca that she should have won and the Academy felt bad. If I had been de Havilland I would have been really pissed off I lost out to one of the worst dramatic film performances ever. Paulette Goddard was just awesome the woman is so underrated as an actress she was so versatile. Anita was such a bitch and Goddard played it wonderfully. Up to this point I have only seen Goddard in comedies not something dramatic like this and she just nailed it. Charles Boyer was very good. Underneath you can see that his character really loved Emmy and truly felt bad for what he was doing to her. Boyer was very good at playing emotions and showing them.

            The story was well written by Billy Wilder and Charlie Brackett. It reminded me a bit of Casablanca where people were desperate to immigrate to America for a better life. One lady was so desperate for her baby to be born in America that she lied to some guards at the gate saying that she had an appointment with the immigration official and she had her baby in his office on US soil so that it would be an American citizen (yes I know Casablanca was made two years after Hold Back the Dawn). You are left unable to feel bad for Georges wanting to get into the US and taking advantage of Emmy the way he did. Sure he was going to do not so great things once he hooked up with Anita but he had that sense of desperation but he also did redeem himself but really falling in love with Emmy.

            Hold Back the Dawn is a good film. The performances are all very well done by the entire cast and the story was well written. At some points I found it a bit tedious to sit through I felt some parts dragged. My favorite scene was between Paulette Goddard and Olivia de Havilland I was so hoping they would have a scene together just because I like them both so much. Olivia de Havilland alone is worth sitting through the film, there is a reason she is one of the ultimate classic actresses and this is one of her many fantastic films which proves it.

            Catch Hold Back the Dawn on Youtube in full or if TCM airs it. The film is currently unavailable on DVD.

Double Indemnity (1944)



“How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

            Double Indemnity is considered one of the quintessential Noir films. Everything about it screams Noir.  

            Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is an insurance salesman in 1938. One of his clients is a man named Dietrichson with a bored and lonely wife named Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck). On the way back to his office one day Walter stops by Dietrchson’s house to talk about renewing his car insurance. Dietrichson is not there but Phyllis is and she greets Walter in nothing but a towel wrapped around her. When Phyllis comes downstairs (now fully dressed) Walter is completely taken by her. She asks him about accident insurance without his knowing it because he does not have enough money for it but she does and she can pay it off. Walter sees some shadiness about this plan. The next day he visits the home again and Phyllis tells Walter she often thinks about killing her husband but she never goes through it. Walter is so smitten with Phyllis he tells her he will plan the murder since he knows how they can get the insurance money without making the death look suspicious.     

            The two plan for weeks when finally the perfect opportunity arises: Dietrichson is going on a business trip and he has to take the train. What makes the whole situation even more perfect is that Dietrichson broke his leg they will make it seem he fell off the train.

            The plan works even Walter’s coworker, Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), who is known for his thoroughness believes the accident. But after a while Keyes sees through this death and hits the nail on head saying that Phyllis was working with someone else but he does not know who yet.

            Everything starts to unravel. Phyllis was never in love with Walter she was just using him for his insurance angle. Walter goes to Phyllis’ house where he will settle everything. She also had her own idea to settle things; she shoots Walter in the shoulder. At that moment she tells him now she really loves him but Walter does not believe her and gets his own revenge.

            I am not really sure how I feel about Double Indemnity. It is ranked on AFI’s list of the best one hundred films at number thirty-eight. There are some aspects like the writing by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Wilder’s directing, Miklos Rosza’s score, the story being told through flashback, and the cinematography can lay claim for it to be a good classic film and as an example of what a Noir film is but not as one of the greatest films ever made. The dialogue and the story was there and the direction was great but I really felt that the acting was not what it could have been from Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Well maybe MacMurray was good he did well going from this nice salesman to falling so hard for a woman that he was willing to commit murder to be with her. Stanwyck I have seen her act better I was not thrilled with her…. and I think I was also really distracted by her awful wig. Just about the only thing I liked about Stanwyck were her clothes which were designed by Edith Head. The only good actor I felt was Edward G. Robinson as Keyes. The question is when did the man ever give a bad performance?

            One scene I did like and thought was genius was after Walter throws Dietrichson’s body on the track and Phyllis is waiting for him in the car. When Walter gets in the car Phyllis goes to start it but the car hesitates and does not start right away. Their faces show their paranoia. My mind started racing as to what would happen if the car really did not start as I am sure was what the characters were supposed to be thinking. That was the only time out of the whole film where I was not sure what would happen next and truly engrossed in the film.

            Double Indemnity is definitely a classic film to watch. Billy Wilder is one of the greatest writers/directors to have graced Hollywood. He made a great film but somewhere it just falls flat. The plot of the story has been seen over and over again but here even though I found the acting was not so great I found it more believable and not as boring because of the actors’ portrayal of the characters. My expectations of Double Indemnity were neither high nor low I really cannot pinpoint exactly why I felt the film was flat. I am sure there is something I am missing; maybe I will give Double Indemnity another chance some time.

Sunset Boulevard (1951)



“You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.”

“I am big. It's the pictures that got small”

            Everyone has heard of Sunset Boulevard (who doesn’t know “Alright Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup”?). Sunset is one of the greatest films ever made. It is brutally honest and pitiful. One of the most important aspects a screenwriter has to keep in mind is the need for the audience to feel for their characters. In Sunset we do feel for the characters, we feel sad and sorry for them. I feel bad not only for these fictional characters but for real actors and actresses out there who are real life Norma Desmonds who have seen their careers come and go and they can only live in the past.

            For those of you who have not heard of Sunset Boulevard and why the film is culturally significant, the story is about a writer named Joe Gillis (William Holden) who is running out of money as well as luck. Joe is about to have his car repossessed when he drives his car into an old house to hide it from the repo men who are after him. The garage he has pulled into is part of a house owned by an old silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). She has been living in the past ever since her film career faded many years ago. Her house is full of old photographs spanning the glory days of her career. Norma has been working on a script about the Biblical woman Salome. She hires Joe to clean up the script so she can give it to Cecil B. DeMille to make with her starring as the title character.

            As time goes on, Norma falls in love with Joe and becomes very possessive of him. He has to sneak out at night to write a screenplay with a reader named Betty Schaefer. His life is no longer his own, Norma has completely taken possession of his life. She has moved all his things into her house and has bought him all new expensive clothing. Max, Norma’s butler as well as former husband and former director, has told her that Joe has been sneaking out at night to be with Betty. Norma calls Betty telling her things about Joe and that she (Betty) probably means nothing to him. Joe gets to the phone and tells Betty to come over. When she comes Joe is kind of cruel to her telling her this is what his life has come to and he cannot get out it.

            Joe packs his things to head back to his hometown; he has truly had enough of Hollywood and certainly has had enough of Norma and her drama. Norma grabs a gun threatening to kill herself but Joe doesn’t care. As he is walking out Norma shoots him in back and he falls face first into the pool.

            Before you get mad me for giving away the ending, the story is told through flashbacks and begins with Joe’s body floating in the pool. He’s the disembodied narrator throughout the film at certain points.

            If you look at Psycho the reason why is was so scary and had such an impact was because it could really happen there are men out in the world like Norman Bates. Sunset Boulevard made an impact and still makes an impact because it is a real story there are actresses out there like Norma Desmond. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote an honest film of what Hollywood and celebrity can do to a person. Sunset Boulevard, the street, became well known in the 1920s when people were truly making a fortune in the movie business. Actors, directors, and producers built lavish mansions in excess along this stretch of road. Driving down this road Wilder often wondered what happened to the once glamorous and extravagant stars were doing now after their glamour and extravagance had faded.

            Who better to play a once glamorous and popular silent screen actress than a real former silent screen actress than Gloria Swanson? Gloria Swanson was hugely popular in the 1920s staring in many silent films. Her life was splashed all over magazines with millions of adoring fans. By the time sound came her career ground to a slow halt. She made some sound movies in the 1930s such as Tonight or Never but she accepted the end of her major career. Apparently Norma Shearer, Mae West, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo were considered and asked to play the part of Norma Desmond. Gloria Swanson is so perfectly eccentric and wonderful that to imagine someone like Norma Shearer (who would have been awful) or Mae West would not have made as much of an impact. Gloria Swanson just had what it took to play an old star who was stuck in the past.

            Eric Von Stroheim was a famous director. The film that Norma shows Joe was a real movie Gloria Swanson made with Von Stroheim called Queen Kelly. Von Stroheim was notorious for making excruciatingly long films. Queen Kelly was taking too long to make so Gloria Swanson walked off the set and lost a lot of money.

            Billy Wilder took away the illusion of Hollywood like adding old stars such as Buster Keaton and the other “Waxworks” who could not successfully make it in the talkies and pictures of Gloria Swanson from her heyday (many of them including stills and promotional pictures from one of her best film Sadie Thompson). These faded stars as well as Cecil B. DeMille blur the lines between relaity and fiction just like Norma cannot see what is real and what is not. Even Joe and his friends show the real side to being a writer or a reader or an assistant director; they make no money and just barely get by.

Whenever I watch Sunset Boulevard I can never find fault it in. This is American film making at its best. All of our emotions are touched upon as we watch these characters and how their lives just spiral out of control. We all have a secret wish to be famous movie stars living in the lap of luxury with millions of adoring followers but after watching this film reality hits us and our dreams quite possibly dashed.