The Seedy Side of Tinseltown
The Film
1950 was a remarkable year for motion pictures. Among All About Eve, Born Yesterday, The Asphalt Jungle, Father of the Bride, The Third Man, and Samson and Delilah, it was pretty hard to complain that Hollywood wasn't making good pictures. Kurosawa wasn't as popular as DeMille, Huston, or Mankiewicz, but he was finally being noticed with the release of Rashomon. Billy Wilder was on a roll having achieved critical success with Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend (both released in the late 1940s), but Sunset Boulevard was a different kind of picture. There was an edge to it that really made it enormously popular with both critics and audiences alike.
Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond) and William Holden (Joe Gillis) star in this psychologically dark tale of a struggling screenwriter who finds himself at the mercy of a former silent film queen who lives with her creepy butler/former first-husband (in a wonderful performance by Eric von Stroheim) and longs to be famous once more.
Swanson is brilliantly adept at taking filthy rich Desmond from nasty and cold to desperately lonely and suicidal and it becomes difficult (even if it doesn't last long) to feel any sympathy for Holden who plays with her emotional fragility until it ultimately blows up in his face.
Cecil B. DeMille, Buster Keaton, and Hedda Hopper star as themselves in this tragic tale of a former star who gets left behind when the studios move to talkies. DeMille gets some significant screen time and genuinely tries to be a mensch with his former star.
The satire and hard hitting dialogue lay out a simple truth; Hollywood is not a nice place for those without a thick skin or the sense to know when to move on. Aspiring screenwriters should pay close attention to the film's script and warning.
The Picture
The Blu-ray transfer has a few spots where the shadow detail isn't reference quality, but the black levels on this sixty-two year-old film are certainly impressive. The transfer isn't grainy but there are a few soft spots that obscure detail; the rooms inside Swanson's creepy Hollywood mansion have enough pieces of furniture to fill three homes and it isn't always easy to make out what everything is.
The use of light is central to the story and it is clear that the restoration team paid close attention to that aspect of the film. Sunset Boulevard is a dark and creepy film and any transfer that did not respect that element was doomed to failure.
The film is offered in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1 and minus a few soft spots and some obscuring of fine shadow detail, looks great.
The Sound
Unlike another great Paramount release, The Ten Commandments, this film was not as well preserved by the studio. No original sound materials survived, so the restoration crew had to work with a variety of source elements which had to be analyzed, transferred, digitally cleaned, and incorporated into the final transfer. Paramount began work on restoring the original mono soundtrack in 2001-2002, so it is fair to say that they did everything possible to make this sound as great as it does.
The mono Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is really quite engaging; the dialogue is quite clear and it is obvious that the midrange was pumped up to give the track some required warmth. Sound levels are even throughout and while there is no surround information to report on, the film has an impressively dark feel thanks to a great soundtrack.
The Extras
If you love Hollywood; especially the history of the studio system, then you will find a great deal to digest with this Blu-ray release. The selection of material is quite vast and may be worth the price of admission on its own. Aside from the inside track on the making of Sunset Boulevard, the featurettes on the music and the studio are extremely informative. Gloria Swanson and William Holden are featured in two profiles and the gloves certainly come off.
Paramount has also included a comprehensive look at the real Sunset Boulevard and a behind-the-scenes look at the studio lot that will pique the interest of fans.The
The commentary by Ed Sikov, author of On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder is more information than you ever wanted to know about the Director, but it also does a good job of explaining what Hollywood was like during the period.
Final Thoughts
Billy Wilder understood that a solid script trumps all, but when you combine that with tremendous acting, spot-on directing, and a razor sharp bit of satire, you really have a film that will long be remembered. While not a demonstration quality release by any stretch of the imagination, Paramount has done a truly admirable job with this Blu-ray release. The audio mix and the picture quality are a vast step-up over any previous release and the comprehensive selection of bonus materials makes this a must-have for everyone who loves this timeless classic.
Mr. DeMille...this Blu-ray is ready for its close-up.
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