Jason Callen
13Nov12
Well said, and much nicer than I would have responded to such a claim. A great film whether you are a film historian or not.
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Displaying wall posts 1 - 30 of 100 in total
Ricardo Branco
30Apr13
Primeiro filme que vi na cinemateca. Glorious Gloria e o tecto importado de Portugal. Norma Desmond é das melhores personagens de sempre e não pude deixar de me ver aqui e ali ao longo desta Blvd.
Jesse Lobbs
4Dec12
It continues to be my favorite film. Gloria Swanson becomes Norma Desmond in a way that no one else could. It captures the pitilessness that Hollywood can personify at times. Great screenplay by Brackett and Wilder.
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HKFanatic
12Nov12
I read a claim on here that this film is no longer relevant in 2012 and remains of interest only to 'film historians.' I disagree but I think part of the reason this movie endures in particular for cinema buffs is because at its core are two essential truths about the picture industry: 1.) fame is a fleeting and cruel mistress. And more importantly 2.) the invention of 'talkies' *did* in fact put a premature end to an artform that was still developing and was still creating works of importance around the globe. For all of its ugliness, "Sunset Boulevard" is a bittersweet ode to everything that was lost when silent cinema was abandoned by the studio system.
Anderson De Gazon
28Oct12
The script is one of the tightest ever put to screen. Resonates just as cleverly as it did-62 years ago!
TakaAwesome
10Sep12
Unfortunately, I kind of agree with Mark down below. I enjoyed this film, the dialogue particularly - but I largely feel that this hasn't aged well. Don't get me wrong, I think it will always an enjoyable watch; but is this really that significant a film today, thematically? It wasn't necessarily head and shoulders above other noirs - and certainly not one of the greatest American films of all time in my opinion.
Mark Desrosiers
18Jun12
Go figure, fifty years on, the film itself starts behaving like Norma Desmond: confident of its importance, its beauty, its fan base (now mostly fogeys and film-school wastrels). But really, it has aged horribly, and offers us nothing in 2007: Hollywood "dark side" scab-picking (circa anytime, but especially 1949) ain't exactly eternal, and Billy Wilder's misanthropy is most wearisome here.
Cinematic Cteve
25Mar12
Life Imitates Art on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams: http://cinemauprising.blogspot.com/2009/06/life-imitates-art-on-boulevard-of.html
Classroom Battles
21Feb12
One of the most finely written movie I've ever seen, but I don't really think the voice-over was of any use, because it was doing nothing else to say with words what we could already see with images. The few moments without the voice-over are pure moments of cinematic grace. Gloria Swanson plays one of the most scary femme fatale characters I've seen (along with Better Davis or Joan Crawford). Incredible ending.
bleadof
5Feb12
Four stars and I'm not quite sure why I'm giving that many. It's good, don't get me wrong, but there were times when I was looking at my clock and wondering when it might end. Probably, the stellar performance of Gloria Swanson, kept me interested throughout - she's awesome. My favorite scene is where she is entertaining William Holden and does her Charlie Chaplin impression. It's definitely worth a look.
ana kinukawa
4Feb12
Amazing how there's no definitive position in this film. Who is the bad guy? Who knows! People are always people, reigned by ambition, pride, passion, fear, kindness, pity, love. Each character shows this precisely. Billy Wilder's geniality is expressed through his actors, his images and his amazing soundtrack, which goes perfectly with the psychological thriller. Simply beautiful.
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