- Film Review
- Reviewed By Tony Sloman
-
5 out of 5
Even the title of this dark, deeply satisfying work of cinematic genius can be read as a metaphor for the Hollywood machine and the long fading twilight of once-glittering careers. Master director Billy Wilder's witty, brilliantly constructed Tinseltown satire is both canny and knowing about the film industry and those souls unfortunate, and yet willing, enough to be caught in its wheels. The stark story of former movie queen Norma Desmond, haunted by memories of her past greatness ("I am big. It's the pictures that got small"), is greatly aided by superb casting, notably of silent-movie siren Gloria Swanson, who brings a desperate, vampiric glamour to the role of Norma. William Holden (a last minute replacement for Montgomery Clift) is also excellent as doomed writer Joe Gillis, who narrates the film in flashback from the scene of his death. Savage, dark and wholly original, this is Hollywood laid bare. Re-released in a spectacular restored version in 2002, it's too good to miss.
Plot Summary
Drama starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim. Screenwriter Joe Gillis floats dead in the swimming pool of a neglected Hollywood mansion. Six months earlier, out of work and desperate, he'd been hired as a writer by former silent screen star Norma Desmond, who was hoping to make a triumphant comeback.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Joe C Gillis
- William Holden (2)
- Norma Desmond
- Gloria Swanson
- Max Von Mayerling
- Erich von Stroheim
- Betty Schaefer
- Nancy Olson
- Sheldrake
- Fred Clark
- Morino
- Lloyd Gough
- Artie Green
- Jack Webb
- Undertaker / Courtier
- Franklyn Farnum
- First finance man
- Larry J Blake
- Second finance man
- Charles Drayton
- Cecil B DeMille
- Cecil B DeMille
- Hedda Hopper
- Hedda Hopper
- Buster Keaton
- Buster Keaton
- Anna Q Nilsson
- Anna Q Nilsson
- HB Warner
- H B Warner
- Ray Evans
- Ray Evans
- Jay Livingston
- Jay Livingston
- Sidney Skolsky
- Sidney Skolsky
- Bernice Mosk
- Bernice Mosk
Crew
- Director
- Billy Wilder
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