Sunset Blvd.

Directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Blvd. follows struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) as he befriends a silent-film star (Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond) and eventually finds himself drawn into her delusional fantasy world. Filmmaker Wilder, working from a script written with Charles Brackett and D. M. Marshman Jr., delivers a slow-moving drama that grows more and more absorbing as it progresses, and there’s certainly no denying the impact and effectiveness of the picture’s various performances – with Swanson’s commanding, downright iconic work here matched by a uniformly captivating roster of periphery players (including Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson). The pervasively watchable vibe is enhanced by an ongoing emphasis on the characters’ behind-the-scenes exploits in Hollywood, while the proliferation of unexpected plot twists, including the true nature of Norma’s relationship to her loyal butler, goes a long way towards periodically juicing the decidedly lackadaisical proceedings. By the time the impressively gripping climactic stretch rolls around, Sunset Blvd. has certainly lived up to its place as a classic example of 1950s Hollywood filmmaking.

***1/2 out of ****

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