Sunset Boulevard

by Steven Cohan

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard was a critical and commercial success on its release in 1950 and remains a classic of film noir and one of the best-known Hollywood films about Hollywood. Both its opening, with William Holden as the screenwriter Joe Gillis floating facedown in ageing star Norma Desmond's (Gloria Swanson) pool, and lines such as 'I am big, it's the pictures that got small' are some of the most memorable in Classical Hollywood cinema.

Steven Cohan's study of the film draws on original archival research to shed new light on the film's production history, and the contribution to the film's success and meanings of director Wilder, stars Holden and Swanson but also supporting actors Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson (who plays Betty Schaefer), Cecil B. DeMille, and Hedda Hopper, as well as costumier Edith Head, and composer Franz Waxman. Cohan considers the film both as a 'backstudio' picture (a movie about Hollywood) and as a film noir, and in the context of McCarthyism, blacklisting and the Hollywood Ten.

Cohan explores how the film was marketed, its reception and afterlife, tracing how the film is at once a product of its own particular historical moment as the movie industry was transitioning out of the studio era, yet one that still speaks powerfully to contemporary audiences, and speculates on the reasons for its enduring appeal.

Genres: Film

147 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2022

About the author

Steven Cohan is Dean’s Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Syracuse University.

Reviews

[Harvey Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable, engaging book. Cohan provides an insightful context for appreciating how scriptwriters are represented (considering HUAC) along with how Swanson's and Holden's acting foregrounds differences between acting for silent movies and acting for talkies. Cohan's comments on voiceover had me thinking about the film in a new light. The links between Sunset Boulevard and Wilder's later movie Fedora are also fascinating. There's room to speculate more on the intriguing play in the film between performance, desire, cinema, masters and servants, and Cohan's reading, given Wilder's groundbreaking work, could have risked saying more on sexuality.

[David Sterritt]

“Sunset Blvd.” is a great film, and one of the things Steven Cohan does in his book on the picture is to make a case for using the “Sunset Boulevard” spelling of the title. He also does a good deal else, exploring the relationship between auteur Billy Wilder and coscreenwriter Charles Brackett, looking into the film’s attitude toward Hollywood ageism, and tracing its influence and ongoing popularity. A useful and engaging volume.

[Lillian Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent history although it says nothing new.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

way too conventional for one of the best unconventional films