Written November 29, 2008
Billy Wilder's Genius Revisited on SUNSET BOULEVARD
1950.What an amazing year for great women's characters. Not only did you have Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, Anne Baxter Thelma Ritter in scintilating form in ALL ABOUT EVE, but there was newcomer Judy Holliday actually taking the Oscar that year for the screen adaptation of BORN YESTERDAY! Then of course you have Gloria Swanson, screen diva of the early days of talking pictures making not only her triumphant return to Hollywood, but getting the chance of a lifetime to play Norma Desmond, a faded glamour queen of the silver slient screen herself who is tragically mad in her perceptions of herself and the ever-changing world outside her crumbling mansion off the famous street. Bringing all this to a dramatic boiling point is the amazing Billy Wilder who had the audacity to skewer the film industry in brilliant a script with his co-writer Charles Bracket who concoct this story of a young writer ( William Holden ) who finds himself trapped by the deranged star. One you CANNOT afford to miss!
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