Close-up on Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream
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Publisher Description
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, a classic film noir and also a damning dissection of the Hollywood dream factory, evokes the glamour and ruin of the stars who subsist on that dream. It's also one long in-joke about the movie industry and those who made it great-and who were, in turn, destroyed by it. One of the most critically admired films of the twentieth century, Sunset Boulevard is also famous as silent star Gloria Swanson's comeback picture.
Sam Staggs's Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard tells the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it. It's about the writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett-sardonically called "the happiest couple in Hollywood"-and their raucous professional relationship. It's about the art direction and the sets, the costumes, the props, the lights and the cameras, and the personalities who used those tools to create a cinematic work of art.
Staggs goes behind the scenes to reveal: William Holden, endlessly attacked by his bitter wife and already drinking too much; Nancy Olson, the cheerful ingenue who had never heard of the great Gloria Swanson; the dark genius Erich von Stroheim; the once famous but long-forgotten "Waxworks"; and of course Swanson herself, who-just like Norma Desmond-had once been "the greatest star of them all."
But the story of Sunset Boulevard doesn't end with the movie's success and acclaim at its release in 1950. There's much more, and Staggs layers this stylish book with fascinating detail, following the actors and Wilder into their post-Sunset careers and revealing Gloria Swanson's never-ending struggle to free herself from the clutches of Norma Desmond.
Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard also chronicles the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical production of Sunset Boulevard and the explosive diva controversies that dogged it. The book ends with a shocking example of Hollywood life imitating Hollywood art. By the last page of this rich narrative, readers will conclude: We are those "wonderful people out there in the dark."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Staggs serves up another round of popcorn in this highly enjoyable follow-up to All About "All About Eve," plumbing the depths of the noir homage to the silent era, Sunset Boulevard. The book traces the film's history from the studio pairing of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett as screenwriters to the Academy Award disappointments to the film's rebirth as an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in the 1990s. Staggs's research is impressive: in addition to traditional print sources, he tapped unexpected sources, such as the film's previously uninterviewed supporting actress Nancy Olson, and explored nifty locales, like Norma Desmond's would-be neighborhood. The intrepid reporting results in little-known film facts: how co art director John Meehan conceived and set up the face-down water shot of the dead Joe Gillis (William Holden) and why then-megastar Montgomery Clift did not want to play opposite older female character Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Also entertaining are Staggs's descriptions of the many behind-the-scenes cat fights. Some of Staggs's film analysis such as his take on the "crowd-pleasing kitsch" sound movies of Cecil B. DeMille is standard, but his opinions on the Wilder-Brackett and Wilder I.A.L. Diamond pairings are sharp and original. There are also plenty of edifying sidebars on topics such as the history of Norma Desmond's exotic car (the Isotta-Fraschini), changes made to the script and "Smiling Franklyn Farnum," the silent western star who plays Norma Desmond's pet undertaker. Staggs has succeeded in presenting another remarkable film study. Photos not seen by PW.
Customer Reviews
Sunset…Blvd?
At various points during the reading of this book I had to remind myself that it was, purportedly, a study of Billy Wilder’s opus Sunset Blvd. Indeed, readers are promised “the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it.”
Alas, this accounts for only the first third of Staggs’ book. The lion’s share is given over to an exhausting and entirely superfluous account of the musical and its lengthy gestation. (A particular low point, for me, came when Staggs asks Petula Clark, the fifth woman to play Norma Desmond on stage, if she is an animal lover. By that point, I was quite convinced that Staggs had forgotten the film and his initial remit altogether.)
With some 320 pages to pad out, there are tangents aplenty: appraisals of Norma Desmond-inspired drag shows; an actual catalogue of the numerous times mainstream media have quoted famous lines from the movie; the baffling inclusion of an account of Gloria Swanson’s last love affair; and a chapter devoted to bashing Billy Wilder’s entire oeuvre post-1950, to name but a few.
The relegation of William Holden to a glorified footnote may come as a surprise to some readers, what with him being the star of the movie.
To be perfectly honest, my fears were aroused even before Staggs’ attention wavered. “Here I am reading a book about the making of one of my favourite films,” I said to myself, “and I’m not enjoying it.” The tone was altogether too gossipy for my tastes. Rather than a thoughtful treatise on the craftsmanship that went into making the picture, we get Staggs dishing the dirt. For instance, on his fruitless search for Swanson’s last lover, the author laments: “I would have loved to hear his side of the story…along with his views on Gloria Swanson.” Surely this is the stuff of tabloid magazines, I thought.
My decision to buy ‘Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard’ was swung by a very positive write-up in Publishers Weekly. On reflection, I wonder if Sam, as a contributor to that very same periodical, might not have been in a position to call in a few favours. Whatever the case may be, my advice: avoid this like a couple of repo men, and go get yourself the BFI Film Classics study by Steven Cohan for a more disciplined, eloquent and insightful take.