On Friday, April 2, 2010 at 12:14:00 PM UTC-7, Stone me wrote:

Dir.Billy Wilder
I've always been fond of this picture, from the very
first scene to the last.
The idea of starting at the end and flashing back via
William Holden's commentary, I thought couldn't have
passed through a "system" described so well in
"The Player"(1992).
The contemporary taste for black and white, an overall
darkness, and a dame who on the surface seems like
poison, gives it a Noir feel.
It's all about Hollywood, and Holden plays a writer who
finds himself selling out all his sense of self-worth,
dignity and courage, which I suppose many have described
as the wages of a Hollywood success.
Swanson plays an aged Silent Era actress, who cannot come to
terms with the reality that time has moved on. Holden
compares her to the Dickens character Miss Haversham.
Her faithful (and loving?) retainer is played by Von
Stronheim, who does all he can to help Swanson stay in her
world of illusion.
I've read it was cruel of Wilder to arrange for Swanson and
Von Stronheim to play characters which seem to mock their
real lives. My take on it is that they both knew it and
embraced it as a challenge of their skill and determination.
In the end, I felt that it was a tale of tragedy, that would
have graced the Silent screen too.
The awful Swanson is in the end, a pitiable figure, and Holden's
character screened as it is in the pool, a side issue, not
requiring our emotion.
Some of the dialogue seemed difficult to take, given that it
was about screen writing.
Joe Gillis (as narrator): You don't yell at a sleepwalker. He
may fall and break his neck. Gillis is discussing Norma Desmond.
Wouldn't it have been better to have said:
"You don't yell at sleepwalkers."
"They may fall and break their necks."? The next sentence
referring to Desmond would have sounded less contrived.
Another line spoken by Holden includes a sentence where the
tense is change halfway through.
After watching this version (I think there were snips) I still
love the film, it's overall concept,style and the general level
of competence in the acting. Swanson was OTT but the part demanded
that.
Stone me

(Recent Youtube upload):

Dave's Faves No. 130 (Waxman)

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