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In this darkly comic noir masterpiece from Billy Wilder, a struggling Hollywood screenwriter (William Holden) moves in with a delusional silent film star named Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who wants him to write the script for her big comeback. But when the writer strikes up a relationship with a younger woman (Nancy Olson), the eccentric diva goes dangerously insane with envy. Sunset Boulevard is both film noir and dark comedy, a psychological thriller as well as a peek behind the sordid curtains of Tinseltown. It’s also about as campy as a film can get without losing its classic status. There’s nothing else quite like it.

You’re immediately pulled in by narration from a dead man. Yes, Holden’s character starts off the story floating face down in Swanson’s swimming pool. The rest of the movie shows you how he got that way. Swanson, a real life aging silent film star, is introduced early on — mistaking the wandering Holden for her dead chimpanzee’s pallbearer. (Did I mention the campy aspect?) Swanson is magical as Norma Desmond, chewing the scenery and charging the film with her suitably over-the-top performance. The Oscar-winning screenplay gives her a plethora of great moments, but my favorite comes in her first scene with Holden when she rails against her own obscurity.

Holden: “You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.”
Desmond: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

Erich von Stroheim (who actually directed Swanson in several silent films) plays Norma’s butler. The character is the strong, silent type, but you eventually learn he’s also Norma’s ex-husband — and he still has feelings for her. It’s a poignant touch to the movie that he’s trapped and subjugated in Desmond’s fantasy world — a glimpse of what Holden is to become unless he escapes Norma’s grasp.

What I love most about Sunset Boulevard is the sordid nature of Swanson and Holden’s relationship. She’s crazy and creepy, but he needs a job. So he pretends to be her lover. It’s sick — but like a slow-motion car crash, you just can’t help but keep watching.

With a terrific score by Franz Waxman, and cameos by Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner, and Cecil B. DeMille.

Academy Awards: Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr); Art Direction, Music (Franz Waxman)

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actress (Swanson), Actor (Holden), Supporting Actress (Olson), Supporting Actor (Von Stroheim), Cinematography (John F. Seitz), Film Editing