A Movie Review of Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Sunset Blvd. is the story of Joe Gills, a former Hollywood writer. He has fallen in debt and his scripts are not getting picked up by the studio. On a chance encounter he meets a star from the silent film era, Norma Desmond and helps her edit the script she has been working on for years.

The film starts out with a murder scene, and the rest of the film is about the events that led to that murder. I don’t know if it was the first time a movie used this plot device, but it didn’t feel new to me because many movies have done that now. In fact I guessed who the murder victim was from the very beginning. The story development was well paced, but I felt it got a bit slow when they introduced the “love interest”.

The movie is in B&W, and it reflects with some of the characters being starts from the silent era of film. The mood of the film stays consistent throughout, except for the title sequence. The title sequence is a slow tilt up from the street to the curb that reads Sunset Blvd. That shot feels grittier than the entire movie, and for me it made me think the movie was going to be more about the murder, or more like a detective story, rather than what the movie actually is.

The characters all had a lot of depth. I think out of the whole movie, Norma Desmond and her butler Max had the most character depth. Their back story was a complete surprise that I did not see coming and it makes the final act all that more dramatic. The character of Joe also had depth that makes his shift at the end more acceptable.

Strong characters and a solid story, this movie was very enjoyable, but it didn’t make me think much. It had some good right hooks that got me, and I can only imagine how audiences reacted when it was first released. I can see why it is a classic.

MOVIE SCORE:

• 7/10
• A (O.W.L.)