More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

It is not giving anything away to say that Sunset Boulevard is narrated by a dead man. Bankrupt screenwriter Joe Gilles (William Holden) is hiding from repo men when he stumbles inside the garage of a seemingly deserted mansion. Despite the whiff of decay and a possibly redemptive romantic relationship with pretty young script reader Betty (Susan Olsen), Gilles soon comes to take refuge inside the grotesque Xanadu of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), retired silent screen star. Exploiting Desmond's hopes for a comeback, Gilles sells out and decides to help the faded starlet rewrite her dreadful self- penned screenplay. But weeks pass and Desmond's grip on reality loosens as her "return" to the limelight draws near. Realizing he is a kept man, prisoner to both Desmond and Hollywood itself, is it too late for Joe to escape the inevitable final act?

A crowning achievement in a career filled with them, Sunset Boulevard may just be the late Billy Wilder's finest film. A desolate, burnt-out tale of the hopeless who will do anything for success, it's a ferocious indictment of Hollywood by those who continued to profit from the very excesses they were critiquing. Provincial but not exclusive, like all the greats it works on multiple levels, entirely accessible to those outside the industry yet even more revealing to those in the know. As hypocritical as it is searingly accurate, the parallels between film and reality are heightened by the claustrophobic grand guignol of both the performances and the mise-en- scene, with form serving function for once instead of the other way around. "I am big," Norma says early on in the film, "It's the pictures that got smaller." If only she had been paying enough attention to listen to Gilles' punchline...

Sunset Boulevard is one of those films where all the elements simply came together at exactly the right time. Herself a "once was" silent film siren, Gloria Swanson has become so identified with this one role that it is almost an insult to the rest of her body of work. A million insufferably bad drag queen imitations over the years haven't helped, but she's that good that there is no comparison. Holden, himself ten years past his "Golden Boy" phase, resurrected his own career with Boulevard, and perhaps the biggest compliment one can pay him and the rest of the cast is that their performances more than hold their own against the formidable Swanson. Wilder, working off a pitch-perfect script co-written by Charles Brackett, has created the most unique of film noirs, one that never makes a false step (only the film's original opening did not work, but it is thankfully included here as a supplement so you can decide for yourself). Considered a masterpiece by most, for once all the plaudits are well deserved.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The packaging breathlessly declares that the film has been "Painstakingly Restored Frame by Frame!" and for once I can agree with all the marketing hyperbole. Presented in its original 1.33:1 theatrical aspect ratio and minted from a near-pristine new print, this looks terrific. Blacks are excellent with a nice consistency to the contrast throughout. The image is quite detailed, sharp and free from any annoying image processing or ringing around sharp objects. I also noticed no compression artifacts. If there is anything to complain about, it may be that a few shots suffer from slight wavering and a blemish here and there, but this is such a nice transfer in all other respects that it is hard to complain. A very, very fine presentation.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

While not as revelatory as the picture transfer, a perfectly respectable mono mix is included. While dynamic range and the overall tonal quality of the film are obviously dated, at least the source elements are in good shape. For such a talky film, dialogue comes across nice and clean with fairly warm highs. Low end is of course just about non-existent, and don't expect any sense of envelopment. But for a film of this vintage, this is a perfectly fine presentation.

Also included is a French mono dub and English subtitles and Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Finally giving one of their true classics the full special edition treatment, Paramount has assembled a nice collection of extras, especially for a film where the majority of the participants are no longer with us. All the new video-based featurettes are presented in full screen and 2.0 stereo, and include optional English and French subtitles.

First up is a new screen-specific audio commentary with Ed Sikov, author of the acclaimed book On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder. Sikov certainly knows this film inside and out, but his dry style feels largely rehearsed, as if he is simply reading out of his own book. (After about an hour in, I started to snooze). Certainly full of great information, it's a great little digest version of his great biography, but this is still one of those odd commentaries that probably won't work for either the diehard fans or the casual viewer. If you've read Sikov's book, you likely won't learn anything new, and if you're just mildly interested, the dry tone of the track will likely wear you out.

A bit perkier is the all-new 28-minute featurette The Making of Sunset Boulevard. Although the number of participants is slim - only Sikov, actress Nancy Olsen, film critic Andrew Sarris, Paramount producer A.C. Lyles, and Broadway's Norma Desmond, Glenn Close, offer new interviews. This is a very well- edited, polished little gem that is far more engaging than the wordy commentary. I suppose the greatest credit I give it is that despite being largely told from a third-person perspective - obviously only Olsen was actually there - it held my interest throughout and has plenty of cool stills and script page excerpts. Proving just why this film is even more timely and important today than it was forty years ago, this is the way to go for those who can't get through the commentary.

Also included are two shorter featurettes, Edith Head - The Paramount Years (14 minutes) with biographer David Chierichetti and other luminaries, and The Music of Sunset Boulevard (15 minutes) with film music historian John Waxman and composer Elmer Berstein. Admittedly I found these a bit dull if filled with lots of great old movie footage, but die-hard Boulevard fanatics should still have a look. More fun is the Hollywood Location Map, which offers short little 1- to 2-minute video vignettes on six of the film's famous locations. Pretty neat.

More extras include script pages for the Morgue Prologue sequence in its entirety. Two versions are included, and although no edited version of the sequence was available, the multi-angle function is used to allow access to various shots from the sequence. Each script version has been faithfully transcribed, mistakes and all, and this is a cool little interactive way to at least get a general idea of how the finished sequence actually played. Also included are three still galleries - "Production," "The Movie" and "Publicity" - with about 50 images total. Rounding it out is the film's theatrical trailer in fairly good quality full frame and mono.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts