Let's be realistic.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Where to start? The genius of Billy Wilder as a director is well know. All his films are masterful in direction. To me that means not a shot out of place. From the beginning, Holden dead in the pool, shot from the bottom of the pool and narrated by the dead man was ground breaking and genius. The casting of Von Stroheim, Swanson, Webb, and of course Holden is perfect. The cameo with DeMille incredible. Maybe its because I am a filmmaker myself that I get so much joy out of this film. I don't watch many films more than once but I just saw this again and couldn't pull myself away. The dialogue, cinematography, editing, sound and music are exacting, as a great film should be. I lived on Ivar in the 1970's I realize it was one block away from Holden's apartment. There is so much truth in this movie about the film industry and about life.

Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. is one of the better-known films from the golden age of cinema and one can see why. Featuring a fantastic screenplay, great pacing and some great performances this film is rightly considered a classic of film noir. William Holden plays an unsuccessful screenwriter who chances upon a mansion owned by silent screen siren Norma Desmond. She persuades him to stay and write a screenplay a comeback screenplay for her which he agrees to, lured first by the money and then just the bizzarity of the situation. However, he soon realizes that it was a wrong decision, but he is stuck. This is a witty dark comedy(literally) featuring some evocative scenes courtesy the cinematography.

What a wonderful and witty script, filled with cynicism and an immaculate set up of two characters-Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond-who are so different that they perfectly drive each other deeper into each other's hubris. The more I learned about the history of that time, and the wise allegory the film makes so ahead of its time, the more I appreciate this cinematic gem. It's hard to know where to begin. The larger than life settings are awesome in the true sense of the word: from the formidable and grotesque mansion (with more trinkets than those owned by the world's best hoarders), to the real film sets in Paramount Studios, and the humdrum writing office turned into a courting stage filled with spark and excitement. The acting is fantastic, and Gloria Swanson seems to have been born for this part-perhaps her creation of Norma was inspired by her own experience, being a silent film star herself.The intelligent plot and character development brings both Desmond and Gillis to self-destruct, and bury each other further in delusions, while staying entirely convincing throughout. The misery of both of them, and their consequent desperation and need for each other, makes the viewer even more engrossed in the picture and the inevitable fate of the two.There are not enough words to describe the magnificence and precociousness of this film-it simply needs to be experienced and taken in. How lucky to have been able to watch it on the big screen! Thank you TCM.

Sunset Blvd. is a capital D Dark comedy, perfectly walking the line between extremely unsettling & absurdly hilarious (dead ape). The writing is among the best of its kind; flowery & full of noir-heavy tropes that sit within the genre while standing above it. Swanson is of course undeniable, but Holden shouldn't be forgotten, playing the line between Stockholm syndrome & sly suspension skillfully and coolly. A better film than Demille could ever make.