Sunset Boulevard Film Analysis

“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!” (Sunset Boulevard). The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder focuses on a struggling screen writer who is hired to rewrite a silent film star’s script leading to a dysfunctional and fatal relationship. Sunset Boulevard is heavily influenced by the history of cinema starting from the 1930s to 1950 when the film was released.
Sunset Boulevard was released in 1950; five years after WWII. Five years after WWII, the cold war began as well as McCarthyism. Joseph R. McCarthy was a senator for Wisconsin

who “had a list of 205 known members of the Communist Party who were “working and shaping policy” in the State Department” (“Joseph R. McCarthy”). McCarthy’s accusations had caused the “Red Scare.” The “Red Scare” was the fear of the rise of communism. While McCarthy was accusing hundreds of Americans of communism, the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was a investigative committee began to “target…left-wingers in Hollywood and liberals in the State Department” (“Joseph R.McCarthy”). In the late 1940s the HUAC had started the Hollywood blacklist that would not end till the 1960s. The Hollywood blacklist began “[i]n October 1947, 10 members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounced the tactics employed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, during its probe of alleged communist influence in the American motion picture business” (“Hollywood Ten”). Those who were included in the Hollywood ten received jail sentences and could no longer work in the film industry. As time went on more members of the film industry were also blacklisted. During this time, film noir was created to reflect the dark and gloomy times for Hollywood and the world.
Sunset Boulevard is a film noir style film. Film noir “was a term applied by French critics in 1946 to a group of U.S. films made during the war…. Noir means “black” or “dark”” (Bordwell and Thompson 215). The film noir style is said to have began “in 1941 with Huston’s The Maltese Falcon or even earlier with RKO’s B film Stranger on the Third Floor (1940, Boris Ingster)” (Bordwell and Thompson 215). Film noir originated in the during the middle of Wold War II. Film noir reflected the feeling of the American people who felt dark and gloomy. Film noir has many distinct characteristics. One major film noir characteristic is “fatalism. One small missteps,… sends our doomed protagonist, typically an “Ordinary Joe” American male, into a quicksand of obliteration made only more intractable by his futile attempts to escape” (Westcombe). Fatalism is very evident in Sunset Boulevard. All the events in Sunset Boulevard are caused by a flat tire Joe Gillis gets while trying to escape creditors. Film noir was also known for including voiceovers, low-key lighting, and deep focus. In film noir there are many different character archetypes such as the anti-hero and the femme fatale. The anti-hero is “usually detectives or criminals characterized by pessimism, self-doubt, or a cold, detached view of the world” (Bordwell and Thompson 215). The other character archetype, Femme Fatale, is a women who “is not passive when it comes to desire. She takes action to get what - and whom - she wants with a directness and aggression previously reserved for male players” (Westcombe). In Sunset Boulevard, the anti-hero is Joe Gillis and the femme fatale is Norma Desmond.
The movie Sunset Boulevard was highly inspired by the beginning and success of talking films.

Sound was first introduced into film by the film The Jazz Singer (1927). The transition for silent films to talkies was an experimental period in film history considering that, “[m]ost of the early talkies were successful at the box-office, but many of them were of poor quality - dialogue-dominated play adaptations, with stilted acting (from inexperienced performers) and an unmoving camera or microphone” (Kirk). When film was transitioning into sound a lot of silent film aspects disappeared. Many of the early talkies lacked in visuals because most of the filmmakers' attention was on sound. Another aspect of silent film making that was lost were the stars. Some stars transitioned into talkies; while others did not transition. The character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard reflects the struggle many of the silent film actors and actresses faced because of talkies. There are many reasons as to why some silent film actors didn’t transition into talkies. Some reasons actors did not transition include: audiences did not like actor’s voices, actors did not like making talkies, and some actors could not speak english. In Sunset Boulevard, there are many silent film stars who did not transfer into talkies such as, Buster Keaton and Gloria Swanson.
Sunset Boulevard has had a huge impact on other filmmakers. Many filmmakers still use many of the quotes from Sunset Boulevard today. Sunset Boulevard is a film that represents one of the biggest milestones in film history, silence to sound. Sunset Boulevard also is a great example of the style; film

noir.
Works Cited
Dirks, Tim. "The History of Film The 1930s." Filmsite. AMC, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2017.
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History.com Staff. "Hollywood Ten." History.com. A E Networks, 2009. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. .
History.com Staff. "Joseph R. McCarthy." History.com. A E Networks, 2009. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. .
Sunset Boulevard. Dir. Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and D. M. Marshman. Perf. Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Paramount Pictures , 1950. Film.
Westcombe, Roger. "What is This Thing Called Film Noir Anyway." Crime Culture. N.p., 2003. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. .