Sunset Boulevard (film)

:For the Broadway production see: Sunset Boulevard (musical).

Reaction to the film

Wilder and Brackett were nervous about a major screening in Hollywood and decided to have the film preview in Evanston, Illinois. The original edit opened with a scene inside a morgue with the assembled corpses discussing how they had come to be there. Joe Gillis was one of the corpses and began telling about his murder. The audience reacted with laughter and seemed unsure whether to view the rest of the film as a drama or a comedy. After a similar reaction during its second screening the opening scene was deleted. The new edit was well-received in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Related Topics:
Evanston, Illinois - Morgue - Poughkeepsie, New York

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In Hollywood Paramount arranged a private screening for the various studio heads and specially invited guests. After viewing the film, Barbara Stanwyck bowed to kiss the hem of Gloria Swanson's skirt. Swanson later remembered looking for Mary Pickford only to be told "She can't show herself, Gloria. She's too overcome. We all are." Louis B. Mayer berated Wilder before the crowd of celebrities, saying, "You have disgraced the industry that made and fed you. You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood." Actress Mae Murray, a contemporary of Swanson's, was offended by the film and commented "None of us floozies was that nuts." {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
Barbara Stanwyck - Mary Pickford - Louis B. Mayer - Mae Murray

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Sunset Boulevard attracted a range of positive reviews from critics. TIME magazine described it as a story of "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best" {{mn|WileyBona|8}} while Boxoffice Review wrote "the picture will keep spectators spellbound." {{mn|BoxOfficeOnline|9}} James Agee, writing for Sight and Sound, praised the film and said Wilder and Brackett were "beautifully equipped to do the cold, exact, adroit, sardonic job they have done." Good Housekeeping described Swanson as a "great lady spans another decade with her magic," {{mn|Staggs|5}} while Look Magazine praised her "brilliant and haunting performance." {{mn|WileyBona|8}}

Related Topics:
''TIME'' - James Agee - Sight and Sound - Good Housekeeping - Look Magazine

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Some critics accurately foresaw the film's lasting appeal. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that future generations would "set themselves the task of analyzing the durability and greatness" of the film while the magazine Commonweal said that in the future "the Library of Congress will be glad to have in its archives a print of Sunset Boulevard." {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
The Hollywood Reporter - Library of Congress

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The rare negative comments included those from The New Yorker which described the film as "a pretentious slice of Roquefort," containing only "the germ of a good idea." {{mn|Staggs|5}} Thomas M. Pryor wrote for the New York Times that the plot device of using the dead Joe Gillis as narrator was "completely unworthy of Brackett and Wilder, but happily it does not interfere with the success of Sunset Boulevard." {{mn|AMOMI|10}}

Related Topics:
The New Yorker - Roquefort - New York Times

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After a seven-week run at Radio City Music Hall Variety magazine reported the film had grossed "around $1,020,000" making it one of Radio City Music Hall's most successful pictures. Variety also noted that while it was "breaking records in major cities, it is doing below average in ... the sticks." To promote the film Gloria Swanson traveled by train throughout the United States, visiting 33 cities in a few months. The publicity helped attract people to the cinemas but in many provincial areas it was considered less than a hit.{{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
Radio City Music Hall - ''Variety''

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