FanPost

The Canis Cinema Club, 5a: Sunset Boulevard

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Before we get to this week's picture, let's start with a quick reminder that the next presentation is a 3 hour art film by Chantal Ackerman: Jeanne Dielman, 23, qui du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. It can be found at most major libraries, and (maybe) on the free 14 day Filmstruck with Criterion channel. You can also rent it on iTunes and Amazon. And, as mentioned before, the reason I'm telling you this now is because this movie requires 3+ hours of your attention, otherwise it doesn't work. It isn't a slog. It isn't a waste of your time. It really is a wonderful experience if you can pull yourself away from the modern world for 201 minutes.

With that in mind, this week's film is under 2 hours, available on Netflix, and still cracks like a whip. It is Billy Wilder's iconic 1950 film-noir about an aging silent movie star who time has passed by and is now a prisoner of both her past and her fame: Sunset Boulevard.

This is one of those flicks that requires very little introduction, as part of its magic is in the way it unfolds in front of your eyes, but there are two things that modern audiences need to know before viewing it for the first time or revisiting it for the first time in a long time.

First, the central performance by Gloria Swanson is meant to seem out of place. She is portraying Norma Desmond, a silent pictures star who now finds herself in a talkie era. I have seen this movie a number of times on the big screen and it never fails that a handful of Sunset newbies are simply not able to square this circle. This movie also features cameos from pre war Hollywood royalty. If you don't know who Cecil B. DeMille, Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, or H.B. Warner are, you may want to take a few minutes to google them to see what they looked like and what types of films they worked on.

Second, if you really want to enjoy this film, you should at least have passing familiarity with the Hollywood Production Code, which was a set of self-imposed censorship rules imposed on all studio films from roughly 1930 all the way up to the year before Easy Rider came out.

The Hays code prohibited scenes of passion not essential to the plot, depictions of white slavery, brutal killings presented in detail, illegal drug traffic, and many other reenactments of violence, sex, vulgarity, costume, dance, and other "repellent subjects." Billy Wilder spent a decent chunk of his career seeing how far he could push the code's boundaries (The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment, for example) and Sunset Boulevard is no exception.

Keep in mind that many of the cameos are from the pre-code era. Also keep thinking about what things a Production Code movie about a pre-code star may have to say about Hollywood in general.

This is one of the best films ever made and an absolute blast. Enjoy, and we'll see you next Saturday for the review/discussion.