Fame kills: Sunset Boulevard (1950)

<p>James and Thomas wrap up their series of episodes on film noir with a discussion of Billy Wilder's acerbic and vastly entertaining critique of Hollywood avarice and vanity, <em>Sunset Boulevard</em>.</p> <p>The movie business from the beginning has created some sad and grotesque figures, and this film focuses on two in particular. One is the sad and deluded has-been celebrity. <em>Sunset Boulevard</em> gets "meta" in its reflection of the perils of star-worship, especially in the character of Norma Desmond, a former silent film idol played unforgettably by a real-life former silent film star, Gloria Swanson.</p> <p>The other Hollywood type this film shows us is the ambitious loser. Film noir protagonists tend to be losers, and indeed the loser seems like a distinctly American archetype, the flip-side of the American dream with its expectation that one should always be advancing one's station in life. Perhaps no place generates losers like L.A., and in <em>Sunset Boulevard</em> we get our man in down-and-out screenwriter Joe Gillis, played by William Holden.</p> <p>Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. <a href= "https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com">https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com</a></p> <p>This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! <a href= "http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio">http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio</a></p>