Sunset Boulevard (1950)

There are many famous streets in the world.  New York has Broadway.  Paris has the Champs-Elysees. And then there is Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, made famous forever by director Billy Wilder in his classic 1950 film SUNSET BOULEVARD. When I worked in the film business and Hollywood in the late 80's and early 90's, I drove up and down Sunset Boulevard many many times.  Sunset Blvd runs from downtown Los Angeles through Hollywood past Capitol Records and the Beverly Hills Hotel before twisting and turning all the way to the sparkling Pacific Ocean.

I have two Sunset Boulevard stories.  The first one I was crossing the street to pick up some scripts at a copy place on Sunset Blvd and there was a giant billboard of musician Elvis Costello. Crossing the street from across the way was the real Elvis Costello with a couple of friends.  They stopped in the middle of the street to stare up at his enormous billboard.  It was very surreal. The other story was having the opportunity to drive film director Michael Mann (LAST OF THE MOHICANS, HEAT) to his home which was on Sunset Blvd in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. I worked for Mann for about a year on a television mini-series called DRUG WARS: THE KIKI CAMERENA STORY (1990).

The real Sunset Boulevard can be viewed as a two-way street to Hollywood, a chance for an actor to be discovered by a casting director or a writer to have their script read and appreciated by a producer. Or Sunset Boulevard can be the road out of show business, where failures outnumber successes and stardom can fade as quickly as it shined. That is the scenario for director/co-writer Billy Wilder and his co-writers Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman, Jr. in SUNSET BLVD.

SUNSET BLVD is an unusual film that doesn't fall into any specific genre. I would call it Hollywood Noir. It does have a murder that takes place but it's also a wicked behind the scenes look at the darker side of the film business. 1950 seemed to kick off a spate of films where Hollywood took an unflattering look at fame and celebrity in ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952), and A STAR IS BORN (1954).

SUNSET BLVD may have one of the most unique, original opening scenes in film history as the film's narrator and main protagonist Joe Gillis (William Holden) is floating dead in a swimming pool. Gillis (remember he's dead) tells us in flashback that he's a B movie script writer in a bit of financial trouble. Behind on his car payments and repossessors at his door to take the car back, Gillis slips out of his apartment and heads to Paramount Studios to pitch an idea to a producer named Sheldrake (Fred Clark), hoping to sell it but studio reader Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) is not impressed with Gillis's story. Gillis next tries his agent but he refuses to loan Gillis any money either.  Heading back on Sunset, Gillis is spotted by the repossessors who chase after him. Gillis blows a tire and quickly pulls into a driveway off Sunset Blvd  and loses them. Gillis finds himself staring at an old, rundown Hollywood mansion owned by aging silent film actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson).

A bald, Teutonic butler named Max Von Mayerling (Erich Von Stroheim) ushers Gillis in. Gillis meets Norma for the first time. She's mourning the death of her beloved pet chimpanzee. Norma and Max think he's the undertaker, come to bury the monkey.  Gillis recognizes Norma.  "You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big," Gillis says.  "I am big," Norma responds. "It's the pictures that got small."  He mentions he's a writer which catches Norma's interest. She's planning a major comeback, wishing to star in a movie version of Salome, to be directed by the great Cecil B. DeMille or so she thinks. She shows Gillis her script.  An idea comes to Gillis. He offers to help Norma rewrite her script, hoping to make some money off her, even though he knows her script is a piece of junk.

Norma has Max bring Joe's clothes and stuff from his apartment. He moves into a room above the garage. As Joe and Norma work on the script, Joe begins to learn more about the sad life of Norma Desmond. Once the queen of silent films, Norma lives like a recluse, watching her old films in her living room, surrounded by framed photographs of herself, playing cards with other real life silent film stars, "waxworks" as Gillis calls them such as Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H.B. Warner. Gillis starts to become Norma's gigolo as she buys him new clothes and pays his rent back at his apartment. One night, at a New Year's Eve party at her home with a live quartet, Gillis discovers that Norma is falling for him as he is the only guest.  They fight and Gillis walks out.

Gillis catches a ride to another New Year's Eve party thrown by his friend Artie Green , an assistant director (Jack Webb from DRAGNET). Artie happens to be dating Betty Schaefer, the studio script reader, who's also at the party.  Betty likes one of Gillis's ideas and wants to write a screenplay with him. Gillis decides to leave Norma and asks Artie if he can move in with him for a few weeks. When he calls to have Max bring his clothes over to Artie's, Max tells him Norma has tried to kill herself again. Gillis reluctantly returns, unable to untangle himself from Norma's clutches. Norma and Gillis visit Paramount Studios as Norma meets with the real director Cecil B. DeMille to talk about her film return. Although happy to see Norma, DeMille has no intention of making her movie.  But he decides not to ruin Norma's visit or fantasy. Gillis secretly meets with Betty at night to work on their script. Norma finds out about their clandestine meetings at the studio.

Betty begins to fall in love with Gillis.  Betty is the first decent thing to happen to Gillis in a long time. Jealous, Norma calls Betty to tell her about Gillis and her. Gillis comes clean with Nancy, telling her to go back to Artie. Gillis realizes he won't sell himself out to Norma and her money and prepares to return to  Dayton, Ohio and write copy for the small ad agency he left, to regain his humanity he left on Sunset Boulevard. As Gillis leaves, Norma shoots him three times in the back and Gillis falls dead into her swimming pool.  As the police prepare to take her away, surrounded by cameras and the press, Norma Desmond descends her spiral staircase and walks straight toward the camera, uttering her famous line, "All right, Mr. DeMille. I'm ready for my close-up."

SUNSET BLVD is the closest thing to a cinematic novel with its brilliant use of visual metaphors. From the opening shot of dead leaves curled up against the words SUNSET BLVD on the curb, director Billy Wilder shows Norma Desmond's fantasy world as one of death and decay. Her mansion is rotting and ghostly, much like Norma's soul. Rats swim in her empty swimming pool when Gillis first arrives.  The tennis court is dilapidated. The wind whistles through her pipe organ like an ominous warning. She plays bridge with her fellow, forgotten silent films star friends who Gillis calls "her wax works." Norma's mansion is like a wax museum and she is the curator. Norma's bed is shaped like Cleopatra's barge but Norma is no Egyptian queen, rather a silent film star vampire.  When she floats down her long staircase to the waiting press and police in the film's finale, she even resembles Medusa with her arched eyebrows and wild hair. Joe Gillis first meets Norma mourning the death of her pet chimpanzee. Little does Gillis realize that he's about to become Norma's new pet monkey. When Gillis is shot by Norma, he falls into the ultimate show business status symbol - a swimming pool.  A pool means some one's made it big but for Gillis, it's the end of his short, insignificant career and life.

Besides Robert Altman's THE PLAYER (1992), no film has used real Hollywood players with such purposeful effect and irony. Beginning with Erich Von Stroheim as Norma's personal servant (and former first husband) Max Von Meyerling, director Wilder astounds in his silent film history and casting. Stroheim was a famous silent film director who directed GREED (1924) among others but his directing career all but ended when talking films took over. When Norma and Gillis watch one of her films one night, Wilder uses an actual silent film called QUEEN KELLY (1929) starring Gloria Swanson (who's playing Norma) and actually directed by Erich Von Stroheim.  What is reality and what is fiction in SUNSET BLVD? The "wax works" or silent films stars who play cards with Norma are all real former silent films stars playing themselves: Buster Keaton (THE GENERAL, 1926 ), Anna Q. Nilsson (MOLLY PITCHER, 1911)), and H.B. Warner (THE KING OF KINGS, 1927). Even gossip columnist Hedda Hopper shows up as herself at the end as the Norma Desmond scandal is about to break.

Another casting stroke of genius by Wilder is the great director Cecil B. DeMille playing himself. DeMille was a legendary silent film director who made a smooth transition to talkies and was famous for his Biblical epic films like SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949) and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956). In SUNSET BLVD, Norma had worked with DeMille in silent pictures and believes DeMille wants to direct her comeback. Paramount has been leaving her messages but it's because they're interested in renting her fancy car, an Isotta Fraschini, for a film, not Norma Desmond. She visits DeMille at Paramount Studios, on the set of his latest biblical film. DeMille is gracious to Norma, glad to see an old friend, but he's pragmatic too and diplomatically has to reject her project.  In reality, DeMille and actress Swanson did work together in silent films.

Wilder saves his greatest stroke of genius for Gloria Swanson as the aging, forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond.  The ultimate insult for Norma is when she visits DeMille's set. A boom with a microphone brushes by her hat and she swats at the invention that all but ended her career. Swanson was a successful silent film actress who did make the jump from silent films to talking pictures. Although never a bona fide superstar, she was nominated for two Academy awards early in her talkies career as well as for SUNSET BLVD.  Swanson never stopped working in stage, film, and even television, although she took many breaks. SUNSET BLVD is her crowning achievement and it's hard to believe she lost the Best Actress nomination to Judy Holliday (for BORN YESTERDAY which I haven't seen).

For actor William Holden, SUNSET BLVD would launch his career to the next level. After his breakthrough role in GOLDEN BOY (1939), Holden toiled in unspectacular roles and films until he played Joe Gillis in SUNSET BLVD.  It's a tricky role, playing a young, struggling screenwriter reduced to accepting an older woman's money and gifts and affection because he can't sell a script. We empathize with Gillis and it's painful to watch when he finally finds redemption, he gets three bullets in the back for it. Holden would become a favorite of Wilder's and go on to collaborate with Wilder on STALAG 17 (1953), SABRINA (1954) and FEDORA (1978). Ironically, Holden also starred in BORN YESTERDAY (1950), the film that Judy Holliday won the Best Actress award for beating out Holden's SUNSET BLVD co-star Gloria Swanson. Rounding out the cast as the only two likable industry characters are Nancy Olson as Betty Schaefer, the reader and a young Jack Webb as Artie Green, Joe's assistant director friend. Hollywood hasn't corrupted either of them yet but it's only a matter of time. Jack Webb would go on to television fame as the by the book Sgt. Joe Friday in DRAGNET.

Director Billy Wilder, like Howard Hawks or Michael Curtiz, was successful in every genre he tackled. Many critics feel he made the best comedy ever (SOME LIKE IT HOT, 1959), the best war film (STALAG 17, 1953), the best film noir (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, 1944), and the best drama (THE LOST WEEKEND, 1945). Even today, actors, directors, and writers still thank Billy Wilder when they accept awards (as French director Michel Hazanavicius did at the 2012 Academy Awards while accepting Best Director for THE ARTIST, a film about silent films) and Wilder has been dead since 2002. I prefer Wilder's older black and white films to some of his later color classics. SUNSET BLVD has some great camerawork by John F. Seitz who worked on many Wilder films like DOUBLE INDEMNITY and FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO (1943) as well as other film noirs like THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) and THE BIG CLOCK (1948). The crane shot reveal of the mansion as Gillis approaches it, following Norma down the staircase to the waiting police and press, and the close-ups of Norma Desmond are all beautifully done.

Having worked in the film business for six years, many things in SUNSET BLVD ring true. I had to drive up in the Hollywood Hills to a nice home overlooking the Sunset Strip to deliver a script to waiting actor/former NFL football player Jim Brown. Max Von Mayerling did not open the door but a pretty African/American woman maybe half Mr. Brown's age.  I wanted to be a screenwriter and wrote some scripts and maybe almost sold a couple but success eluded me. I had an agent at one time who overcommitted himself to too many clients, including me and was fired.  I drove and walked thru those gates at Paramount Studios, even pitched some ideas to an associate at producer Scott Rudin's production company. I probably drove by the apartment on Franklin and Ivar where Joe Gillis pounded away on his typewriter.

SUNSET BLVD's story is timeless in the world of show business. Movie stars, music stars, theater stars rise and fall just like Norma Desmond. Many buy big mansions and become recluses. Others get tripped up by their weaknesses: drugs, alcohol, and the excesses of celebrity. A star is only as good as their last hit movie or song.  A couple of career missteps and there's always another, younger star or writer to take their place. Everyone's a critic and everyone is ready to chip away at their success and bury them before the spotlight cools off. As the dead Joe Gillis says in voice over as the police fish him out of Norma Desmond's pool, "Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead."

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

It's 2012 and another Presidential election is upon us with negative campaign ads and both parties spouting venom toward each other. This seems like a good time to go visit a Hollywood political classic directed by the great Frank Capra about Washington politics and a young idealistic man's journey into the chambers of Congress called MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939).  Hollywood is excellent at the cynical political film whether it be ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949) or THE CANDIDATE (1972) or the recent THE IDES OF MARCH (2011).  These films show the dark side of politics and it's not pretty.  But Hollywood can also make the fanciful political film where the little guy goes up against the political establishment and comes out victorious.  Gary Ross's DAVE (1993) is a great example of the David vs Goliath story in Washington but director Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is the film that set the bar.

The only Frank Capra film I had ever seen (and his most famous) is IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). That film is so wonderful that I had never wanted to see any of  Capra's other films.  Although not a prolific director, Capra's golden period was 1934 through 1948 with a break during World War II where he made several films for the military.  Many of director Capra's films like MR. DEEDS COMES TO TOWN (1936), MEET JOHN DOE (1941) , and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE have as the main protagonist an Everyman who is a bit naive, honest, incorruptible, and innocent.  In actor Jimmy Stewart, Capra found his perfect Everyman.  Stewart's Aw Shucks Midwest demeanor, enthusiastic optimism, and Norman Rockwell All-American good looks fit perfectly with Capra's stories about the common man standing up against compromise and corruption.

With a screenplay by Sidney Buchman based on a story by Lewis R. Foster, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON begins with the death of  Senator Sam Foley from an unnamed (probably Midwest) state right before an important vote. Foley's fellow Senator Joseph Harrison Paine (Claude Rains) returns to his home state to help pick someone to replace the late Foley. Governor Hubert Hopper (Guy Kibbee) gets to choose the replacement and already all parties have their candidate. The political boss of the state Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) wants Horace Miller. The Governor's constituents want Henry Hill.  But the Governor's kids (who look like LITTLE RASCALS leftovers) want Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), a youth leader for the Boy Rangers who recently helped put out a forest fire.  Hopper flips a coin and in true Capra style, the coin lands straight up on its side.  Governor Hopper chooses Jefferson Smith much to the political machine's chagrin.

But Senator Paige, known as "the Silver Knight" was a friend of Smith's deceased father. He thinks he can be a role model for Smith yet keep the politically naive Senator away from a bill sponsored by Paige that will see the Willet Creek Dam built in their state, a useless piece of pork belly spending being pushed by Jim Taylor.  Smith arrives in Washington with his suitcases and a crate of pigeons.  The press portrays Smith as a bit of a stooge. Smith tracks down each reporter and punches them out even chasing one reporter into the Washington Press Club.  Senator Paige sends his best secretary Clarissa Saunders (another Capra regular Jean Arthur) to take the impressionable young senator under her wing. Saunders will help guide Smith through the labyrinth of Congress, explaining how a bill becomes law and protocol in the Senate chambers.

To keep Smith from interfering with the Willet Creek Dam bill, Paige suggests Smith sponsor his own bill on a topic he feels strongly about. Smith decides to sponsor a bill to have a National Boy  Rangers Camp built in his home state. The only problem is Smith wants the Camp built on the same piece of land that will soon be under water if the Willet Creek Dam is built. Paige tries to steer Smith away from his idea, explains that sometimes compromise is the best way. Smith stubbornly refuses to budge and Paige turns to Taylor and his political machine who concocts a story that Smith owns the Willet Creek land and that he's trying to use his proposed bill for personal gain.

Paige tries to expel Smith from the Senate. Smith wanders around Washington, visiting the Lincoln Memorial and reading the words "Government for the People, By the People." Washington D.C. doesn't seem to have the same interests as Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Smith.  Smith wants to quit against the graft and greed.  But Saunders, who's falling in love with Smith, convinces Smith to fight for the common man, for the Boy Rangers, for his ideals. Smith returns to the Senate floor and begins a filibuster to block Senator Paige and Boss Jim Taylor's Willet Creek Dam bill from being passed. Saunders and her newspaper buddy Diz Moore (Thomas Mitchell) try to get the news out to Smith's home state but Taylor owns the newspapers and radio and blocks news of Smith's filibuster, printing lies about Smith instead. Smith holds the floor, delaying the vote on the bill, preaching the ideals of democracy until Senator Paige caves in and requests that not Senator Smith but himself, Joseph Paige, be thrown out of Congress.

It's clear that director Capra sees Mr. Smith as an Abraham Lincoln type.  Smith even visits the Lincoln Memorial a couple of times -- when he first arrives in Washington and takes an impromptu tour of the capital by bus and later, as Paige and Taylor try to defame Smith, he visits the Lincoln Memorial by foot and reads Lincoln's inspiring words that will give him the confidence to fight back against the Washington status quo. "Remember what you said about Mr. Lincoln, " Saunders asks Smith. "You said he was sitting up there waiting for someone to come along ... I think he was waiting for you, Jeff."  Although Smith's home state is never mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me if it was Illinois - Lincoln's birthplace. However, a second viewing makes me think it's Missouri.

Surprisingly,  the filibuster scene that is the highlight of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is also the scene that grinds the film to a halt at the end. I always assumed that Mr. Smith makes a one impassioned speech in front of the other Senators and they give him a standing ovation and cue the credits.  But Smith makes several speeches as he tries to hold the floor and block the bill. Director Capra cuts away to Taylor and his machine working overtime to destroy Smith and Senator Paige losing his grip on what he's become but Smith's dissertations, although well acted by Stewart, go on much too long.  Mr. Smith's filibuster not only halts the passing of the bill, it stops the great momentum that MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON had going for it. But MR. SMITH does a great job of showing the mechanics of Congress even down to the young Page Boys who deliver bills to the Senate leaders. Today's Pages are college graduates not young boys.

Since this was only the second Capra film I've seen, two things jumped out at me.  Capra uses the song Auld Lang Syne in MR. SMITH just as he did in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.  For MR. SMITH, the patrons of a farewell dinner sending Mr. Smith off to Washington break into the song early in the film whereas in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE George Bailey's friends and family sing Auld Lang Syne in the last scene. Director Capra also likes to stage scenes in a house or room full of people. Out of the chaos, Capra finds humor and dignity. In MR. SMITH, he has crowded scenes on the Senate floor, the Press Club, and Jim Taylor's office.  In IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the Bailey house is besieged by friends, family, and strangers as they bring money for George to save the bank.  Capra handles the big scenes with great skill.

Capra worked with many of the same actors throughout his career and MR. SMITH has two of his favorites in Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur.  Jean Arthur worked with Capra in MR. DEEDS COMES TO TOWN and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938).  I liked Arthur much more in MR. SMITH then her performance in Howard Hawks' ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (also 1939). She seemed a little more at ease in this comedy as wise-cracking Clarissa Saunders than in the male dominated ANGELS.  Having seen enough Jimmy Stewart movies now, I've realized one of his trademarks that is overlooked is Stewart's frantic, frazzled look when his world is about to collapse. Whether it's Stewart's reaction to Uncle Billy losing the bank deposit money in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or waiting for Lars Thorswald coming up to his apartment to kill him in REAR WINDOW (1954) or Joseph Paine trying to discredit him in front of the Senate in MR. SMITH, Stewart can look like a wild animal with its back against the wall, his eyes darting back and forth, his hair askew. But he always pulls it together, sometimes with a little help from his friends and loved ones.

Director Capra has a great touch for picking supporting actors to play the villains and comedic relief in his films.  In MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, Claude Rains is excellent as the conflicted Senator Joseph Harrison Paine, who once was a champion for lost causes before he became devoured by Taylor and his greed. Paine struggles with wanting to be a teacher and role model for Smith but having to answer to the hand that got him elected Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold). Taylor is a typical Capra character, gruff and corrupt, driven by his own selfish interests with no regard for the little guy or lost cause. He's an easy target to root against yet in Capra's films, the bad guy doesn't completely seem to lose.  Senator Jefferson Smith may have held up his dam but it might still get built. Even in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, George Bailey's friends all chip in to help rescue George's Savings and Loan but Mr. Potter still has money and power. I thought actor Edward Arnold was actually Lionel Barrymore who played the mean Mr. Potter in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.  Their performances and mannerisms are so similar. Ironically, both actors would actually co-star in Capra's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU.

Rounding out the supporting cast for MR. SMITH is froggy voiced Eugene Pallette as one of Taylor's lieutenants Chick McGann. Fans of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) will recognize Pallette as the portly Friar Tuck.  Harry Carey plays Henry - the President of the Senate - one of Senator Smith's few allies in the Senate chamber.  Carey would receive an Academy Award nomination for this role, one of eleven nominations MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON would receive.  And one of my favorite character actors Thomas Mitchell who plays Diz Moore, Clarissa's columnist friend, is actually underutilized in MR. SMITH. Mitchell and Jean Arthur play off each other quite well but I wouldn't say it's one of Mitchell's better supporting roles. Mitchell will have a much juicier role as Uncle Billy Bailey in Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

The credits both at the beginning and end of MR. SMITH remind us that "any similiarity to any name, character, or incident is unintentional" but in reality, today's Washington D.C. has many, many Joseph Harrison Paige's and Jim Taylor's that choose partisanship and excess and compromise over the lost cause and helping one another. The Senate and House of Representatives are full of millionaires with their own agendas. There are very few if any Mr. Smiths (or Ms. Smiths for that matter) who would even be elected today which is sad. But MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON offers a timeless window that maybe one day, candidates will be elected for their honest values and beliefs to help everyone, not just one special interest.  Just like idealists Frank Capra or Jefferson Smith, we can dream of liberty for all, can't we?