There's hope for classic film buffs after all. (1 Viewer)

[Vickie_M]

Every time I watch Sunset Boulevard now, I keep remembering the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of the same name that ran a few years back on Broadway. That show, which originally starred Glenn Close, remains for me, as one of the most elaborately staged broadway production ever.

Was the actress/singer Petula Clark playing Norma Desmond in the production you saw, or did you see it before Glenn Close left?




Wings?

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Vickie, I saw Norma played by the very talented Elaine Page (Evita) who is more well known for her work in live theater, music and TV in Europe than here in the U.S.

~Edwin

 

[george kaplan]

No, right behind Alfred Hitchcock. I don't know where Bay is on the list, I've never counted down that far.

 

[teapot2001]

Vickie, Wings is an underrated comedy series from some of the creators of Cheers. I think USA still shows reruns of the show.

~T

 

[Bob_L]

I don't know where Bay is on the list, I've never counted down that far.

ROTFLMAO

Good one, George!!

 

[Rob Willey]

I just saw Sunset Boulevard again recently. I find it strange when the movie is told in flashback and narrated by the dead guy ("That's me face down in the pool..."). I had the same reaction to American Beauty. Bottom line though is that I love both films.
Wilder and Hitchcock, my two faves. I'm looking forward to Nov. 5.
Rob

 

[Dome Vongvises]

However, for some reason, this film just doesn't do it for me. I think I find the acting too over the top.

You got something against over-the-top acting, don't you george? I thought that the lady (her name escapes me) played it perfectly well. She gave off an uber creepy vibe that was furthered by her rendition of Charlie Chaplin.

 

[george kaplan]

Yep. That and melodrama. I'll give you another example. I love Brando in the Godfather. I think it's a great example of acting. He's very good, very understated. I don't like him at all in Streetcar. I appreciate the historical significance of this being one of the first films where someone actually went over the top like that, but I don't think it's nearly as impressive as his Godfather role.

 

[Jan H]

I'm all over Sunset Boulevard. That will be buying priority #1 on that release date. I agree with George's and others takes on the films mentioned, but I disagree that that the acting in Sunset Boulevard is unnecessarily melodramatic and over-the-top. Gloria Swanson is hyper-melodramatic because her character is a former silent-movie queen who has to project her emotions through movement and grotesque facial expressions. But the other actors (Holden, et al) are merely performing in the preferred pre-method style of Hollywood's Golden Age. This is one of the great films ever, Billy Wilder's greatest script (among many great achievements), and it manages to rank with the best noir and backstage films of all time. I can't wait!

 

[Jason_Els]

"That lady" was one of the greatest actresses of the silent era: Gloria Swanson. At the time she made Sunset Boulevard she was only in her 40s and being a health nut who shunned the sun, she looked in her 30s. It took quite a bit of makeup to make her "of a certain age". Her butler, Max, was Erich von Stroheim, director of one of the greatest films ever made, Greed, and a host of other films (until he punched Louis B. Mayer in the nose for letting Thalberg butcher his masterpiece). The "Wax Works" in the bridge game consist of very well-known stars of the silent era including Buster Keaton. The director at the end is Cecil B. De Mille himself, not an actor.
Sunset Boulevard's magnificence is in its biting critique of Hollywood BY Hollywood itself in very clear and direct terms but carefully veiled in Swanson's insane Norma Desmond representing the past and William Holden's bitter Joe representing the present. It's pretty remarkable that it got made at all.
If Norma Desmond seems over-the-top, consider that had this been a silent film much of the acting would seem natural. It's to Swanson's credit that she can both under and over play Norma depending on the situation. Norma is meant to be the star forever trapped in her past. This is a phenomenal acting job.

 

[JeremySt]

Billy Wilder is a Master of the art. He stands on halllowed ground shared by few others. Sunset Boulevard will have a row on my DVD shelf all by itself.