Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) | William Holden, Gloria Swanson

Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) | William Holden, Gloria Swanson | Gloria Swanson is the best

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Sunset Boulevard (...

	Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) William Holden, Gloria Swanson Paramount, 2002 average customer review:based on 249 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

2 MONKEYS LAID TO REST

I'm really not sure why I'm writing a review of a true classic that thousands of others have taken on.I first saw this film circa 1961 (13 years old) and was totally fascinated by it (and probably always will be). However, there is definitely a disconnect point- no young teenager would be drawn towards it today; certainly none would be reading this review. So, I'm really just wasting time, unless one notices the effectiveness of the first person dialogue that really helps buoy the film. Or, perhaps, it's the here today, gone tomorrow ethic of the world, not only Hollywood, that really stands out, almost in biblical proportions; something that Swanson was never able to acknowledge. Holden, in my opinion gets a bad rap. He's trying to eke out a living using Swanson,just as Swanson is trying to use DeMille, just as Max is using Swanson, albeit in polite ways. Recognizing his errors, Holden is on his way back to Dayton,just a couple of minutes too late to take the plunge. Anyway, no matter how good it is, it's only a movie. Right!?

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Gloria Swanson is the best

Gloria Swanson is the best and I like the movie, but the quality is not the best...it should has been remastered.

Sunset Boulevard

This film is a great classic, with wonderful characters, a terrific script, and top-notch actors and acting. It is a film that can be enjoyed time and time again.

Classic!

Fantastic movie. I fall in love with it more and more each time I watch it. The writing is well-done as is the acting. Powerful..and William Holden--what a voice! Def. worth the time invested to watch it--over and over.

Excellent Movie and Wilder's Best!

This movie came not too long after another great film noir offering by Wilder: "Double Indemnity" and as much as I liked that movie, I find myself preferring this his other film noir masterpiece. The casting on this film was inspired and there are so many layers of brilliance on this film that it's like peeling an onion and discovering more and more potent layers each time you watch this film.

Gloria Swanson was brilliant and would have won the best actress award had this film been released either a year earlier or later instead of having to contend with another brilliant film that year:"All About Eve". There are so many brilliant moments in this film that some of the dialogue has been immortalized over the years e.g. "I'm ready for my close up now Mr. DeMille" and "I AM big, it's the pictures that got small" etc There are many special scenes that you have to see to enjoy for yourself which show the striking differences between the old and the new, the twisted and the sane etc that makes this not just any film but as close as it comes to film fine art as they come. A scathing attack on Hollywood and how people use each other at any price which must be close to the truth to have generated such anger from the movie moguls at the time.

This DVD version is also a treat as it has very good bonus features such as "The Music of Sunset Boulevard", "The Making of Sunset Boulevard" and my favourite "Edith Head - The Paramount Years" Edith was parodied so well by the way in that Disney cartoon "The Invincibles" as the costume lady. The picture quality is also very good with only a few frames of imperfection but not enough to get too upset about. The only thing that should have been done was for Dolby 5.1 or DTS THX surround options to be provided in addition to the Dolby Mono version here. Hopefully a Blu-Ray release is imminent which will offer these improvements in sound quality for the film.

This is one movie that I'm actually proud to have in my library and I can see myself viewing this over and over again over the years just to peel yet another brilliant layer from this glorious onion each time I watch.

This is movie-making at it's best and comes highly recommended.

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