MADness—the Blog

“We didn’t need dialogue.  We had faces!”

That’s Norma Desmond, of course, the aging and forgotten star of the silent era reflecting back on her glory days and complaining about the wretched state of the movies.  From our vantage, it’s not so easy to imagine that summer of 60 years ago, when Sunset Boulevard was released, as a time of Hollywood’s demise.  We’d say that’s part of the golden age (hey, Norma, you should see some of this summer’s movies). 

It was a very good year, 1950, with several notable films and a couple of classics that rank among my favorites.  Billy Wilder’s film noir was a scathing look at Hollywood.  With All About Eve, Broadway got the treatment.

Both films feature stories about actresses who are aging.  They are old for their profession.  Norma Desmond is all of 50, and Margo Channing is in her 40s.  Not so old, really, we’d like to think.  Age hasn’t slowed down the career of Meryl Streep, for example.  But someone like Streep is an exception, and for too many in the acting profession, age still matters.

Age is just part of the conversation at Slant Magazine, where Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard have a fascinating discussion about those two classic films of 1950.  Bellamy:

That actually segues nicely into another of Sunset Boulevard‘s famous moments: when Norma responds to Joe’s assessment that she “used to be big” by demanding, “I am big! It’s the picturesthat got small!” It’s a magnificent line—truly one of the best in cinema history—and, like the film’s equally famous final shot, it’s tempting to think of that line as nothing more than a sharp dagger to the heart of a misguided Hollywood. I mean, just think of the countless essays you’ve read that use Norma’s quote en route to a proclamation that Hollywood’s best years are behind it. Sure, there are lots of movie lines that are more celebrated or better recognized, but I’d be hard pressed to come up with one that cinephiles, on the whole, find more personally resonant. Because we’ve all been there: staring up at the closing credits of a lackluster movie with that empty feeling that Hollywood used to make ‘em better. Whether that’s true or not is beside the point. When Norma sneers that the pictures have gotten small, cinephiles reflexively nod their heads in agreement. We love her in that moment.

I think it can be fun to compare the two movies, though I’m not sure it’s useful to rank them.  In my world, each is about as good at what it does as can be imagined.  Mankiewicz deserves a little more credit than I think he gets at the Slant conversation.  The All About Eve screenplay is one of the very best in all of cinema, not just because of the wonderful dialogue, but for the intricate and perfectly executed story structure, weaving in points of view and voice-overs from multiple characters.  Yet the voice-over in Sunset Boulevard is a stroke of genius too.  As we learn, it’s from a man floating face-down in a swimming pool.  Neither film is strictly realistic.  All About Eve has an exaggerated theatricality to it, and Sunset Boulevard tends toward the gothic.  I’m partial to the latter, probably because I’m more fascinated by old Hollywood than old Broadway, not because it’s necessarily a better film.  Wilder, I should add, has a slant that is not only a good match for mine, but was influential in forming my own take on things.  Maybe that’s a chicken and egg thing, but he’s always been a favorite.