From: ggggg9271@gmail.com   
      
   On Friday, April 2, 2010 at 12:14:00 PM UTC-7, Stone me wrote:   
   > Dir.Billy Wilder   
   > I've always been fond of this picture, from the very   
   > first scene to the last.   
   > The idea of starting at the end and flashing back via   
   > William Holden's commentary, I thought couldn't have   
   > passed through a "system" described so well in   
   > "The Player"(1992).   
   > The contemporary taste for black and white, an overall   
   > darkness, and a dame who on the surface seems like   
   > poison, gives it a Noir feel.   
   > It's all about Hollywood, and Holden plays a writer who   
   > finds himself selling out all his sense of self-worth,   
   > dignity and courage, which I suppose many have described   
   > as the wages of a Hollywood success.   
   > Swanson plays an aged Silent Era actress, who cannot come to   
   > terms with the reality that time has moved on. Holden   
   > compares her to the Dickens character Miss Haversham.   
   > Her faithful (and loving?) retainer is played by Von   
   > Stronheim, who does all he can to help Swanson stay in her   
   > world of illusion.   
   > I've read it was cruel of Wilder to arrange for Swanson and   
   > Von Stronheim to play characters which seem to mock their   
   > real lives. My take on it is that they both knew it and   
   > embraced it as a challenge of their skill and determination.   
   > In the end, I felt that it was a tale of tragedy, that would   
   > have graced the Silent screen too.   
   > The awful Swanson is in the end, a pitiable figure, and Holden's   
   > character screened as it is in the pool, a side issue, not   
   > requiring our emotion.   
   > Some of the dialogue seemed difficult to take, given that it   
   > was about screen writing.   
   > Joe Gillis (as narrator): You don't yell at a sleepwalker. He   
   > may fall and break his neck. Gillis is discussing Norma Desmond.   
   > Wouldn't it have been better to have said:   
   > "You don't yell at sleepwalkers."   
   > "They may fall and break their necks."? The next sentence   
   > referring to Desmond would have sounded less contrived.   
   > Another line spoken by Holden includes a sentence where the   
   > tense is change halfway through.   
   > After watching this version (I think there were snips) I still   
   > love the film, it's overall concept,style and the general level   
   > of competence in the acting. Swanson was OTT but the part demanded   
   > that.   
   > Stone me   
      
   (Recent Youtube upload):   
      
   Dave's Faves No. 130 (Waxman)   
      
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