Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min. Directed By:
Billy Wilder. Release Date: Aug 4, 1950.
DVD Release Date: Nov 26, 2002.
I vaguely remember Gloria Swanson
being lampooned in cartoons when I was a kid, to include a character named “Gloria
Swansong” from one of those duck-involved cartoons from Disney in the late 80s
or early 90s. I’m thinking the one where
Scrooge McDuck had a vault where he kept all his money and the whole show was
about him protecting it from people that might steal it. You’d think he’d be rich enough to own a few
banks. That character, whatever show it
came from, might have been to make fun of this particular performance. I know people love it, but about 20 minutes
into the movie I was so done with the dramatic posturing and theatrical voice
(which may or may not have been Swanson’s own) that I had problems liking Norma
Desmond, although I did feel sorry for her.
Sorry that the best performance of her Art, as she might put it, was
this completely delusional bit of frippery.
But, I’ll forever remember this singular performance, and that’s nothing
to sneeze
While I liked William Holden’s
performance a little better, I found little to like about his character: it’s just really, really hard for me to like
someone as scheming and opportunistic as Joe Gillis, and I’m fairly sure no one
was meant to like him. If they were,
Billy Wilder would have tried a little harder.
And, it’s not as if Billy Wilder films aren’t filmed with protagonists
where you have to stop and think about how much you’re rooting for them to
overcome whatever obstacle the film is about.
I know it doesn’t sound like it so
far, but I enjoyed this movie. And, it’s
probably going to continue to sound like I didn’t because now I’m going to
bitch about the music. Not only was it
nearly deafening, it never seemed to match the action on the screen. Good music can help reinforce what’s going on
the screen, creating emotional “peaks”.
Bad music conflicts with the screen’s images, or tries to create
emotions that you probably wouldn’t have if you were in the event you were
watching. Tell me, would you be
terrified if you were in a car chase with folks who wanted to peaceably (and
legally) repossess your automobile because you stopped making payments? You might be annoyed, or even anxious, but
fear wouldn’t be in that mix, and the music kept trying to suggest that it
should be. It wasn’t the only time.
So, basically, you should check this
out. It has some serious flaws in my
mind, and it won’t go down as my favorite on this list, but it is definitely
worth checking out.
