Tired Old Queen at the Movies: Sunset Boulevard

Steve Hayes reviews the spellbinding film-noir classic:

Billy Wilder takes a sardonic look at Hollywood's past in the classic SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950). The film stars William Holden, Nancy Olsen, Erich Von Stroheim, and, in the greatest comeback in motion picture history, Gloria Swanson as silent screen star Norma Desmond. Based on an Oscar-winning original screenplay by Wilder and writing partner Charles Bracket, it tells the story of a down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter taken in by a faded silent star. Eventually, he finds himself trapped in her web of memories, money, sex, and disillusionment. It's a gritty look at the motion picture industry that's as true today as the when it was made. A business that takes talented people, builds them up, puts them on pedestals, then tosses them aside and forgets them once their talent and box office appeal have been used up. SUNSET BOULEVARD is fascinating, frustrating, funny, and fragile. It's not a pretty picture, but just try and look away.

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Tired Old Queen at the Movies: The Blue Dahlia

Steve Hayes reviews the film noir classic:

In their third noir together, the romantic team of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake unravel a murder mystery in George Marshall's The Blue Dahlia (1946). Raymond Chandler's only original screenplay is set in LA near the end of the war. Ladd plays a returning veteran, with a faithless wife, who's murdered, leaving him to try and beat the wrap. Helping Ladd along the way is Veronica Lake who is short, sultry and wise. He also gets sterling support from William Bendix, as a buddy suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, Howard De Silva as a sleazy nightclub owner and gorgeous Doris Dowling as his trampy, murdered spouse. The action is fast, the atmosphere murky, the dialogue snappy and the ending a surprise. "The Blue Dahlia" is quintessential film noir to brighten the dark days of Autumn.

Catch more fabulous movie reviews at Steve's YouTube channel.