It’s one of the greatest scenes, and Gloria Swanson was robbed of the Oscar that year in one of the worst omissions of all time. If you weren’t going to give that performance an Oscar, then the Oscar’s were meaningless.
The line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" is the most famous line from this picture, but what precedes it deserves more recognition. "It's just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark" sums up Hollywood movie making. The double meaning "in the dark" refers not only to the audience sitting in a darkened movie theater, but also to the ignorance of the those who are in the dark about what a destructive place Hollywood can be.
Plus what DeMille said after Norma came to see him "A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit." That is another red flag regarding Hollywood and all its evils. Especially now with social media that line is more real than ever.
Gloria Swanson wanted to descend the staircase without looking down at her feet. To do this she came down the staircase without shoes in order to be able “feel” the steps. This, of course, added to the drama of the last scene. The director would only allow the scene to take place if Ms. Swanson could be prevented from injury in case she missed a step or lost her balance. For this reason she agreed to have several men strategically placed on the staircase acting as “photographers “ to catch Ms Swanson in case she slipped.
She was only 49 when this film was shot and she lived to be 84. She wasn't going to fall down a flight of stairs. The cameramen are on the stairs were placed there for dramatic and cinematic effect.
fosbury68 sorry, but you are incorrect. Coming down the staircase had nothing to do with her age. In her autobiography, Gloria Swanson stated that she wanted to do the scene barefooted so she could feel the steps and would be able to keep her head up while descending the stairs for dramatic affect. The directors would only allow Miss Swanson to do that if there were some safeguards in the event she tripped or missed a step. Hence, the reporters on the steps were not for dramatic affect, but to prevent a possible accident.
In 1966, I was attending the Hull House Film Festival in Chicago, standing in a lobby packed with people. Suddenly, a "hole" in the hubbub opened in one corner of the room and magically spread outward. It was followed by an eruption of applause, as tiny Gloria Swanson made her way through the throng. And it was at THAT moment that I understood what "star quality" really was!
One of the great closing scenes of cinematic history, from a brilliant movie that showed how the make-believe world of Hollywood could swallow its stars whole. Gloria Swanson is brilliant here -- alternatively creepy, pathetic, and heartbreaking. Thanks for posting this.
One of the greatest depictions of a descent into insanity in Hollywood history. Brilliant acting by von Stroheim too. Look at his face and the gulps in his throat when he isn't saying anything. The heartbreak! And then there's Franz Waxman's music as she comes down the stairs: typical 50's exotic music for a "Salome" epic DeMille might have made, wrenched apart by dissonant chords. Everything's perfect.
" I ready for my close-up." It is a final bitter and heart beaking irony of the film- (and so brilliantly realized by director Wyler)- that as she moves in for her final closeup, the focus dissolves into nothingness. She is robbed of even that small token of success; she is denied her close-up.
@Jeffrey Suggs Anne Baxter didn't rob Bette Davis of the Oscar, though; Miss Baxter won for Best Supporting Actress. As for your preference of other actresses portraying "drscrmt into madness,"in the (very good) examples you cited (I'll throw in Vivien Leigh as Blanch Dubois, for that matter), only Gloria Swanson was playing a former diva of the silent screen. And I think Miss Swanson's performance ranks right up there with the other great examples you cited.
I agree, Waxman really outdid himself, love Norma's exotic tango theme, Joe Gillis' jazzy bebop theme, and how he quotes elements from the Strauss opera "Salome" (mainly the flute trill) to insinuate madness, just as Strauss had.
Genius. She goes from sweet to brokenhearted, hopeful to hopeless, chilling to dangerous. In literally a paragraph. One of the best movies of all time for sure
They're there because people were worried she'd fall down the stairs as she descends barefoot without looking down or holding the railing. Gloria wanted barefoot and the studio didn't. This was their compromise.
@@Grimlock-ry8fgThey are there because the shocked cooperation of the cynical newspapermen with Norma’s fantasy adds another layer of depth to this astonishing scene.
@@danawinsor1380 @Giselle Gazda It was the only point in the film that Max referred to her as 'Norma', rather than 'Madam', & I think that says something,
He deserves some credit here. He realizes the only way to get her down the stairs is to play into her fantasy. He shines all the lights and cameras on her and says "action". And then he looks so sad as she's coming down the stairs, because he knows she's just crazy and it's the last time she'll get to play. He's quite good.
I saw this movie, with my parents, in as a very small child a classic theater in Connecticut. … GIANT screen, dark room. … That final scene, the building intense music, and the eyes, facial expressions of Norma totally stunned me. … I was terrified. … Just watching this clip can speed up my pulse, more than half a century later. … Amazing how a short sequence can leave such a devastating scar. … Compelling and spectacular cinematography. … Astonishing that Ms. Swanson did not win and academy award.
Interestingly, Wilder doesn't grant Norma her close up, instead he blurs the image just before. Sunset Blvd is a film that at every aspect is completely satisfying. We can question what is the fate of Norma, Max, and Betty after the events in the film, but because it ends so satisfyingly with an incredible final line, the questions disappear and we are left in the dark, contemplating how unfathomably amazing this film is. It ends as if it were destiny and as the opening implies... it was.
This scene, the actors and directors will be remembered as part of movie history forever, it's in the psyche of popular culture and even today people still make references to it.
@@edwardlynch4060 And, tragically, despite the Oscar nomination for her amazing performance, Swanson thereafter was typecast and never had another good role offered, and her career sunk.
The glamour of Hollywood turned RANCID...Director Billy Wilder said people like Louie B Mayer did not appreciate his befouling the nest so to speak and wanted to run Wilder out of town on a rail after the tar and feathering....BRILLIANT cinematography from first to last shot; casting (Mary Pickford and Mae West were both considered or approached) Gloria Swanson is superb and ironically she was one one of the most level headed women in Tinsel Town; William Holden mixed his all American nice guy charm with cheap oiliness and of course Von Stroheim was superb casting as well (the idea that he directed Swanson in an unfinished silent epic in real-life gives the film an added layer...CB DeMille who directed Swanson in many a modern marriage epic in the '20's gives the film another layer..Franz Waxman's score is one of his best- going from poignant to complete madness mixing in "Paramount on Parade" and his variations on "Salome" type music for the descent down the stairs into complete madness as she comes at us like Dracula's Daughter with claws outstretched! A TRUE CLASSIC
+Michelle Barajas Thanks for the kind words... At one time I wanted to be a film historian/ writer like William K Everson, Carlos Clarens, etc Trying to "paint" with words...
Thank you for the praise! I went for r check up last month and was struck by how the doctor ( Dr D Tavady) resembled director Billy Wilder...I mentioned this to him and he said "director of SOME LIKE IT HOT?" So the moral of this is: there is a bit of film buff in ALL OF US...
It was Louie B. Mayer who told Garbo to leave Metro when he was done with her. She had fulfilled her purpose until she was no longer a viable money maker for the studio. Mayer was probably feeling guilty while viewing Sunset Blvd.
Probably the best ending scene to a movie in the history of film. I could watch Swanson's "Mr. DeMille" delivery 100 times in a row and still get the chills every single time.
Franz Waxman's score absolutely sells this last scene. It's the emotional punch needed for such mellodrama. Wilder knew it as well. Waxman's score is one of the finest in cinema history.
Is there anything more trite, more dismissable than a jerk like you? The consolation one gets for your childish intrusion on a great moment in film is the knowledge that this stark failure of empathy that you proudly evidence here is something anyone unfortunate enough to have to know you has to deal with when ever you're a round...
eoselan7... i think you might be taking the comment a little too seriously... from someone who has done that in the past, it is okay to laugh and be silly.
There is a reason this is in my top 25 films of all time. Genius directing from the great Billy Wilder. Genius performance from Gloria Swanson. Genius script. From the incredible opening to this unforgettable ending Sunset Boulevard is a cinematic masterpiece. I cannot praise the film enough.
02:35 how ironic, Norma Desmond wanted to get back to being a successful actress after her downfall from the era of silent films and unfortunately descended to madness, but the real life actress, Gloria Swanson, actually found success again with this role, after a period in which she could not repeat her past success in the era of spoken films. She eventually got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for this whole, and entered history with her unforgettable quotes, like this one, and the one that I think is one of the most accurate quotes ever produced: "I am big, it's the pictures that got small". Indeed! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I've watched this movie about 30 times since I was a kid and I always find something new in it. Everyone and everything about this movie is pure genius, it' in the psyche of popular culture, you'll notice references to everywhere.
The greatest final scene of any film, rivalled only slightly but the final image of another exceptionally brilliant film of that year, All About Eve. What a year 1950 was.
i got to see this in cinemas recently and i really can't describe the feeling of sitting in a theatre and hearing he say "all those wonderful people out there in the dark" and somehow feel that despite the years and the miles between us, she really is talking to you.
It's so brilliantly unsettling how she breaks the fourth wall by looking directly at the camera when she says, "...and those wonderful people out there in the dark."
As Norma Desmond descends the staircase into madness, she mentions 'Salome' in her speech at the bottom. The music for that sequence was adapted from the opera 'Salome'. It is a heartbreaking film. "All right, Mr. DeMille. I am ready for my close-up."
Gloria Swanson is so charismatic she makes insanity magnetic. One gets the sense that she tore something from her raw guts and distilled it into Norma Desmond. Although she didn't write her role, she snatched it off the page, took possession of it, and in the process forged an archetype. There is Cassandra. And then there is Norma Desmond.
Just watched this movie for the first time in 2021. I was blown away, and got such chills at this scene. I was also surprised how many lines I had heard referenced in other media but never recognized. I’m ready for my close-up, Mister Demille…
I'm an amateur singer, and in some of my performances I say, "I'm here for all of you wonderful people out there in the dark," then turn to my pianist and say, "I'm ready for my song, Dan." I get you Norma, I get you.
For the last 35 years since I first was fortunate enough to see this movie in a real movie theatre , it has been my favorite film . I felt it had everything ..... great acting , script , murder , pathos and everything in between. . I loved the real silent stars as her waxwork friends , the use of Cecil De Mille as himself which made the movie even more real . And Swanson nailed the performance . I never tire of her perfect brilliance in portraying a deluded star but still living in her fame from yesteryear . A perfectly done masterpiece .
My favorite actress and movie star of all time, Gloria Swanson. I love the ending scene where she is walking toward the camera before the fade, my favorite movie ending.
As soon as Norma approaches to the camera, she is like then changing into the Paramount logo. She took a one-way ticket into the portal of fantasy world. Great stuff by Billy Wilder.
FAVOURITE FILM EVER. the way the music stops at the end... speechless so many quotes: "I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small!" "maybe one...Garbo.." "All right, Mr. DeMille.. I'm ready for my close-up" "No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star!" "I hate that word. It's a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen!" just to name a few..
1:48 The woman in this shot is Hedda Hopper, a notoriously ruthless gossip columnist of the time, playing herself. That she's crying here, at Norma's madness, would have said something profound to those audiences in the know.
It’s such a great little moment of acting from someone who is a non-actor. The absolute horror and heartbreak that crosses Hopper’s face as she watches Norma descend the staircase is really just incredible. I watch for it every time.
Gloria Swanson did more in that short scene that many of today's actors can do over a lifetime of movie-making! She is thoroughly, and frighteningly, convincing!
I think Hollywoods actors and directors of this time had a relationship to theater ... in this scene with Swanson you can feel the influence of this... very strong - today you just have special effects ...
"This is my life and it always will be. There's nothing else!! Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark"..... So many actors and actresses succumbed to the price of fame with their own life. And still reflects the life and death in Hollywood nowadays.
Yes. Even all that money she had and that huge mansion, Desmond was still profoundly unhappy. The only thing that fulfilled her was working and be wanted. A commentary that money can’t buy happiness.
Billy Wilder was a genius with a body of work from Sunset Blvd to Some Like It Hot to The Apartment et al. A genius who worked with Swanson, Dietrich, Monroe, Lemmon, Stanwyck, Cagney, Hepburn, Holden, Novak, MacLaine, Jean Arthur Double Indemnity, A Foreign Affair, Stalag 17, Fedora, et al, I think Sunset Blvd and Some Like It Hot are his two greatest films. Ms. Swanson was beyond perfect in this movie and MM was heavenly in Some Like It Hot, neither won the Oscar, MM wasnt even nominated!
love how "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" satirized the golden era of Hollywood...the floor show scene of the movie, with the RKO radio tower in the background.
One of the great movie endings from Billy Wilder...along with his other classic ending from "Some Like it Hot" -- Jack Lemon (in drag) to old letch Joe E. Brown..."Aww,,I'm a man"...."Nobody's Perfect".
Hey, now I agree movies were way better back then, but the 2010s has given us A Separation, Boyhood, 12 Years A Slave, Black Swan, etc and those are amazing films IMO.
As @DerekMathis said down below: for me, the saddest part of the scene is the cutaway to the top of the stairs. For those not in the know, the blonde woman in the hat is Hedda Hopper, the most legendary gossip columnist of her age, playing herself in a cameo. Hopper was BRUTAL in her column--she took people down without a second thought. Scandal, intrigue, murder...that was her bread and butter, and she didn't care who she hurt with her stories. And yet for all that, even she's heartbroken by the sight in front of her: a broken woman collapsing into insanity. That flash of humanity from Hedda elevates the scene: if Hollywood's most notorious gossip is shedding tears of pity, then you have pure tragedy on your hands. This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time...
And let's not forget Von Stroheim's magnificent contribution to this scene. The heartbreaking look of love on his face as he stoically arranges the fake "directing" of the scene. And on top of that his assuming his role after so many years as a great director. A brilliant performance in an extroadinary scene.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
This has to be one of the saddest, most chilling, and most brilliant endings to any film. Truly a classic.
SO AGREE..TRULY ABSORBING ..ALSO SAD.
Chilling is a good word
And seeing Hedda Hopper and Cecil B. Demille makes it's all more real
It’s one of the greatest scenes, and Gloria Swanson was robbed of the Oscar that year in one of the worst omissions of all time. If you weren’t going to give that performance an Oscar, then the Oscar’s were meaningless.
The line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" is the most famous line from this picture, but what precedes it deserves more recognition. "It's just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark" sums up Hollywood movie making. The double meaning "in the dark" refers not only to the audience sitting in a darkened movie theater, but also to the ignorance of the those who are in the dark about what a destructive place Hollywood can be.
Great analysis! Never thought of it that way before.
Very good.
Plus what DeMille said after Norma came to see him "A dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit." That is another red flag regarding Hollywood and all its evils. Especially now with social media that line is more real than ever.
When she says the words, ". . . out there in the dark" she goes into what I would call "whisper voice" which makes it all the more creepy.
You just blew my mind with that analysis
Gloria Swanson wanted to descend the staircase without looking down at her feet. To do this she came down the staircase without shoes in order to be able “feel” the steps. This, of course, added to the drama of the last scene. The director would only allow the scene to take place if Ms. Swanson could be prevented from injury in case she missed a step or lost her balance. For this reason she agreed to have several men strategically placed on the staircase acting as “photographers “ to catch Ms Swanson in case she slipped.
I was wondering why they were blocking her light. Fix that in editing. Cutaway to the people at the top of the stairs.
She was only 49 when this film was shot and she lived to be 84. She wasn't going to fall down a flight of stairs. The cameramen are on the stairs were placed there for dramatic and cinematic effect.
fosbury68 sorry, but you are incorrect. Coming down the staircase had nothing to do with her age. In her autobiography, Gloria Swanson stated that she wanted to do the scene barefooted so she could feel the steps and would be able to keep her head up while descending the stairs for dramatic affect. The directors would only allow Miss Swanson to do that if there were some safeguards in the event she tripped or missed a step. Hence, the reporters on the steps were not for dramatic affect, but to prevent a possible accident.
@@giovanniserafino1731 Thanks for sharing. Glad you read her autobiography.
@@giovanniserafino1731 If you look carefully you can see that she is barefoot.
"And those wonderful people out there in the dark."
She's talking about US! :O
I, and I am not joking, shrank back in my seat when she said that.
The audience, unaware of how exploitative the Hollywood machine truly is!
@@jodyjonesusa Hitting the fourth wall.
What a beutifull line!
In 1966, I was attending the Hull House Film Festival in Chicago, standing in a lobby packed with people. Suddenly, a "hole" in the hubbub opened in one corner of the room and magically spread outward. It was followed by an eruption of applause, as tiny Gloria Swanson made her way through the throng. And it was at THAT moment that I understood what "star quality" really was!
Great timing
One of the great closing scenes of cinematic history, from a brilliant movie that showed how the make-believe world of Hollywood could swallow its stars whole. Gloria Swanson is brilliant here -- alternatively creepy, pathetic, and heartbreaking. Thanks for posting this.
One of the greatest depictions of a descent into insanity in Hollywood history. Brilliant acting by von Stroheim too. Look at his face and the gulps in his throat when he isn't saying anything. The heartbreak! And then there's Franz Waxman's music as she comes down the stairs: typical 50's exotic music for a "Salome" epic DeMille might have made, wrenched apart by dissonant chords. Everything's perfect.
@@gnirolnamlerf593 Thank you for identifying the composer. The soundtrack was fabulous -- especially during this scene.
- Masterpiece. One of the best scene ever made in cinema !!!
this is one of the most haunting films I have ever seen. a very good film!
One of the greatest Movie scenes of all time!!! Swanson deserved her Oscar for this Incredible Movie!! Also One of the best Movies of all time!!!!;):)
the genius wilder also directed it! also, Holden and Sroheim maybe also deserved their Oscars for best actor and supporting actor!;)
" I ready for my close-up." It is a final bitter and heart beaking irony of the film- (and so brilliantly realized by director Wyler)- that as she moves in for her final closeup, the focus dissolves into nothingness. She is robbed of even that small token of success; she is denied her close-up.
In the Bible, Salome is a murderer… another irony.
FYI, the director was Billy Wilder, not William Wyler.
Very well said! Norma Desmond is famous again, but for all the wrong reasons.
Billy WILDER, not Wm. Wyler, a different director.
beguiling and brilliant. swanson's performance is sublime; both sad and horrifying. genius!
@Jeffrey Suggs Anne Baxter didn't rob Bette Davis of the Oscar, though; Miss Baxter won for Best Supporting Actress.
As for your preference of other actresses portraying "drscrmt into madness,"in the (very good) examples you cited (I'll throw in Vivien Leigh as Blanch Dubois, for that matter), only Gloria Swanson was playing a former diva of the silent screen. And I think Miss Swanson's performance ranks right up there with the other great examples you cited.
the film score of "Sunset Boulevard" and especially the finale is magnificent
I agree, Waxman really outdid himself, love Norma's exotic tango theme, Joe Gillis' jazzy bebop theme, and how he quotes elements from the Strauss opera "Salome" (mainly the flute trill) to insinuate madness, just as Strauss had.
Genius. She goes from sweet to brokenhearted, hopeful to hopeless, chilling to dangerous. In literally a paragraph. One of the best movies of all time for sure
Sounds like an exaggeration of what happens to a lot of us with age. I might watch this- never seen it, it was quite a bit before my time.
Please note as she descends the staircase, the other people on the staircase are frozen in place until she approaches them.
They're there because people were worried she'd fall down the stairs as she descends barefoot without looking down or holding the railing. Gloria wanted barefoot and the studio didn't. This was their compromise.
@@Grimlock-ry8fgThey are there because the shocked cooperation of the cynical newspapermen with Norma’s fantasy adds another layer of depth to this astonishing scene.
@@folioio That, too.
I love this scene so much and especially the look of heartbreak and pity on Max’s face.
That was powerful but subtle at the same time.
@@danawinsor1380 @Giselle Gazda It was the only point in the film that Max referred to her as 'Norma', rather than 'Madam', & I think that says something,
He sacrificed almost everything for her.
He deserves some credit here. He realizes the only way to get her down the stairs is to play into her fantasy. He shines all the lights and cameras on her and says "action". And then he looks so sad as she's coming down the stairs, because he knows she's just crazy and it's the last time she'll get to play. He's quite good.
I saw this movie, with my parents, in as a very small child a classic theater in Connecticut. … GIANT screen, dark room. … That final scene, the building intense music, and the eyes, facial expressions of Norma totally stunned me. … I was terrified. … Just watching this clip can speed up my pulse, more than half a century later. … Amazing how a short sequence can leave such a devastating scar. … Compelling and spectacular cinematography. … Astonishing that Ms. Swanson did not win and academy award.
She was also nominated with Bette Davis and Anne Baxter. It was a tough year. It it was any other year, it would've been a different story.
Interestingly, Wilder doesn't grant Norma her close up, instead he blurs the image just before. Sunset Blvd is a film that at every aspect is completely satisfying. We can question what is the fate of Norma, Max, and Betty after the events in the film, but because it ends so satisfyingly with an incredible final line, the questions disappear and we are left in the dark, contemplating how unfathomably amazing this film is. It ends as if it were destiny and as the opening implies... it was.
This scene deserves 1m views!!
Sadly, most people don't watch classic movies these days.
This scene, the actors and directors will be remembered as part of movie history forever, it's in the psyche of popular culture and even today people still make references to it.
+Joshua Taylor please don't forget the memorable music score by Franz Waxman. It really creates the sense.
Tawney Port Of course, you're right!
+Listener Canon it is bad that there is more people who love more new that old Movies
It is a crime that she didn't win the Academy Award!!!
It's said that she and Bette Davis split the vote. That was one helluva competitive year!
And worst, she didn't lost for Bette Davis, she lost for Judy Holliday.
So true, it was subject matter that
Hollywood was ashamed to admit how actors are tossed aside for a young fresh face.
@@edwardlynch4060 And, tragically, despite the Oscar nomination for her amazing performance, Swanson thereafter was typecast and never had another good role offered, and her career sunk.
TheBrabon1 she was vegetarian, not a vegan.
Dear god! The score, her face, her hand! Pure perfection
The glamour of Hollywood turned RANCID...Director Billy Wilder said people like Louie B Mayer did not appreciate his befouling the nest so to speak and wanted to run Wilder out of town on a rail after the tar and feathering....BRILLIANT cinematography from first to last shot; casting (Mary Pickford and Mae West were both considered or approached) Gloria Swanson is superb and ironically she was one one of the most level headed women in Tinsel Town; William Holden mixed his all American nice guy charm with cheap oiliness and of course Von Stroheim was superb casting as well (the idea that he directed Swanson in an unfinished silent epic in real-life gives the film an added layer...CB DeMille who directed Swanson in many a modern marriage epic in the '20's gives the film another layer..Franz Waxman's score is one of his best- going from poignant to complete madness mixing in "Paramount on Parade" and his variations on "Salome" type music for the descent down the stairs into complete madness as she comes at us like Dracula's Daughter with claws outstretched! A TRUE CLASSIC
+Michelle Barajas Thanks for the kind words... At one time I wanted to be a film historian/ writer like William K Everson, Carlos Clarens, etc Trying to "paint" with words...
Wonderful analysis!
Thank you for the praise! I went for r check up last month and was struck by how the doctor ( Dr D Tavady) resembled director Billy Wilder...I mentioned this to him and he said "director of SOME LIKE IT HOT?" So the moral of this is: there is a bit of film buff in ALL OF US...
It was Louie B. Mayer who told Garbo to leave Metro when he was done with her. She had fulfilled her purpose until she was no longer a viable money maker for the studio. Mayer was probably feeling guilty while viewing Sunset Blvd.
Mayer was a cad. He hated the film because it told the truth
Seen it so many times and that ending, with the fade-out as Norma approaches the camera with the music rising, still gives me chills. Masterpiece
no comments.... I love this movie, it`s a masterpiece, Billy wilder is a genious¡¡¡....
Probably the best ending scene to a movie in the history of film. I could watch Swanson's "Mr. DeMille" delivery 100 times in a row and still get the chills every single time.
She acted it...but Wilder, and imigrant from Austria, wrote those words
Franz Waxman's score absolutely sells this last scene. It's the emotional punch needed for such mellodrama. Wilder knew it as well. Waxman's score is one of the finest in cinema history.
That's the only way I know how to get down the stairs....
I think 'the exorcist' showed a better and faster way...you should try
lmao
Is there anything more trite, more dismissable than a jerk like you? The consolation one gets for your childish intrusion on a great moment in film is the knowledge that this stark failure of empathy that you proudly evidence here is something anyone unfortunate enough to have to know you has to deal with when ever you're a round...
Well deserved remark but wasted on this fool who thinks he's a mountain when he's really A-hole...!
eoselan7... i think you might be taking the comment a little too seriously... from someone who has done that in the past, it is okay to laugh and be silly.
Swanson deserved the Oscar for this.
Gloria Swanson was perfect for this role! 😍😍👏👏❤️❤️
One of the few old movies where I can understand why it is called one of the greatest movies of all time. This movie is timeless and brilliant
There is a reason this is in my top 25 films of all time. Genius directing from the great Billy Wilder. Genius performance from Gloria Swanson. Genius script. From the incredible opening to this unforgettable ending Sunset Boulevard is a cinematic masterpiece. I cannot praise the film enough.
Miss Swanson should have gotten an Oscar for that movie.
This is in my top 10 all time.
Also a dream cast.
Tour de force! ... Both epic and heartbreaking final scene!
02:35 how ironic, Norma Desmond wanted to get back to being a successful actress after her downfall from the era of silent films and unfortunately descended to madness, but the real life actress, Gloria Swanson, actually found success again with this role, after a period in which she could not repeat her past success in the era of spoken films. She eventually got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for this whole, and entered history with her unforgettable quotes, like this one, and the one that I think is one of the most accurate quotes ever produced: "I am big, it's the pictures that got small". Indeed! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
01:56: "I can't go on with the scene I'm too happy ".....chilling, tragic and brilliant.
One of the greatest movies ever made. Its sad, chilling, tragic and famous. Love it 👍
What a scene!!! That actress was one of a kind. I saw the movie yesterday and I was very impressed...
I've watched this movie about 30 times since I was a kid and I always find something new in it. Everyone and everything about this movie is pure genius, it' in the psyche of popular culture, you'll notice references to everywhere.
The greatest final scene of any film, rivalled only slightly but the final image of another exceptionally brilliant film of that year, All About Eve. What a year 1950 was.
i got to see this in cinemas recently and i really can't describe the feeling of sitting in a theatre and hearing he say "all those wonderful people out there in the dark" and somehow feel that despite the years and the miles between us, she really is talking to you.
That is so awesome. I need to see it on the big screen 🎥
Am i the only one crying ?Those eyes, The sadness the madness the heartbraking she broke the 4th wall for a second and was genius Shes amazing
This scene is one of the greatest in cinema history. Billy Wilder, Gloria Swanson and William Holden were an awesome combination.
It's so brilliantly unsettling how she breaks the fourth wall by looking directly at the camera when she says, "...and those wonderful people out there in the dark."
As Norma Desmond descends the staircase into madness, she mentions 'Salome' in her speech at the bottom. The music for that sequence was adapted from the opera 'Salome'. It is a heartbreaking film.
"All right, Mr. DeMille. I am ready for my close-up."
+P. Bundy EXCELLENT call on Waxman making a little nod to Strauss's "Salome." Waxman's entire original score for this movie is superb.
+LWOPP one of Waxmans finest scores. The music tells the story..........
Amazing!
Gloria Swanson is so charismatic she makes insanity magnetic. One gets the sense that she tore something from her raw guts and distilled it into Norma Desmond. Although she didn't write her role, she snatched it off the page, took possession of it, and in the process forged an archetype. There is Cassandra. And then there is Norma Desmond.
Your comment merits my "like" but I'm still unclear on your reference to "Cassandra.,"
Just watched this movie for the first time in 2021. I was blown away, and got such chills at this scene. I was also surprised how many lines I had heard referenced in other media but never recognized.
I’m ready for my close-up, Mister Demille…
I'm an amateur singer, and in some of my performances I say, "I'm here for all of you wonderful people out there in the dark," then turn to my pianist and say, "I'm ready for my song, Dan." I get you Norma, I get you.
For the last 35 years since I first was fortunate enough to see this movie in a real movie theatre , it has been my favorite film . I felt it had everything ..... great acting , script , murder , pathos and everything in between.
.
I loved the real silent stars as her waxwork friends , the use of Cecil De Mille as himself which made the movie even more real .
And Swanson nailed the performance . I never tire of her perfect brilliance in portraying a deluded star but still living in her fame from yesteryear .
A perfectly done masterpiece .
My favorite actress and movie star of all time, Gloria Swanson. I love the ending scene where she is walking toward the camera before the fade, my favorite movie ending.
I love this. She's the female counterpart to Psycho's Norman Bates. Matter of fact, her name is Norma as in Norma/Norman.
As soon as Norma approaches to the camera, she is like then changing into the Paramount logo. She took a one-way ticket into the portal of fantasy world. Great stuff by Billy Wilder.
Thanks for uploading this unforgettable scene !
this is one of my favourit fims of all time.
mine also
Heartbreaking stuff.
OMG MRS SWANSON PLAYED THIS ROLE TO PERFECTION R.I.P QUEEN 🤩🤩🤩🤩👑👑👑👑
FAVOURITE FILM EVER. the way the music stops at the end... speechless
so many quotes:
"I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small!"
"maybe one...Garbo.."
"All right, Mr. DeMille.. I'm ready for my close-up"
"No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star!"
"I hate that word. It's a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen!"
just to name a few..
GS should have gotten the Oscar for this scene alone.
such a sad scene :*(
"The world's waited long enough. I've come home at last!"
1:48 The woman in this shot is Hedda Hopper, a notoriously ruthless gossip columnist of the time, playing herself. That she's crying here, at Norma's madness, would have said something profound to those audiences in the know.
It’s such a great little moment of acting from someone who is a non-actor. The absolute horror and heartbreak that crosses Hopper’s face as she watches Norma descend the staircase is really just incredible. I watch for it every time.
Gloria Swanson did more in that short scene that many of today's actors can do over a lifetime of movie-making! She is thoroughly, and frighteningly, convincing!
goosebumps, goosebumps everywhere. this break of the fourth wall is so magnificent and the last picture is so intense.
My favorite actress of ALL TIME.
amazing Gloria!
Magia em estado puro ! Já não se fazem cenas assim ...
Extraordinary scene, wonderful artists in one of the best films of all time. And Glory Swanson, just perfect.
Such a heartbreaking ending… but unforgettable and, in a way, very beautiful in its tragedy.
such a beautiful ending...
what an amazing actress the final scene bought a lump to my throat bravo miss swanson
this is acting that few have the knowledge to do anymore
I think Hollywoods actors and directors of this time had a relationship to theater ... in this scene with Swanson you can feel the influence of this... very strong - today you just have special effects ...
Brilliant film!! I will be watching it on TCM tonight!
Probably one of the greatest movies ever made.
"This is my life and it always will be. There's nothing else!! Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark"..... So many actors and actresses succumbed to the price of fame with their own life. And still reflects the life and death in Hollywood nowadays.
Yes. Even all that money she had and that huge mansion, Desmond was still profoundly unhappy. The only thing that fulfilled her was working and be wanted. A commentary that money can’t buy happiness.
Gloria Swanson, a beautiful woman and a WONDERFUL actress and so ahead of her time.
I still get chills when Norma succumbs to her madness and drifts towards " those wonderful people out there in the dark. "
Billy Wilder was a genius with a body of work from Sunset Blvd to Some Like It Hot to The Apartment et al. A genius who worked with Swanson, Dietrich, Monroe,
Lemmon, Stanwyck, Cagney, Hepburn, Holden, Novak, MacLaine, Jean Arthur
Double Indemnity, A Foreign Affair, Stalag 17, Fedora, et al, I think Sunset Blvd and Some Like It Hot are his two greatest films. Ms. Swanson was beyond perfect in this movie and MM was heavenly in Some Like It Hot, neither won the Oscar, MM wasnt even nominated!
love how "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" satirized the golden era of Hollywood...the floor show scene of the movie, with the RKO radio tower in the background.
Sunset Boulevard satirizes the golden era too. For me the whole movie is a parody , really a good one.
+camila cionco barcena..👍
that soundtrack tho...... they just don't make them like this these days... :(
Iconic
El final mas triste de un film.junto con Un tranvia llamando deseo.
"And this time will be bigger! And better than we knew it! So watch me fly, we all know I can do it!"
One of my all-time favorites.
This masterpiece would not be the same without Gloria Swanson.
Billy Wilder was a genius. Gloria Swanson should have won the Oscar.
And the worst is that she didn't lost for Bette Davis in "All about Eve", but for Judy Holliday in "Born Yesterday".
Note how her acting silences all the jabbering, cynical reporters.
I interpreted it as them being shocked at how far into madness this former star has descended
Eeriest final scene ever made! I'm always scared when I watch it!
Brilliant!!!!!
I love you Norma 🖤✨🌟 🎥
"This time I'm staying, I'm staying for good. I'll be back where I was born to be! With one look, I'll be me!"
One of the great movie endings from Billy Wilder...along with his other classic ending from "Some Like it Hot" -- Jack Lemon (in drag) to old letch Joe E. Brown..."Aww,,I'm a man"...."Nobody's Perfect".
That's right: maybe Joe E. knew all along.
Is this the film in which those immortal words ( I'm ready for my close up Mr de mille) came from. I have heard it said many times
Yep it sure is! ☺️☺️❤️❤️
Classic! Classic! Classic!
One of the best and most haunting ending scenes of cinema.
Excellent Actress of all time
"Are you ready Norma?"
Back when movies were movies, and relied on acting, directing, and a good script, and didn't need any flashy special effects.
Hey, now I agree movies were way better back then, but the 2010s has given us A Separation, Boyhood, 12 Years A Slave, Black Swan, etc and those are amazing films IMO.
12 Years a Slave and Boyhood are both good, not fantastic.
See? Standards have slipped. Now good is amazing.
1. *A bread falls over.*
2. *Explosion.*
3. Credits: Directed by Michael Bay.
What’s funny is this is the same view Norma’s character has in this film, shows people always look back on the past in that way
Peep Peep nailed it in the head!
classic movie classic actors classic director
The best movie about movies, and fame, ever made.
As @DerekMathis said down below: for me, the saddest part of the scene is the cutaway to the top of the stairs. For those not in the know, the blonde woman in the hat is Hedda Hopper, the most legendary gossip columnist of her age, playing herself in a cameo. Hopper was BRUTAL in her column--she took people down without a second thought. Scandal, intrigue, murder...that was her bread and butter, and she didn't care who she hurt with her stories. And yet for all that, even she's heartbroken by the sight in front of her: a broken woman collapsing into insanity. That flash of humanity from Hedda elevates the scene: if Hollywood's most notorious gossip is shedding tears of pity, then you have pure tragedy on your hands. This is truly one of the greatest movies of all time...
I agree -- that brief shot of Hopper in tears adds so much to the tragic mood of the scene.
As a cynic, I think Hopper was trying to pass herself off as sympathetic and not a total bitch.
Goddamn, Wilder was brilliant.
and she never got that final close-up.
One of the best movies of all time.
Masterpiece! Shame is 1950!a year later or before and it would've smashed all records!
And let's not forget Von Stroheim's magnificent contribution to this scene. The heartbreaking look of love on his face as he stoically arranges the fake "directing" of the scene. And on top of that his assuming his role after so many years as a great director. A brilliant performance in an extroadinary scene.