Sunset Boulevard (1950), the blackest of Hollywood's self-portraits, is an old dark house of a ghost story inhabited by the living shadows of its discarded stars.
One of the great joys of the film is watching the way in which William Holden's naturalistic performance clashes with an actress and performance style from an earlier age.
[VIDEO ESSAY] Billy Wilder's deft weaving of gothic elements, not the least of which is Nora's decrepit mansion, casts a spell from which Joe is unable to break free. He, like the audience, is stuck in a terrible place awaiting an equally frightful fate.
