What typical aspects of film noir were present? Which were not? What did you learn that will help you write your own film noir?
Someone might also want to do research on Billy Wilder himself. He's considered by historians to be a pretty important filmmaker so it'd be good to know more about him. What did you learn about his life and career that helps you better understand what's going on or being said in this film? Is this film typical or atypical of Wilder's style and stories? How so? What do you think this film is saying about the filmmaking industry itself?
Josh Here. I love cheese.
ReplyDeletei dont really like cheese
ReplyDeleteThe lighting and tone were very noir. Also the questionable characters. but it definitely wasnt a crime drama, which was strange to me. It definitely made me realize that noir is a much broader genre than i thought.
ReplyDeleteThat's good that you broadened your definition of film noir. Here's one guy's defense of calling this a film noir: "To those who think this isn't noir: Man uses woman. Woman uses man. Queasy sex. Betrayal. Madness. Gunshots. He's face down in the pool he always wanted. Case closed."
Deletehttp://eddiemuller.com/top25noir.html
I am generally indifferent towards cheese.
ReplyDelete(Carlos)
I think by today standards Norma would have schizophrenia or Alzheimer.... that wasnt meant to funny.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree i dont see how she would have schizoprenia or alzheimers, she was just caught up in her own word and didnt want to believe any thing that was diffrent.Im confused on why you would think she had Schizophrenia. Norma was just very depressed and she might of had a delusion. if anything she had a Major depressive disorder with pychotic features.
DeleteI don't know what to really say about the movie. It was a weird story line near the end. It was a good example of film noir. They had the narration, murder. it didn't really have cops or P.Is till the end, but even then they weren't really main characters. I like the movie. so I want to know what happen to her in the end did she play the insane card or go to jail? (dea)
ReplyDeleteGood point about the narration, Dea. In that way, this film had a noir element that Kiss Me Deadly did not.
DeleteCheese is too mainstream
ReplyDelete- Harker
Get to class, Harker!
DeleteThat entire film was glorious. Gloria Swanson should have won Best Actress. This movie is part of the 16 percent. I love this film, especially the character of Norma Desmond.
ReplyDelete-Carlos
I have to agree with you on that one carlos :) (dea)
DeleteThis is Arachne. I agree with you on Norma. She's my favorite. Watching her descent into further insanity was really cool. Her unnatural obsession with fame was somehow believable and Gloria Swanson portrayed the character perfectly.
DeleteI "like' your comments. Gloria Swanson is freaking awesome in this movie.
DeleteAnd I agree with Arachne about how cathartic it is to watch Gloria's fall. I think this film is a tragedy (as defined by Aristotle) with two tragic heros.
The main protagonist in the film is seen wearing very snazzy outfits, a common characteristic in film noirs.
ReplyDeleteAlso something I've seen a lot in noirs that this film has done is starting from a point that is the end or near the end of the story's timeline, and then the rest of the film is spent getting the audience up to date with the story.
The main protagonist also gets a lot of tail, another trait I've noticed in noirs. Nice.
I have to agree with you. A lot of film noirs tend to have that, and I personally enjoy it very much. It certainly gives an exciting story.
Delete(Angell Chandler)
@ Allen: way to use noir terms like "tail".
DeleteI would have to say that I am a big fan of this movie, after all this is about my third time of watching it. I feel that Norma's character is one that certainly keeps you hooked on watching and wanting to know what else might happen.
ReplyDeleteJust to give a little fun facts on Billy Wilder that I found out, he actually planned on being a lawyer and abandoned that began to write screenplays for many German films. I thought that was interesting, and kind of says that your future can change, but will always work out for you especially after showing how big he became from the screenplays that he has written.
(Angell Chandler)
Thanks, Angell, for the Wilder facts! I didn't know that.
DeleteFun fact: Norma Desmond was named after two well known stars: silent film star Norma Talmage and silent film director William Desmond Taylor. William Desmond Taylor's death is among the many great hollywood scandals, as his killer was never identified.
ReplyDeleteHe opened the box.
DeleteCarlos
I "like" Carlos' comment.
Delete@ Syndnie: thanks for sharing this fun fact!
DeleteOverall, this movie was decent. i found it to not be as interesting as kiss me deadly. i often found my self bored with Norma Desmond. i wish the movie had less of her, i find she was too selfish for me and just disgusted me in general. you always pretended to be one step ahead of everyone even though she was still way back in her past life. i found the lighting was low key enough for a film noir, but i definitely was a film noir. and i liked the voice over.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. This movie is nothing but beautiful.
DeleteCarlos
I think that having that opinion of her was what the director was going for, as she was pitiful and disgusting and selfish. Our opinion (as an audience) of her, and our feelings toward her reflect the feelings that Joe and other had of her. Like he said, there's nothing deplorable about being 50, it's when you pretend to be 25 that it's sad.
DeleteI thought this movie had a lot more action then Kiss Me Deadly.
DeleteI liked how dynamic the character Norma Demond was. There were a lot of moments when I sympathized with her a lot more then I did with Joe. She basically spent most of her life living in the shadow of her younger self.
I feel that those traits of Norma's personality are what makes the movie so great, her almost borderline personality disorder and what seams to be dementia are what inspire the actions of Joe especially towards the end.
DeleteNaomi's comment brings up an interesting point: you don't need guns or fight scenes to have "action". She felt like there was more "action" in Sunset than Kiss Me Deadly. Technically, Kiss Me Deadly had more tailing and fighting and shooting and crime than Sunset but Naomi was still more engaged with Sunset. This shows how if we broaden the term "action" to just "drama", we see that, as writers, we can engage our audience in a situation even if the external conflict is not all actiony.
DeleteSunset Boulevard won three academy awards out of the ELEVEN it was nominated for. I don't know about you guys but I think thats pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt should have won best actress.
DeleteCarlos
Who did win best actress that year?
DeleteJudy Holliday in Born Yesterday
Delete(Carlos)
I'd like to believe that she played the insane card in the end because she never truly admitted to the murder and after she killed him she finally snapped and got stuck into this mindset that she is in a film. She didn't play the insane card. She finally was insane. She would forever believe that she was on a film set.
ReplyDelete(Carlos)
So this movie is just great it had an amassing story that was portrayed by a great cast. The movie had great suspense and the ending was totally unseen but yet seemingly obvious. the character of Norma Desmond herself is amassing and Gloria Swanson's portrayal of the role is what sells it.
ReplyDeleteI Fell that this is a great noir film because of the fact that it is a mystery its the mystery of how joe gills ended up dead in the pool. Even though it doesn't feature a P.I. or cop attempting to solve a crime it more than makes up for it with suspense and a questionable protagonist.
So, in a way, the audience gets to be the P.I. as we figure out how things went down.
Deletei agree with you tony
ReplyDeletei really liked the how the chick was rude to the guy at the beginning and throughout the movie she gets nicer and eventually crazy
ReplyDeleteWell you know what they say, fame can always go to ones head. but you still cant help but feel little sad for her as you watching the movie, so her character is kind of a 50/50
DeleteI was in a car accident so i only saw the ending of the movie but i thought the acting was very well done. i didnt understand was was going on, but i feel that it was very well put together enough for me too understand the jist of what the story was about, very good film (:
ReplyDeletei like chicken i like liver Meowmix Meowmix please deliver
ReplyDeleteSpamer!
DeleteI liked the character Norma a lot, she when from being very popular to nothing because of the changing standards of society like many before her have, so i find her as a character i can connect with.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie very much! I certainly is very different from other film noirs, kind of straying from the 'intense crime drama', which is very nice in my opinion. I love it's look into how movies changed back then and how Hollywood was. It's a very fun movie, the characters all use each other kind of for their own self gain and it's rather interesting to see what that gain is for, how it benefits each character. Norma indeed is a crazy character, though she's one of my favorite next to her butler/slave. Those two, how they work together is very fascinating. He'll do anything for her, she barely acknowledges him. I love how it showed them from being so big to becoming practically nothing. etc I love this movie yeah haha
ReplyDeletei thought this was the best classic noir movie we saw. i liked seeing how hollywood was back then. i really enjoyed the characters.
ReplyDelete