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Article: 'Sunset Boulevard's' close-up view still rivets.(Arts and Lifestyle)
- Article from:
- The Boston Herald
- Article date:
- May 5, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Boston Herald. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"Sunset Boulevard" (1950), Billy Wilder's ghoulish exhumation of Hollywood's boneyard, so offended image conscious MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer he cursed Wilder for biting the hand that feeds him. Wilder's response is unprintable.
Of course, Mayer had a point. From its talking-corpse-in-the-swimming-pool opening to its "Mr. DeMille I'm ready for my close-up" finale, "Sunset Boulevard" is a dizzying, Goya-esque descent into darkness, madness and murder.
As former silent screen goddess Norma Desmond, Gloria Swanson returned to the screen after a nine-year absence to play a role so close to her heart it's a virtual surgical procedure. Swanson's Norma Desmond ...