Customer Reviews

Close-up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stagg is a very good writer with a very worthy subject. The research is meticulous and the information he presents on the film and the people who made it make this book a winner- just like his companion study of "All About Eve". Some of the complaints here, though, are the same as with that very worthy book. Stagg gives at least equal weight to the film's afterlife, particularly the lightly-regarded Broadway version, as to the mega-classic 1950 Wilder film. And once again, the tiresome emphasis on certain obsessions- camp, divas, catfights, and cross-dressing- not that there's anything wrong with that- do tend to distract from the work as straightforward film history, at least for those of us less titillated by those aspects of the film's following. And finally, Staggs attacks Billy Wilder- the greatest filmmaker of all, in my opinion- with a preposterous theory that Wilder's work after ending his collaboration with Charles Brackett (including "Stalag 17", "Sabrina", "Witness For the Prosecution", "Some Like It Hot", and "The Apartment") doesn't hold up!

What makes this book a must-own anyway is the great information about the film itself- the art-directors, musicians, actors and actresses, designers, and shooting locations, as well as the behind-the-scenes look at Paramount in its heyday. The interview with Nancy Olson is a particular highlight. And if you're into camp, divas, and catfights, change that rating to five stars.

Sunset Blvd is my favorite movie, and I came away from the book terribly disappointed. Despite having access to Nancy Olsen and (the author claims, although I saw no evidence of it) Billy Wilder, as well as many others who knew those involved in the movie, there are few or no details about the making of the movie that haven't been revealed elsewhere, particularly in Ed Sikov's excellent Wilder biography. And a lot is omitted -- for example, though Staggs mentions Gloria Swanson's youthful appearance (as well as a pointless & tactless rumor about it), he doesn't mention why she looked so young -- because Swanson avoided going out into the sun.

The structure of the novel is likewise confused. The first part bounces back and forth between analysis of the movie and the making of it. The analysis is thin and uninteresting. Of the many questions that a serious discussion of the movie would include, one of the few that is asked is: why does Joe Gillis push away Betty at the end? Staggs' answer: because of the production code. Please. The last part of the book is dominated by an extended, boring discussion of the musical made from the movie.

There's a theme to the book, and it isn't subtle: that Wilder's best work needed Charles Brackett. This leads to some strange passages. Staggs has some faint praise for Some Like It Hot but his criticism of Stalag 17 is bizarre (a "misbegotten" mix of comedy and drama?), to say the least, and the comments on The Apartment are worse. Staggs calls The Apartment "dated" (wrong, of course) then goes on to gush about what is possibly the most dated of Wilder's movies, The Lost Weekend. And while there are legitimate criticisms of The Apartment, of all the criticisms, valid and invalid, I've ever heard, "threadbare" surely qualifies as the most inane. Needless to say, in pursuing this theory, Staggs doesn't try to explain Double Indemnity, also made without Brackett. As far as I'm concerned, and I don't think I'm alone, Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment are all better than any of the Brackett & Wilder works except Sunset Blvd.

There's decent discussion of movies that followed Sunset Blvd that imitated it, but the glaring omission of Network, with its many parallels to Sunset Blvd, is inexplicable.

All in all, the book just isn't worth the time and effort it takes to read it, let alone the money needed to buy it.

is a famous line from the darkly camp classic, Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard". Sam Staggs book manages to recreate the story behind the film, not only the making of it, but the world which existed during the making of it. Hollywood itself is a major player in "Sunset", that artificial and arrogant place, dasher of dreams, and fame beholder.

In Stagg's first book, "All About All About Eve", the author seemed to dwell too much on minutia and ponitless facts (his fascination with Zsa Zsa Gabor's hair color still resonates with me), but now he seems to have learned his lesson. Close Up is rich with information, and moves along at a brisk pace, chapters closing, leaving with you the feeling of wanting more. He recounts the making of the film in a somewhat linear fashion, moving along topics as they seemingly come up.

You learn about the great Gloria Swanson's involvement with the film, and the role she played in shaping the great Norma herself. Cecil B. DeMille comes across as a great, crusty old man. Nancy Olson, one of the surviving actors, brings her personal stories and charm to the book.

Stagg's sense of humor was enjoyable throughout the book. A couple of times, I found myself laughing outloud at some of his comments. While I agree with a reviewer's claim that he does inject himself into the book, it didn't bother me. It's a story of Sunset Blvd. but also a story about how he came to find out all the information; both are interesting.

In the end, I had trouble putting down this book. Staggs learned much from his thick opus "All About Eve", thank goodness for bringing this classic movie back to life.

I haven't had this much fun reading a movie book since Sam Staggs' last book, All About All About Eve. That was one of the best books I ever read about Hollywood, and I've read just about all of them. This one is on the same level. Yes, Staggs puts in everything but the kitchen sink, but it's all enjoyable, so I didn't mind--the more juicy tidbits the better, as far as I'm concerned. And to think that Gloria Swanson's final years, as Staggs relates in one of the final chapters, was spent with a much younger man in much the same way as Norma Desmond--what delicious, and sad, irony. Anyway,it's full of fascinating characters and great scenes, just like a great movie. Loved it.

Sunset Boulevard is one of my favorite films, simply because it operates on so many different levels that you can more or less find something new in it every time you see it. Thus, when I came across this book I was looking forward to an in-depth, substantial recap and analysis of the making of the film and its after-effects outside of a general Billy Wilder biography. I got that, but I also got a lot of useless drivel that serves no purpose except to fill pages.

The first part which documents the process by which the film was written, cast, and produced is excellent. Even the segments that follow, displaying the level of lingering influence Sunset Boulevard and Norma Desmond in particular have had on popular culture were somewhat interesting. That's where it should have ended. Instead, Sam Staggs continues on with chapters and passages that are too much about him and not about the movie. Personally, particularly in the wake of Billy Wilder's death, I don't think it serves any great purpose but his own for Stagg, with a few exceptions, to more or less trash every Billy Wilder film that was made post-SB.

I also didn't really care for the long, drawn out chapters on the musical version and Andrew Lloyd Webber, although I guess that they are necessary in sticking with his overall theme. Staggs is really a victim of himself in that he makes some cogent points but then either beats them to death (as in the case of the Norma Desmond mystique/phenomenon/icon/whatever) or contradicts himself a few pages later.

I guess I would recommend it to fans but be prepared for the pitfalls.

This book started quite strongly, with Billy Wilder witnessing a confrontation between D. W. Griffith and Samuel Goldwyn shortly before Griffith's death. Staggs sees this as the genesis of "Sunset Boulevard."

The first half of this book is very interesting. This part deals with the actual making of the movie and its reception in 1950-1. However, once the Academy Awards are handed out and Gloria Swanson doesn't win, Staggs loses focus.

The idea of seeing how "Sunset Boulevard" lasted in the public imagination between Wilder's film and Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical sounds interesting, but in Staggs' hands this runs off in too many different directions. He mentions a ton of movies about Hollywood that bow toward Wilder's film, but he doesn't go into any in much detail. He goes into a list of porn movies. He covers SB references on TV. It never pulls together.

Also, it bugged me a little that he is very critical of Wilder's post SB (and post Charles Brackett) films. He seemed to think this was a new, contrarian position, but, in fact, this was a commonly held view in the Seventies that Wilder's best films were Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard.

So this book started promisingly but lost its way.

This latest Hollywood book by Sam Staggs is even better than the one about All About Eve. This is even better written and isn't inundated with the personal opinions that plagued the earlier volume. This one hits the mark much better in that he tells the story of the making of this classic with well-researched information not disrupted by supposition.
Revealing interviews with cast and crew like Nancy Olson are not only revealing in their tales of life on the sound stage but are actually legitimately informative. Staggs' narrative flows smoothly and makes you feel as if you were present at the interviews and during the research itself.
In addition, this is a fun read. I heartily recommend it.

It never occured to me that someone would write a book like this, going in-depth on a certain movie, until I just happened to see it on a "new releases" table at the bookstore. I had to buy it to read about one of my favorite movies, and I wasn't disappointed. I greatly enjoyed the author's funny, witty, intelligent writing. I found the book to be a real page-turner, even in sections where I didn't have a great deal of prior interest in the celebrity he was talking about.

The only place I disagreed with the author was when he asserted that Petula Clark didn't make a good Norma Desmond (in the musical). I came to the movie backwards - first, I heard about the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and wanted to see it. The only version available in San Francisco was the one with Ms. Clark. I thought she was wonderful - her voice has a little girl quality that really made you believe that Norma was stuck in the past, in her younger years when she was "big" in pictures. When I later heard Glenn Close play Norma and saw her in clips, I thought she sounded way too assertive, like a real ball-breaker. You had less sympathy for her. So, consider, Mr. Staggs - if I'd never seen Petula Clark play Norma, I would never have bought the video and watched the original movie! I would never have enjoyed it enough to want to buy an in-depth book about it!

At any rate - great book. It's the entire back story (and forward story) of the movie, from conception to public response and the effect the movie had on the stars and director (and others). I especially enjoyed the interviews with the stars who are still with us, and the sections discussing the musical. It was refreshing to read a book written by someone who obviously cares deeply for the movie. I really enjoyed the fact that the writing style was chatty (yet intelligent) and not dry and scholarly.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Staggs other venture in to "All About Eve," All About "All About Eve," so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed with this book. The way he dissects the entire movie without the result being so cut & dry that you feel like you've spent the whole day reading a phone book. I knew that Mae West was once considered for the role of Norma Desmond, but never knew that version was slated to be a comedy, how right on target they were with that thought!

This is a fantastic book on the behind-the-scenes evolution and influence of "Sunset Blvd.", one of the best movies in the history of film-making. Sam Staggs has once again delivered an exhaustively-researched and entertaining book on Hollywood. A companion of sorts to his earlier work, "All About All About Eve" (both were films in release in 1950 and resurrected the careers of great actresses, Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson), this book reveals the dark nature of noir and the bitter humor of black comedy. Staggs leaves no stone unturned in his examination of the works that came before and influenced "Sunset Blvd.", plus the works that came after, including the film's transformation into a successful Broadway musical (those chapters alone give enough dish for several books!). I cannot recommend this book enough to cinephiles and casual film fans alike!