"Sunset Boulevard" is a dream of a movie! The main protagonist is a fifty years old woman who was a very famous movie star in the Silent era. As the time passed, the public and the studios forgot her, but she was too afraid to face that perspective and became a captive in her own house. She was constantly feeding that dream of returning to the screen, as the time had not passed. She lived with her buttler who was the one who kept reminding her that she was still the greatest stars of all. When an unknown screenplay writer accidentaly arrives in her home both start trying to find in one another what was lacking in their lives. Joe, the writer, was looking for money and a spotlight in his own work. Norma was looking for companion, love, and someone to guide her back to the glory she lived in the past. When Joe finds out that Norma was madly in love with him and tries to leave, she loses her mind and shoot him dead in a moment of total despair, jealousy, and insanity.
I am absolutely fascinated by the character Norma Desmond. Gloria Swanson gave a remarkable performance! It is pretty sad to see the emotinal storm she was immersed in. Her loneliness, her need to feel accepted, and admired. Being extremely loved one day and then totally forgotten latter.. emotionally it must be too much to endure!
"A body of a man was found floating in the pool, with two shots in his back and one in his stomach"
"Nobody important, really. Just a movie writer with a couple of "B" pictures to his credit"
"You will get it over your radio, and see it on TV -- because an old-time star is involved. One of the biggest."
"I had landed myself in the driveway of some big mansion that looked run-down and deserted."
"At the end of the driveway was a lovely sight indeed - a great bit empty garage."
"There was another occupant: an enormous foreign-built automobile. It had a 1932 license." (Joe)
"Isotta-Fraschini. Have you ever heard of Isotta Fraschinis? All hand-made. Cost me twenty-eight thousand dollars." (Norma)
"It was a great big white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy Twenties. A neglected house gets an unhappy look."
"And of course she had a pool. Who didn't then? Mabel Normand and John Gilbert must have swum in it ten thousand midnights ago, and Vilma Banky and Rod La Roque." (Joe)
"The whole place seemed to have been stricken with a kind of creeping paralysis, out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion." (Joe)
"It is grandiose and grim. The whole place is one of those abortions of silent picture days, with bowling alleys in the cellar and a built-in pipe organ, and beans imported from Italy, with California termites at work on them."
"This is an enormous place. Eight master bedrooms. A sunken tub in every bathroom. There is a bowling alley in the cellar." (Joe)
"It is a huge, gloomy room hung in white brocade which has become dirty over the years and even slightly torn in a few places. There's a great, unmade gilded bed in the shape of a swan, from which the gold had began to peel. There is a disorder of clothes and negligees and faded photographs of old-time stars about."
" They are dead. They are finished. There was a time when this business had the eyes of the whole wide world. But that wasn't good enough. Oh no! They wanted the ears of the world, too." (Norma)
"Look at them in their front offices -- the master minds! They took the idols and smashed them. The Fairbanks and the Chaplins and the Gilberts and the Valentinos. And who have they got now, some nobodies --- a lot of pale little frogs croaking pish-poshl."
" Don't get sore at me. I'm not an executive. I'm just a writer."
"You are! Writing words, words! You've made a rope of words and strangled this business. But there is a microphone right there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongue!" (Norma)
"It is the story of Salome. I think I'll have DeMille direct it." (Norma)
"And you will play Salome?" (Joe)
"Who else?" (Norma)
"Only asking. I didn't know you're planning a comeback." (Joe)
"I hate this word. It is a return. A return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen." (Norma)
"It wasn't simple, getting some coherence into that wild, scrambled melodrama she'd concocted. What made it tougher was that she was around all the time -- hovering over me, afraid I'd do injury to that precious brain-child of hers." (Joe)
"I didn't argue with her. You don't yell at a sleepwalker-- he may fall and break his neck." (Joe)
"She sad coiled up like a watch spring, her cigarette clamped in a curious holder... I could sense her eyes on me from behind, those dark glasses, defying me not to like what I read, or maybe begging me in her own proud way to like it. It meant so much to her!" (Joe)
"She was still diggy of a lost career -- plain crazy when it came to that oce subject: her celluloid self, the great Norma Desmond. How cold she breath in that house, so crowded with Norma Desmonds and still more Norma Desmonds." (Joe)
"They don't? Then why do they still write me fan letters every day. Why do they beg me for my photographs? Because they want to see me, me, me! Norma Desmond." (Norma)
"It wasn't all work, of course. Two or three times a week Max would haul up that enormous oil painting that had been presented to her by some Nevada Chamber of Comerce, and we'd see a movie, right in her living room." (Joe)
""So much nicer than going out", she'd say. The plain fact was that she was afraid of that world outside. Afraid it would remind her that time had passed." (Joe)
"She'd sit very close to me, and she'd smell of tuberoses, which is not my favorite perfume not by a long shot. Sometimes as we watched, she'd clutch my arm or my hand forgetting she was my employer becoming just a fan, excited about that actress up there on the screen." (Joe)
"They were silent movies. I don't have to tell you, always her pictures -- that's all she wanted to see." (Joe)
"It is old-fashioned. but shows her incredible beauty and the screen presence which made her the great star of her day"
"Still wonderful, isn't it? And no dialogue. There just aren't any faces like that any more. Well, maybe one -- Garbo." (Norma)
"Those idiot producers! Those imbeciles! Haven't they forgotten what a star looks like?" (Norma)
"It was her New Year's party that I found out how she felt about me -- that sad, embarassing revelation." (Joe)
"Joe, you look absolutely divine. Turn around! Perfect. Wonderful shoulders. And I love that line." (Norma)
"You know, this floor used to be wood but I had it changed. Valentino said there is nothing like tiles for a tango." (Norma)
"There are no other guests. We don't want to share this night with other people." (Norma)
"This is for you and me!" (Norma)
"Hold me tighter." (Norma)
" I am in love with you. Don't you know that? I've been in love with you all along." (Norma)
"What a wonderful next year it's going to be. What fun we've going to have. I'll fill the pool for you. Our I'll open my ouse in Malibu and you can have the whole ocean. Or I'll buy you a boat and we'll sail to Hawaii." (Norma)
"Stop it. You aren't going to buy me anything more." (Joe)
"Don't be silly. Here, I was going to give it to you at midnight." (Norma)
"Norma, I can't take it. You've bought me enough." (Joe)
"What's it for but to buy us anything we want." (Norma)
"Cut out that us business." (Joe)
"What I am trying to say is that I'm all wrong for you. You want a Valentino -- somebody with polo ponies -- a big shot --" (Joe)
"What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you. Is that it?" (Norma)
"What king of silly thing was that to do?" (Joe)
"Go away!' (Norma)
"To fall in love with you -- that was the idiotic thing." (Norma)
"Great stars have great pride!" (Norma)
"Go away. Go to that girl of yours." (Norma)
"Look, I was making that up because I thought the whole thing was a mistake. I didn't want to hurt you. You've been good to me. You're the only person in this stinking town that has been good to me." (Joe)
"Why don't you just say thank you and go away!" (Norma)
"Not until you promise to act like a sensible human being." (Joe)
"I'll do it again, I'll do it again, I'll do it again!" (Norma)
"Happy New Year, darling!" (Norma)
"I'm not selling the scrip. I am selling myself." (Norma)
Mr. De Mille said that I was his greatest star." (Norma)
"When did he say it, Norma?" (Joe)
"So he said it quite a few years ago. So what? I never looked better in my life. Do you know why? Because I've never been as happy in my life." (Norma)
"About three days latter se was good and ready. So she put on about half a pound of makeup, fixed it up with a veil, and set forth to see DeMille in person." (Joe)
"No appointment is necessary. I am bringing Norma Desmond." (Max)
"Thank you, Jonesy. And teach your friend some manners. Tell him without me he wouldn't have any job, because without me there wouldn't be any Paramount Studio." (Norma)
"Hello, young fellow." (DeMille)
"Hello, Mr. DeMille. (Norma)
"Last time I saw you was someplace very gay. I remember waving to you. I was dancing on a table."(Norma)
"Lots of people were. Lindbergh had just landed in Paris. Come on in." (DeMille)
"You did not know Norma Desmond as a plucky little girl of seventeen, with more courage and wit and heart than ever came together in one youngster." (DeMille)
"Let's get a look at you!" (Hog-eye)
(The beam of the lamp moves toward Norma. It hits her. She sit bathed in light.)
(A couple of old costume of old costume extras recognize her)
"I just didn't realized what it would be like to come back to the old studio. I had no idea how I'd missed it." (Norma)
"There was again - that room of hers, all satin and ruffles, and that bed like a gilded rowboat. The perfect setting for a silent movie queen. Poor devil, still waving proudly to a parade which had long since passed her by." (Joe)
"I just came to say good night. I don't want you to see me. I'm not very attractive." (Norma)
"I had a nightmare and I screamed for you. You weren't here." (Norma)
"It's just that I don't want to be left alone." (Norma)
"Don't hate me, Joe. I did it because I need you. I need you as I never needed you. Look at me. Look at my hands, look at my face., look under my eyes." (Norma)
"Don't just stand there hating me! Shout at me, strike me! But don't hate me, Joe." (Norma)
"I love you, Joe! I love you, Joe! (Norma)
I got myself a revolver. I stood in from of the mirror, only I couldn't make myself. It wouldn't be fair to all those people who are waiting to see me back on the screen." (Norma)
"I can't face life without you, and I'm not afraid to die, you know." (Norma)
"That is between you and yourself, Norma." (Joe)
"You don't care, do you? But hundreds of thousands of people will care." (Norma)
"Wake up, Norma! You'd be killing yourself to an empty house. The audience left you twenty years ago. Now face it." (Joe)
"Norma, grow up. You're a woman of fifty. There's nothing tragic about being fifty - not unless you try to be twenty-five." (Joe)
"You're not leaving me! Joe! Joe!" (Norma)
"Mr. DeMille, I will be on the set at once!"
"You will excuse me, gentlemen. I have to get ready for my scene."
"Even if she got away with it in court - crime of passion - temporary insanity - those headlines would kill her: Forgotten Star a Slayer -- Aging Actress --Yesterday's Glamour Queen..." (Joe's voice narrating)
"So, they were grinding after all, those cameras. Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her..." (Joe's voice)
"I can't go on with the scene. I'm too happy. Do you mind, Mr. DeMille, if I say a few words? Thank you. I just want to tell you how happy I am to be back in the studio making a picture again. You don't know how much I've missed all of you. And I promise you I'll never deserve you again, became after "Salome" we'll make another picture, and another and another. You see, this is my life. It always will be. There's nothing else - just us amd the cameras and those wonderful people out there in the dark..." (Norma)
