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Monday, December 08, 2008

Sunset Blvd.

Awhile back Netflix had recommended the movie Sunset Blvd, a 1950 movie starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson. This movie stood out amongst the others as I don't recall ever watching a feature black and white film. Seriously, I have never even watched It's a Wonderful Life. Call it self-centered, but I've never been big on media that is BL (Before Lora). Sure, I have some music from the 60's, but probably not much. So I thought I'd expand my horizons based on Netflix's observations of my movie habits.

This movie is centered around a starving screenwriter, probably somewhere around 30, who finds himself the paid companion (uhhhh, a gigalo) to a forgotten silent film star. The movie is focused around these two - he's struggling with the position he is in, and she's got a demented view of her world - lonely and quite a bit older than he (thus washed up in Hollywood). For his companionship he's pretty set for life, provided he plays the game of life from her perspective. They even throw in a woman he actually falls in love with to make his decision to stay that much more unbearable.

So I read this is one of the best movies I could have started my expansion with, and I'd have to agree. It was tragic, and very well done. I appreciated that the movie focused so much on dialogue, body language and simple location (no elaborate camera angles and special effects). The actors as an ensemble were awesome! Incidentally, Gloria Swanson was a real-life silent film star who found her career in trouble when pictures found their voices. Kinda makes you wonder how much she was acting, LOL.

Of course this movie brought lunchtime banter today - so I'll ask you all the question I posed at lunch: Could you do it? Could you be a paid companion if you knew you'd never have to worry about money, and could have anything you want? Women, ponder this too. Could you? It might be an interesting difference in answers between the sexes.
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3 comments:

JoeinVegas said...

Depends on who it was for (are you well off enough to make an offer like that?) but probably. It's a job, and one that sounds like it pays a lot better, requires a lot less work (well, different work) and still keeps you going.

Oh - to further expand your horizons, try Cocteau's version of Beauty and the Beast. (I can send a copy if you can't find it)

LoraLoo said...

Joe: Uhhhh no, I haven't hit the lottery yet. Maybe because I don't play!

I'm gonna go look for that movie right now!

Malcolm said...

I would say that I'd be a paid companion only if the woman was hot and sane. However, if she was hot and sane, she wouldn't need to pay anyone to be a companion. Therefore, my answer is no.

Props on expanding your movie horizons. I am a big fan of old movies and "Sunset Blvd." is one of my favorites. If you are looking into checking out more B&W films, for starters I recommend "All About Eve" with Bette Davis, "12 Angry Men" with Henry Fonda, and "Laura" with Gene Tierney and Vincent Price.