Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream

By: Sam Staggs

Narrated by: Donald Corren

Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a classic film noir and also a damning dissection of the Hollywood dream factory, evokes the glamour and ruin of the stars who subsist on that dream. It’s also one long in-joke about the movie industry and those who made it great - and who were, in turn, destroyed by it. One of the most critically admired films of the 20th century, Sunset Boulevard is also famous as silent-star Gloria Swanson’s comeback picture.

Sam Staggs’s Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard tells the story of this extravagant work, from the writing, casting, and filming to the disastrous previews that made Paramount consider shelving it. It’s about the writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Bracket - sardonically called “the happiest couple in Hollywood” - and their raucous professional relationship. It’s about the art direction and the sets, the costumes, the props, the lights and cameras, and the personalities who used those tools to create a cinematic work of art.

Staggs goes behind the scenes to reveal: William Holden, endlessly attacked by his bitter wife and drinking too much; Nancy Olson, the cheerful ingenue who had never heard of the great Gloria Swanson; the dark genius Erich von Stroheim; the once famous but long-forgotten “Waxworks”; and of course Swanson herself, who - just like Norma Desmond - had once been “the greatest star of them all”.

But the story of Sunset Boulevard doesn’t end with the movie’s success and acclaim at its release in 1950. There’s much more, and Staggs layers this stylish book with fascinating detail, following the actors and Wilder into their post-Sunset careers and revealing Gloria Swanson’s never-ending struggle to free herself from the clutches of Norma Desmond.

Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard also chronicles the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical production of Sunset Boulevard and the explosive diva controversies that dogged it. The book ends with a shocking example of Hollywood life imitating Hollywood art. By the last word of this rich narrative, listeners will conclude: We are those “wonderful people out there in the dark”.

©2002 Sam Staggs (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

An entertaining & informative book!

I really enjoyed this deep dive into the backstory of Hollywood Boulevard. Maybe too much about the play for some, but overall a great book. Very informative & right up my alley! 👍👍

I Really Enjoyed This Book

Great Drive and Listen!!! Informative and Fun!!!!
Lighten Up and Enjoy the Ride . A Fly on the Wall Experience!

Starts As A Solid Book, But Then...

This started as a solid (if scattershot) book about the making of a classic film, but then... the characters and works influenced by Sunset Boulevard and Billy Wilder's later filmography are mostly lambasted in the cattiest, low-end prose that becomes tedious after a while. I'd still suggest the book, but maybe duck out about 3 hours before the ending.

More about the movie, please

I should have been forewarned. This author also wrote about another classic film, All About Eve, which was short on actual information on the actual making of the film. The same with this book. I really wanted more about the movie itself, not so much about the aftermath and the countless spin-offs. Good narrator.

Meandering But Good

As many others have said, with a little bit of editing, there is a great book in here somewhere. But to finish with the production and release of Sunset Boulevard and only be about halfway through your book? It's excessive, and not necessary. Kudos to the level of devotion and detail on the part of the author, and the narrator does a fine job, but this finely-researched, finely-written book needs an editor badly.

A kiss to the film from a fan

A fan's in-depth history into Sunset Boulevard, one of the greatest films about film ever put on...film. With an obvious admiration for Billy Wilder, almost to the point of a literary tongue-kiss, Sam Staggs guides the reader on the story of Sunset Boulevard from conception to release, and then explores the life after the film, the several attempts at a Broadway musical, the Broadway drama surrounding Andrew Lloyd Webber's eventual version, and the many films that owe their DNA to this piece of Hollywood cinema.
A well researched history with original interviews, the book does cater to Sunset Boulevard superfans and may not be for the layman.
Staggs, himself a superfan, also flexes his critic chops in the back half of the book, sometimes coming off a bit too b*tchy, as he dismisses many of the follow ups, homages, and ripoffs of the original masterpiece.

ABRIDGED VERSION BADLY NEEDED!

I should have heeded the reviews. This book is just too long. The subject matter is interesting and the story is well researched. But the author has added way too much minutia and trivia. Staggs covers all of the major players in “Sunset Boulevard” - cast, crew, writers, composers and studio executives. The problem starts when he veers off course, adding irrelevant info. For example, if the chapter is about the lighting director, we have hear his entire biography. That’s not so bad but he goes into a deep dive about his WIFE, his PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER, her HUSBAND, his ancestors and the DOG. He names every play or film that opened around the time of the film in 1950. Then there’s all the subsequent versions of the classic film. Stagg gives us insight into “SunSex Boulevard”, a gay porn version. And one in French that Stagg forces us to sit through a clip for 2 minutes. Let me not forget mentions of every EVERYTHING that used the line “Ready for my close up”! From porn flicks to ads for digital cameras! I love a super-long book, so I could have dealt with SOME of the extra stuff. However, Stagg’s side stories lack continuity and editing.

Overall, this COULD be a great book. It made me watch the film again to catch the kazillion things I missed in my first 10+ viewings. But, as an inveterate reader, I can safely say that this is work best served ABRIDGED! By 50%! It is reminiscent of the 38 hour labor with my son. I knew there was something great inside but the ordeal getting there was excruciating! 😩

A little too technical for me

I have seen Sunset Boulevard 2x on television -must say it’s one of my favorite old movies. I didn’t know anything about the actors in the film and this book definitely fills in a lot of background-but at times it was too technical or philosophical for me. I guess I was thinking it would be more gossipy style like Dominick Dunn. I listened to the entire book even though it was just ok. But it does make me want to view the film again and look for things I didn’t pick up on before.

Excellent book on Sunset Blvd.

Really enjoyed this book on Sunset Boulevard! Thorough and well-researched. Highly recommend for those that love old Hollywood!