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Sunset Boulevard

820 statements
161 feature instances
64 referencing feature instances

Sunset Boulevard	type	TVTItem
Sunset Boulevard	label	Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard	page	SunsetBoulevard
Sunset Boulevard	comment	A classic 1950 Film Noir directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard is a satirical yet dark meditation on the film industry and the fleeting nature of fame, and to this day one of Hollywood's most scorching (yet wistful) depictions of itself. While the characters are deeply flawed, in some cases beyond any redemption, the film still manages to present them all as complex, sympathetic, and even endearing. It is generally regarded as one of the best films of all time.As the film opens, an as-yet-unidentified man has been found dead, floating face-down in a pool in the backyard of an enormous Hollywood mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Our narrator, a jaded and struggling screenwriter named Joe Gillis (William Holden), takes us back and tells us How We Got Here.Some months earlier Joe, blindly fleeing his creditors, winds up in what appears to be an abandoned mansion, only to find that silent movie great Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) still lives there with her Austrian manservant, Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim). The delusional Norma believes that her adoring fans still desperately want her to return to the screen, more than two decades after the advent of "talkies" rendered her and every other silent-film star on the block obsolete. Once Norma learns that Joe is a screenwriter, she offers him room, board and refuge from his creditors...in exchange for his help in revising the truly hopeless screenplay she's been writing for twenty years to prepare for her return.At first, Joe sees her as a sap he can use to bide time and make some easy cash, but it becomes increasingly blurred just who's playing whom. More and more, he's trapped in his gilded cage: Norma buys him expensive things but never actually pays him, leaving him more and more dependent on her every fickle whim. Convinced her script — which is juvenile, trashy, and hours too long — will restore her to her rightful place as the greatest star of her day, she puts herself through a strict and at times absurd regimen to prepare herself for her return. She chooses to forget that she's now fifty rather than twenty-five... and for a Hollywood beauty queen, fifty might as well be one hundred.Meanwhile, in secret, Joe has been working with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), an attractive young female screenwriter, on another script — a script Joe sees as his redemption in more ways than one. Max, who has a few secrets of his own, appears increasingly annoyed at the attention Norma lavishes on Joe, and at Joe's dismissive attitude toward it. After a failed suicide attempt by Norma on finding out about the Other Woman, things come to a head, leading to a shocking conclusion which is also the film's opening.In 1993, it was adapted into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Broadway premiere starred Glenn Close, and The 1996 Australian premiere in Melbourne showcased a relative unknown named Hugh Jackman, who played Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond, who, at the time, was ironically Australia's own White-Dwarf Starlet. It won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical, in a year in which only one other show was even nominated. The musical returned to Broadway in 2017, still starring Glenn Close. In 2019, it was announced that a film version of the musical â€” with Close once again reprising her role from the stage production â€” had entered development. However, its production was delayed several times due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Close still intends on making the film someday.
Sunset Boulevard	fetched	2024-04-07T10:46:05Z
Sunset Boulevard	parsed	2024-04-07T10:46:05Z
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to Fanservice: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to GreatExpectations: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to KingKong1933: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to Salome: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to TheGreatGatsby: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to TheNakedAndTheDead: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	processingComment	Dropped link to Yandere: Not a Feature - ITEM
Sunset Boulevard	isPartOf	DBTropes
Sunset Boulevard / int_14beeefd	type	Darker and Edgier
Sunset Boulevard / int_14beeefd	comment	Darker and Edgier: Norma's descent into madness is far more disturbing onstage. Made very prevalent in the ending.
Sunset Boulevard / int_14beeefd	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_14beeefd	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_14beeefd
Sunset Boulevard / int_157822af	type	Shrine to Self
Sunset Boulevard / int_157822af	comment	Shrine to Self: Norma's entire house is a shrine to herself and her former movie career.
Sunset Boulevard / int_157822af	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_157822af	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_157822af
Sunset Boulevard / int_170128e9	type	Right Behind Me
Sunset Boulevard / int_170128e9	comment	Right Behind Me: We first meet Betty Schaefer went she comes in to give Sheldrake her (less-than-flattering) critique of the script Joe has pitched, not realizing Joe is standing in the room behind her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_170128e9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_170128e9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_170128e9
Sunset Boulevard / int_188802c0	type	Spurned into Suicide
Sunset Boulevard / int_188802c0	comment	Spurned into Suicide: Downplayed. When Joe ditches Norma to go to a New Yearâ€™s Eve party with his friends from the studio, she slits her wrists. He hurries back to her in alarm, and this results in her going full Yandere for him- he is the only person except for her faithful butler Max to have come back for her in any way, shape, or form.
Sunset Boulevard / int_188802c0	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_188802c0	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_188802c0
Sunset Boulevard / int_18d15922	type	Title Drop
Sunset Boulevard / int_18d15922	comment	Title Drop: "Sunset Boulevard", the Act 2 opener.
Sunset Boulevard / int_18d15922	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_18d15922	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_18d15922
Sunset Boulevard / int_1994ba0b	type	Gone Horribly Right
Sunset Boulevard / int_1994ba0b	comment	Gone Horribly Right: Upon reviewing Norma's script, Joe figures he can earn a temporarily comfortable living editing it. He did, but it was a little too comfortable and at the cost of being her lover.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1994ba0b	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1994ba0b	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1994ba0b
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a4b4ee0	type	Never Sent Any Letters
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a4b4ee0	comment	Never Sent Any Letters: Norma Desmond receives hundreds of fan letters a day â€” all written by her loving and dutiful butler, Max, to keep Norma in the sense of adoration that she's had since she was in the silent film system, and which has long since ended.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a4b4ee0	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a4b4ee0	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1a4b4ee0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a6237b8	type	Beta Outfit
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a6237b8	comment	Beta Outfit: The outfit for when Norma traveled to the studio still included a white ermine hat, but it was like a head scarf◊. Swanson suggested a hat more fitting◊ the style of The Roaring '20s.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a6237b8	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1a6237b8	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1a6237b8
Sunset Boulevard / int_1b65dfad	type	The Cameo
Sunset Boulevard / int_1b65dfad	comment	The Cameo: The "waxworks" former silent stars that appear as Norma's bridge partners are silent stars Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner (who actually had a successful career in sound films as a character actor, playing among other roles the part of Mr. Gower in It's a Wonderful Life), and none other than Buster Keaton.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1b65dfad	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1b65dfad	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1b65dfad
Sunset Boulevard / int_1d2400e9	type	Green-Eyed Monster
Sunset Boulevard / int_1d2400e9	comment	Green-Eyed Monster: Norma is jealous of Joe's potential relationship with Betty.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1d2400e9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1d2400e9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1d2400e9
Sunset Boulevard / int_1e7487cd	type	Breaking the Fourth Wall
Sunset Boulevard / int_1e7487cd	comment	Breaking the Fourth Wall / The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Joe spends the musical narrating his situation directly to the audience - and, depending on the actor/production, occasionally responds to their reactions (see Fanservice below). Also (as in the movie) Norma's repeated appeals (especially in the final scene) to "all you wonderful people out there in the dark" are directed to the audience, implicating them in her spiral into insanity.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1e7487cd	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1e7487cd	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1e7487cd
Sunset Boulevard / int_1fa5ae07	type	The Prima Donna
Sunset Boulevard / int_1fa5ae07	comment	The Prima Donna: Norma Desmond clearly used to be this. Due to her sheltered life, she still believes millions of fans are desperately eager to see her next picture.
Sunset Boulevard / int_1fa5ae07	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_1fa5ae07	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_1fa5ae07
Sunset Boulevard / int_20917b55	type	Milking the Giant Cow
Sunset Boulevard / int_20917b55	comment	Milking the Giant Cow: Norma does this a lot. Most blatantly when she leaps up from her seat when she and Joe are watching the movie.
Sunset Boulevard / int_20917b55	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_20917b55	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_20917b55
Sunset Boulevard / int_21d70919	type	Crapsack World
Sunset Boulevard / int_21d70919	comment	Crapsack World: For much of the picture, Joe sees the world this way.
Sunset Boulevard / int_21d70919	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_21d70919	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_21d70919
Sunset Boulevard / int_22cf536c	type	Chekhov's Gun
Sunset Boulevard / int_22cf536c	comment	Chekhov's Gun: Literally. Norma never uses that revolver... on herself. Joe wasn't so lucky.
Sunset Boulevard / int_22cf536c	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_22cf536c	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_22cf536c
Sunset Boulevard / int_237404cc	type	Ironic Echo
Sunset Boulevard / int_237404cc	comment	Ironic Echo: Max was Norma's first director. When it's revealed Norma will come down for her arrest if she thinks they're filming her movie, Max rushes to the news cameras and begins lining them up like an old pro, getting ready to direct Norma one last time.
Sunset Boulevard / int_237404cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_237404cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_237404cc
Sunset Boulevard / int_26ac510e	type	Mythology Gag
Sunset Boulevard / int_26ac510e	comment	Mythology Gag: During Artie's New Year's Party, one of the girls present sings about her desire to work with Billy Wilder, who of course directed and co-wrote the original film.
Sunset Boulevard / int_26ac510e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_26ac510e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_26ac510e
Sunset Boulevard / int_28c1d543	type	Defrosting Ice Queen
Sunset Boulevard / int_28c1d543	comment	Defrosting Ice Queen: Norma is an especially unsettling one.
Sunset Boulevard / int_28c1d543	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_28c1d543	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_28c1d543
Sunset Boulevard / int_2c17dca	type	Ends with a Smile
Sunset Boulevard / int_2c17dca	comment	Ends with a Smile: As reporters gather to cover the death of Joe, Norma, in the depths of her delusion, thinks they're there to report on her return to the silver screen. In the closing shot, Norma says 'All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my closeup" and advances towards the camera with a demented grin on her face. The camera then goes out of focus, as if the sight of her madness were too much to bear.
Sunset Boulevard / int_2c17dca	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_2c17dca	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_2c17dca
Sunset Boulevard / int_2cac89cf	type	The Ingenue
Sunset Boulevard / int_2cac89cf	comment	The Ingenue: Betty exemplifies the trope (without being cloying). Norma used to and, tragically, still thinks she does.
Sunset Boulevard / int_2cac89cf	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_2cac89cf	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_2cac89cf
Sunset Boulevard / int_30d4f2a	type	Narcissist
Sunset Boulevard / int_30d4f2a	comment	Narcissist: Norma Desmond is a raging narcissist. She didn't take her descent from superstardom well. She hired a former director as a butler and reads fake fan mail. Eventually she goes completely delusional when she can't accept that the world doesn't revolve around her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_30d4f2a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_30d4f2a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_30d4f2a
Sunset Boulevard / int_3149c4b0	type	It Will Never Catch On
Sunset Boulevard / int_3149c4b0	comment	It Will Never Catch On: Paramount producer Sheldrake turned down Gone with the Wind because he thought nobody would watch another Civil War picture.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3149c4b0	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3149c4b0	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3149c4b0
Sunset Boulevard / int_33029735	type	Dies Wide Open
Sunset Boulevard / int_33029735	comment	Dies Wide Open: Joe is shown dead with his eyes open in the pool at the beginning. However, when the homicide squad pulls him out of the pool, his eyes are closed.
Sunset Boulevard / int_33029735	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_33029735	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_33029735
Sunset Boulevard / int_34f92510	type	Baldness Means Sickness
Sunset Boulevard / int_34f92510	comment	Baldness Means Sickness: Possibly, in the original replica productions. Unlike in the film, where Norma anxiously pulls at her own hair often enough that it's obviously really hers (it was indeed Gloria Swanson's), in the musical she often wears bright auburn wigs and/or various elaborate head scarves, turbans and hats to conceal (until she's finally lost it and doesn't care) that her real hair is now very thin and prematurely white, as well as very short.
Sunset Boulevard / int_34f92510	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_34f92510	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_34f92510
Sunset Boulevard / int_362bdb30	type	Out-Gambitted
Sunset Boulevard / int_362bdb30	comment	Out-Gambitted: Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_362bdb30	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_362bdb30	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_362bdb30
Sunset Boulevard / int_36ec2454	type	Rule of Pool
Sunset Boulevard / int_36ec2454	comment	Rule of Pool: The film memorably opens with Joe floating face down in a pool.
Sunset Boulevard / int_36ec2454	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_36ec2454	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_36ec2454
Sunset Boulevard / int_372bc105	type	Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
Sunset Boulevard / int_372bc105	comment	Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: It's Billy Wilder, so, cynicism.
Sunset Boulevard / int_372bc105	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_372bc105	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_372bc105
Sunset Boulevard / int_382a6399	type	The Hero Dies
Sunset Boulevard / int_382a6399	comment	The Hero Dies: The film opens with Joe's corpse lying in Norma's pool. The rest of the movie follows the events that led to his murder.
Sunset Boulevard / int_382a6399	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_382a6399	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_382a6399
Sunset Boulevard / int_38da8916	type	Uncommon Time
Sunset Boulevard / int_38da8916	comment	Uncommon Time: The title song, "Sunset Boulevard", is in 5/8, and "Let's Have Lunch" continuously changes between 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4.
Sunset Boulevard / int_38da8916	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_38da8916	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_38da8916
Sunset Boulevard / int_392372f9	type	Actor Allusion
Sunset Boulevard / int_392372f9	comment	Actor Allusion: Glenn Close portrays a lonely troubled woman slowly driven to insanity due to her unhealthy obsession with a man. Eventually she's pushed over the edge and goes on a murderous rampage... But enough about Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.
Sunset Boulevard / int_392372f9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_392372f9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_392372f9
Sunset Boulevard / int_3a6a7b0a	type	Starving Artist
Sunset Boulevard / int_3a6a7b0a	comment	Starving Artist: Joe Gillis as a starving Hollywood screenwriter.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3a6a7b0a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3a6a7b0a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3a6a7b0a
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ae6199a	type	Psychopathic Manchild
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ae6199a	comment	Psychopathic Manchild: De Mille still sees Norma as that 17 year old starlet who never grew up.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ae6199a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ae6199a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3ae6199a
Sunset Boulevard / int_3bc88a7f	type	Foregone Conclusion
Sunset Boulevard / int_3bc88a7f	comment	Betty loves all the unreal film sets and movie magic of Hollywood, since she grew up in a movie business family, she feels completely at home. But since showbusiness comes with a dark side, Betty's forced to try to change her appearance in order to find acting work. This teaches Betty to shoot for something other than stardom, so she goes into screenwriting â€” since screenwriters, while they might attain some real recognition and a lot of cash, never really become major celebrities. It also reminds her to keep it real. So, while she has idealism about movies, she also wants them to say something, to have a greater point. She seems to be helping Joe shake off his own cynicism in the process... even if it sadly doesn't work out.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3bc88a7f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3bc88a7f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3bc88a7f
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ec18c6f	type	Sherlock Scan
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ec18c6f	comment	Sherlock Scan: Joseph Gillis says that Rudy can tell the state of a person's financial problems by the quality of their shoes.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ec18c6f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ec18c6f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3ec18c6f
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ed17fe0	type	Wide-Eyed Idealist
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ed17fe0	comment	Wide-Eyed Idealist: Betty. Also her fiance.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ed17fe0	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3ed17fe0	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3ed17fe0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3f45f1e6	type	Adaptational Heroism
Sunset Boulevard / int_3f45f1e6	comment	Adaptational Heroism: The musical gives more insight into Norma's character, making her a much more tragic and sympathetic well rounded figure, bordering almost on a Broken Bird.
Sunset Boulevard / int_3f45f1e6	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_3f45f1e6	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_3f45f1e6
Sunset Boulevard / int_40c57041	type	Manipulative Bastard
Sunset Boulevard / int_40c57041	comment	Manipulative Bastard: Joe sees himself as this, but he's an amateur compared with Norma and Max.
Sunset Boulevard / int_40c57041	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_40c57041	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_40c57041
Sunset Boulevard / int_40cc0c7e	type	Bittersweet Ending
Sunset Boulevard / int_40cc0c7e	comment	Bittersweet Ending/Downer Ending: Yes. Joe is dead and Norma shot him, but Norma's complete break with reality lets her think she's finally making her comeback. Joe says in the narration: "So they were turning 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."
Sunset Boulevard / int_40cc0c7e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_40cc0c7e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_40cc0c7e
Sunset Boulevard / int_4170e68d	type	Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number
Sunset Boulevard / int_4170e68d	comment	Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number: "Let's Have Lunch", especially toward the end of the song.
Sunset Boulevard / int_4170e68d	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_4170e68d	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_4170e68d
Sunset Boulevard / int_42a055ac	type	Happy Place
Sunset Boulevard / int_42a055ac	comment	Happy Place: By the end of the movie, Norma's gone there, and she's not coming back.
Sunset Boulevard / int_42a055ac	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_42a055ac	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_42a055ac
Sunset Boulevard / int_438ed383	type	The Name Is Bond, James Bond
Sunset Boulevard / int_438ed383	comment	The Name Is Bond, James Bond: After Mr. Sheldrake calls her "Miss Kramer": "The name's Schaefer. Betty Schaefer. Right now I wish I could crawl in a hole and pull it in after me."
Sunset Boulevard / int_438ed383	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_438ed383	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_438ed383
Sunset Boulevard / int_44ba9580	type	The Snark Knight
Sunset Boulevard / int_44ba9580	comment	The Snark Knight: Joe has a comeback for everything.
Sunset Boulevard / int_44ba9580	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_44ba9580	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_44ba9580
Sunset Boulevard / int_44f5d199	type	Pretty in Mink
Sunset Boulevard / int_44f5d199	comment	Pretty in Mink: Several furs Norma wears, although in the style of 1920s clothes, like most of her wardrobe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_44f5d199	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_44f5d199	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_44f5d199
Sunset Boulevard / int_4523420b	type	Love Dodecahedron
Sunset Boulevard / int_4523420b	comment	Love Dodecahedron: Joe loves Betty but has to pretend he loves Norma, who loves him. Betty also has a fiancee. And then there's Max.
Sunset Boulevard / int_4523420b	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_4523420b	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_4523420b
Sunset Boulevard / int_4583a262	type	Shirtless Scene
Sunset Boulevard / int_4583a262	comment	Shirtless Scene: An uncomfortable one for Joe when he's swimming in Norma's pool.
Sunset Boulevard / int_4583a262	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_4583a262	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_4583a262
Sunset Boulevard / int_46290b93	type	Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Sunset Boulevard / int_46290b93	comment	Manic Pixie Dream Girl: An extremely dark, but straight use. Norma is an eccentric, aging beauty queen, whose grip on reality is shaky, takes over Joe's life, using money and her luxurious life to tighten her hold on him.
Sunset Boulevard / int_46290b93	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_46290b93	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_46290b93
Sunset Boulevard / int_4856ac40	type	Stock Footage
Sunset Boulevard / int_4856ac40	comment	Stock Footage: The silent movie footage of Norma Desmond in her prime is from Gloria Swanson's 1929 film Queen Kelly.
Sunset Boulevard / int_4856ac40	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_4856ac40	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_4856ac40
Sunset Boulevard / int_49d59be9	type	Scenery Porn
Sunset Boulevard / int_49d59be9	comment	Scenery Porn: The whole film is exquisitely shot, often on vast and intricate sets. The stage production is also extremely elaborate. We also get behind-the-scenes glimpses, especially the scene where Joe and Betty walk through the backlots at night, that were quite special in 1950.
Sunset Boulevard / int_49d59be9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_49d59be9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_49d59be9
Sunset Boulevard / int_49f6a9e4	type	Most Writers Are Writers
Sunset Boulevard / int_49f6a9e4	comment	Most Writers Are Writers: Joe Gillis is a screenwriter, and this proves important â€” he catches Norma Desmond's interest as she believes he can help her complete the script of her great comeback film. To complete the triangle, Joe's girlfriend Betty is another aspiring screenwriter.
Sunset Boulevard / int_49f6a9e4	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_49f6a9e4	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_49f6a9e4
Sunset Boulevard / int_4b86a724	type	Getting Crap Past the Radar
Sunset Boulevard / int_4b86a724	comment	Getting Crap Past the Radar: It's strongly implied, and among the production crew outright stated, that Norma has been using her pet monkey as a surrogate lover. We're pretty sure this violates Sections II and IV, and possibly III, of the Hays Code
Sunset Boulevard / int_4b86a724	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_4b86a724	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_4b86a724
Sunset Boulevard / int_508d91a2	type	Pre-Mortem One-Liner
Sunset Boulevard / int_508d91a2	comment	Pre-Mortem One-Liner: As Joe is attempting to leave Norma after telling her the truth about her "fantasies" of being a silent film star, she angrily sings out this line before fatally shooting him not once, not twice, but three times:
Sunset Boulevard / int_508d91a2	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_508d91a2	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_508d91a2
Sunset Boulevard / int_57de4e72	type	Beauty Inversion
Sunset Boulevard / int_57de4e72	comment	Beauty Inversion: Gloria Swanson had to look more aged as Norma Desmond than she did in Real Life.
Sunset Boulevard / int_57de4e72	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_57de4e72	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_57de4e72
Sunset Boulevard / int_596f675a	type	Smoking Is Cool
Sunset Boulevard / int_596f675a	comment	Smoking Is Cool: Norma Desmond smokes expensive cigarettes with a holder that is a strange piece of twisted wire that wraps around her index finger.
Sunset Boulevard / int_596f675a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_596f675a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_596f675a
Sunset Boulevard / int_5ee6a992	type	Oh, and X Dies
Sunset Boulevard / int_5ee6a992	comment	Oh, and X Dies: The film opens with a shot of a corpse floating in a swimming pool, while the narrator informs us that he is that corpse.
Sunset Boulevard / int_5ee6a992	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_5ee6a992	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_5ee6a992
Sunset Boulevard / int_5f0c81fd	type	Mistress and Servant Boy
Sunset Boulevard / int_5f0c81fd	comment	Mistress and Servant Boy: Variant tragic version: the down-and-out writer Joe Gillis working for aging star Norma Desmond.
Sunset Boulevard / int_5f0c81fd	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_5f0c81fd	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_5f0c81fd
Sunset Boulevard / int_60547993	type	I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
Sunset Boulevard / int_60547993	comment	I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Joe realizes that he can't provide the kind of life that Betty deserves so he pretends to be a major jerkass so she will leave him to marry Artie. Also, this is Max towards Norma.
Sunset Boulevard / int_60547993	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_60547993	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_60547993
Sunset Boulevard / int_61b8f9e2	type	Bunny-Ears Lawyer
Sunset Boulevard / int_61b8f9e2	comment	Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Norma really is quite savvy with her money but her obsession with becoming a star again overrides everything else.
Sunset Boulevard / int_61b8f9e2	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_61b8f9e2	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_61b8f9e2
Sunset Boulevard / int_62434fe2	type	Sanity Slippage
Sunset Boulevard / int_62434fe2	comment	Sanity Slippage: Contrary to cultural memory, Norma actually starts out comparatively sane. Her inflated ego is enabled by Max, who takes great care never to allow anyone or anything into her sheltered world that might threaten her self image. Even her deluded belief in the fans clamoring for her return is justified by the countless fan letters she gets every week, which are all written by Max. When Joe enters the picture, her hidden loneliness spurs her to obsession that, combined with factors such as the phone calls from Paramount wanting to rent her car and De Mille's inability to tell her what's really going on, take a serious toll on her mental stability.
Sunset Boulevard / int_62434fe2	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_62434fe2	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_62434fe2
Sunset Boulevard / int_6774150c	type	If I Can't Have Youâ€¦
Sunset Boulevard / int_6774150c	comment	If I Can't Have Youâ€¦: Implied as the cause of Joe's death.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6774150c	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6774150c	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6774150c
Sunset Boulevard / int_6836fbcb	type	All Musicals Are Adaptations
Sunset Boulevard / int_6836fbcb	comment	All Musicals Are Adaptations: Yep. The plot of the musical is basically identical to the movie, with possibly a few more details tossed in.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6836fbcb	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6836fbcb	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6836fbcb
Sunset Boulevard / int_69c32c9e	type	Subordinate Excuse
Sunset Boulevard / int_69c32c9e	comment	Subordinate Excuse: Max is a dark example. He's still so devoted to Norma that he helps encourage her warped fantasies, even about a relationship with another man.
Sunset Boulevard / int_69c32c9e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_69c32c9e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_69c32c9e
Sunset Boulevard / int_6b2b3b59	type	The Reveal
Sunset Boulevard / int_6b2b3b59	comment	The Reveal: Two that turn much of the film on its head: Max isn't just a creepily loyal butler, he's actually the director who discovered Norma and her first husband, who has been acting as manservant out of guilt for putting her in the state she's in. Norma's "fan mail", which she keeps using to justify what she does, aren't real. They're just forgeries made by Max.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6b2b3b59	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6b2b3b59	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6b2b3b59
Sunset Boulevard / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
Sunset Boulevard / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: Norma is fading into obscurity and old age, so of course she lives on Sunset Boulevard.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6bda9a30	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6bda9a30	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6bda9a30
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ca72c26	type	All Take and No Give
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ca72c26	comment	All Take and No Give: Gillis takes because Norma gives and gives. He's actually fully aware he's in this kind of relationship, and lampshades it late in the film, but is too comfortable to bring himself to break out of it. Norma has the opposite relationship with Max, taking and taking from him endlessly.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ca72c26	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ca72c26	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6ca72c26
Sunset Boulevard / int_6d57a234	type	Lemony Narrator
Sunset Boulevard / int_6d57a234	comment	Lemony Narrator: Joe's a particularly cynical example, probably because he's dead. As an early example, his voiceover when the homicide squad find his corpse floating in a pool goes like so:
Sunset Boulevard / int_6d57a234	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6d57a234	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6d57a234
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ec4232f	type	Casting Gag
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ec4232f	comment	Casting Gag: Gloria Swanson, a forgotten silent movie actress (albeit one who had found contented success in other fields, such as art, radio and stage acting, and fashion design), plays a forgotten silent movie actress (who very much has not found any success elsewhere and is too deluded to look for it). She employs a butler who was once a famous, now forgotten, silent film director. This part is played by the once famous, then forgotten, silent film director Erich von Stroheim. When Swanson's character is seen watching one of her old movies, it is ACTUALLY an old Gloria Swanson movie (Queen Kelly) - directed by Erich von Stroheim. And then there are her card-playing buddies from the Old Days ("the Waxworks"), including Buster Keaton.
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ec4232f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6ec4232f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6ec4232f
Sunset Boulevard / int_6fca80fd	type	Oblivious Mockery
Sunset Boulevard / int_6fca80fd	comment	Oblivious Mockery: Joe Gillis complains to the producer Sheldrake that Betty Shaefer, a script reader, would have turned down Gone with the Wind; only for Sheldrake to reply "No. That was me."
Sunset Boulevard / int_6fca80fd	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_6fca80fd	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_6fca80fd
Sunset Boulevard / int_7137f804	type	Madness Makeover
Sunset Boulevard / int_7137f804	comment	Madness Makeover: More so than in the film, Norma dons a grotesque parody of Salomeâ€™s costume for the final scene.
Sunset Boulevard / int_7137f804	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_7137f804	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_7137f804
Sunset Boulevard / int_7335ffa9	type	Grey-and-Gray Morality
Sunset Boulevard / int_7335ffa9	comment	Grey-and-Gray Morality: Norma is the antagonist but she's a depressed recluse who wants to make a comeback in movies. Joe is the protagonist, but he's a broke writer feeding Norma's ego just to secure his own comfort.
Sunset Boulevard / int_7335ffa9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_7335ffa9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_7335ffa9
Sunset Boulevard / int_7464705c	type	Arc Words
Sunset Boulevard / int_7464705c	comment	Arc Words: Plenty. "The greatest star of all..." "Surrender." "We gave the world new ways to dream."
Sunset Boulevard / int_7464705c	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_7464705c	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_7464705c
Sunset Boulevard / int_78e8eba5	type	"I Am" Song
Sunset Boulevard / int_78e8eba5	comment	"I Am" Song: "With One Look"
Sunset Boulevard / int_78e8eba5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_78e8eba5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_78e8eba5
Sunset Boulevard / int_7ec94d53	type	Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
Sunset Boulevard / int_7ec94d53	comment	Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Norma isn't evil — just terrifyingly insane. By the ending, it's almost impossible not to pity her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_7ec94d53	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_7ec94d53	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_7ec94d53
Sunset Boulevard / int_7fbe9a30	type	Freak Out
Sunset Boulevard / int_7fbe9a30	comment	Freak Out: Norma has one by the end, where she believes that the news cameras come to report on the murder are film cameras for the filming of her next movie, and addresses the camera with a speech, which ends famously:
Sunset Boulevard / int_7fbe9a30	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_7fbe9a30	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_7fbe9a30
Sunset Boulevard / int_80251be3	type	How We Got Here
Sunset Boulevard / int_80251be3	comment	How We Got Here: The film starts with Joe explaining why he's floating face down in a pool.
Sunset Boulevard / int_80251be3	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_80251be3	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_80251be3
Sunset Boulevard / int_805deb6e	type	Small Role, Big Impact
Sunset Boulevard / int_805deb6e	comment	Small Role, Big Impact: The unnamed duo of car finance/repo men play an extremely minor role in the film, yet it's thanks to them that conflict of the movie with Joe and Norma is allowed to happen. First, they pester Joe about the whereabouts of his car â€” he claims it's in the garage, but it isn't. After failing to get the money he needs to pay off the car, Joe ends up in a car chase with the repo men. He pulls into Norma Desmond's driveway, and the movie gets into its main conflict from there. Then later in the film, they do repossess Joe's car, which has the effect of making him even more dependent on Norma.
Sunset Boulevard / int_805deb6e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_805deb6e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_805deb6e
Sunset Boulevard / int_814356cb	type	White-Dwarf Starlet
Sunset Boulevard / int_814356cb	comment	White-Dwarf Starlet: Norma Desmond is probably the ultimate example. Despite her advancing age and secluded existence, she still believes she's big enough to star in one more picture, with Cecil B. DeMille to direct her. Includes a double helping of Reality Subtext, as Desmond was played by Gloria Swanson, who had been one of silent film's biggest stars but who never made the transition to "talkies". In a Genius Bonus, Desmond watches one of her old films, which is the Gloria Swanson movie Queen Kelly. This was directed by Erich von Stroheim, a once-prominent director whose career behind the camera ended with the silent film era (though he maintained an acting career), who plays Max (who, it turns out, was also her first director...and her first husband). (Because Queen Kelly went grossly over budget, and was never completed, it effectively ended both Gloria Swanson's and Erich von Stroheim's careers in the silent movie business.) Interestingly, Swanson had to be made up as older than she looked to play a character who was younger than she was!
Sunset Boulevard / int_814356cb	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_814356cb	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_814356cb
Sunset Boulevard / int_816e89fe	type	Informal Eulogy
Sunset Boulevard / int_816e89fe	comment	Informal Eulogy: In "The Final Scene", Norma has one in the form of an a capella rendition of the "Surrender" reprise, conflating her situation with Salome's when she sings to the press and the authorities about how she killed Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_816e89fe	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_816e89fe	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_816e89fe
Sunset Boulevard / int_823c6e3e	type	Large Ham
Sunset Boulevard / int_823c6e3e	comment	Large Ham: Gloria Swanson as Norma, because that's how Norma behaves.
Sunset Boulevard / int_823c6e3e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_823c6e3e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_823c6e3e
Sunset Boulevard / int_8338de89	type	"I Want" Song
Sunset Boulevard / int_8338de89	comment	"I Want" Song: "As If We Never Said Goodbye", "This Time Next Year"
Sunset Boulevard / int_8338de89	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_8338de89	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_8338de89
Sunset Boulevard / int_856a425a	type	TheFifties
Sunset Boulevard / int_856a425a	comment	The '50s: The second half of the film (in its current state at the time of filming) and the musical adaptation takes place at the start of 1950, and you may know how this is going for Joe and Norma...
Sunset Boulevard / int_856a425a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_856a425a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_856a425a
Sunset Boulevard / int_87af3e94	type	Start to Corpse
Sunset Boulevard / int_87af3e94	comment	Start to Corpse: The corpse is the opening shot.
Sunset Boulevard / int_87af3e94	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_87af3e94	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_87af3e94
Sunset Boulevard / int_87e61eb8	type	Germanic Depressives
Sunset Boulevard / int_87e61eb8	comment	Germanic Depressives: Erich von Stroheim uses his natural Austrian accent when playing Max, and boy, does Max have a lot to be depressed about.
Sunset Boulevard / int_87e61eb8	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_87e61eb8	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_87e61eb8
Sunset Boulevard / int_89897126	type	New Year Has Come
Sunset Boulevard / int_89897126	comment	New Year Has Come: Norma invites Joe to a New Year's Eve "party" at which he turns out to be the only guest.
Sunset Boulevard / int_89897126	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_89897126	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_89897126
Sunset Boulevard / int_89f2f8aa	type	Misidentified Weapons
Sunset Boulevard / int_89f2f8aa	comment	Misidentified Weapons: Norma claims to have a revolver but when we see said gun in question it's actually a semi-automatic pistol.
Sunset Boulevard / int_89f2f8aa	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_89f2f8aa	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_89f2f8aa
Sunset Boulevard / int_8a295a46	type	Cool Car
Sunset Boulevard / int_8a295a46	comment	Cool Car: Norma's customized 1929 Isotta-Fraschini 8A landaulet. One of Gloria Swanson's own cars.
Sunset Boulevard / int_8a295a46	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_8a295a46	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_8a295a46
Sunset Boulevard / int_8b568cb7	type	Posthumous Character
Sunset Boulevard / int_8b568cb7	comment	Posthumous Character: Joe Gillis enters the film as a body floating facedown in a swimming pool and proceeds to narrate the the events leading up to his death. As originally filmed, Joe was speaking to other "dead" people in a morgue. Test audiences found the scene ludicrous and it had to be hastily revised prior to public release.
Sunset Boulevard / int_8b568cb7	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_8b568cb7	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_8b568cb7
Sunset Boulevard / int_8d0461e2	type	Destructive Romance
Sunset Boulevard / int_8d0461e2	comment	Destructive Romance: Norma and Joe's relationship and oh, what a dysfunctional one it is, with Norma's outbursts and Joe's passive aggressive BS. Close to the end, it turns out that Norma's relationship with her butler is even worse.
Sunset Boulevard / int_8d0461e2	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_8d0461e2	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_8d0461e2
Sunset Boulevard / int_90507020	type	TheForties
Sunset Boulevard / int_90507020	comment	The '40s: The first half of both the film and the musical adaptation takes place toward the end of 1949, ending on New Year's Eve.
Sunset Boulevard / int_90507020	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_90507020	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_90507020
Sunset Boulevard / int_916c72b3	type	Rule of Symbolism
Sunset Boulevard / int_916c72b3	comment	Rule of Symbolism: The film begins with our lead character Joe dead in Norma's in-ground pool. Said pool serves as a symbol of wealth and status and ends up being the site for Joe's death, after he failed to attain that wealth and status himself. Earlier in the film, when we first see the pool, it's empty and has rats crawling around in it. The huge pool, languishing in this state of decay, encapsulates the destroyed glamor of Norma Desmond's silent-era Hollywood. But, apparently, taking Joe as a lover brings Norma back to life, and in her excitement over the movie she thinks she's starring in, she has the pool cleaned and refilled. Joe sticks with Norma because it gives him a chance to enjoy fine things (like the pool) and be pampered with gifts. Back in the day, when Norma built her mansion at the peak of her celebrity, it was quite the spectacle. But like the pool as mentioned above, it went through hard times. Joe makes a reference to Great Expectations where Miss Havisham gets angry at the world (and at men, in particular) after her fiancÃ© leaves her at the wedding altar. Norma underwent a similar form of trauma when her fanbase and the movie producers and directors who formerly loved her finally got tired of her and shoved her aside. The house manifests the same deteriorating effects, provoked by this loss of love. It's a mirror for Norma's own mental state. Also, the inside of the mansion is filled with pictures of Norma — tons of reminders of her own lost glory and celebrity. When Joe first arrives in Norma's driveway, trying to escape the repo men, Norma thinks that he's the undertaker for her pet monkey's funeral. And when she discovers Joe isn't in fact an undertaker for apes, she orders him out of the house. But he ends up staying when he convinces her to let him help her with her screenplay. Later on, at night, he witnesses the monkey funeral through the window. Joe thinks that Norma's life is empty because she's forced to seek companionship from an ape, but if you look into this more deeply, this subtlety symbolizes how Norma basically wants a dancing monkey to obey and amuse her. This also foreshadows what will happen to Joe himself: Norma probably doesn't really love him, but she needs him to love her or at least give her simulated affection and pay attention to her. Norma's writing a screenplay based on the story of Salome, the Biblical princess who helps pull off a successful plot to behead John the Baptist. Naturally, Norma feels attracted to this role. She fancies herself a young, still-famous actress who could pull it off. The role also mirrors Norma's own destructive tendencies. Joe Gillis may not be a John-the-Baptist-type, but he's seer-like enough to gaze past Norma's illusions and into the abyss of loneliness and sadness lying behind them. And, like John the Baptist, he gets murdered. Plus, the story of SalomÃ© is similar to the kind of Biblical epic that Cecil B. DeMille would direct (he had already made a silent version of The Ten Commandments and would later make a more famous version starring Charlton Heston as Moses). And since DeMille is the director Norma wants for the project it seems like a match. While it's natural for an ex-movie star to constantly watch their own films, Norma takes it too far. She likes to watch her own movies because she's in love with her own celebrity. Obviously, this shows that Norma is self-obsessed, but it also makes it clear that she lives primarily in the past. Her craving for her own self-image is extreme. This quote from Joe sums it all up: Due to her past suicide attempts, Norma's doctors have recommended that none of the doors in her house have locksâ€”so she can't lock herself in a room and kill herself. Basically, while Norma believes that she's still a great star she secretly realizes that she's become significantly diminished in the eyes of the world. It's one of few times she's ever self-aware of this. Betty loves all the unreal film sets and movie magic of Hollywood, since she grew up in a movie business family, she feels completely at home. But since showbusiness comes with a dark side, Betty's forced to try to change her appearance in order to find acting work. This teaches Betty to shoot for something other than stardom, so she goes into screenwriting â€” since screenwriters, while they might attain some real recognition and a lot of cash, never really become major celebrities. It also reminds her to keep it real. So, while she has idealism about movies, she also wants them to say something, to have a greater point. She seems to be helping Joe shake off his own cynicism in the process... even if it sadly doesn't work out.
Sunset Boulevard / int_916c72b3	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_916c72b3	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_916c72b3
Sunset Boulevard / int_91d3ab1e	type	Ominous Pipe Organ
Sunset Boulevard / int_91d3ab1e	comment	Ominous Pipe Organ: Max plays the pipe organ rather ominously (if not very well) in the background in several scenes. This is commented on by Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_91d3ab1e	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_91d3ab1e	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_91d3ab1e
Sunset Boulevard / int_94e4c8ab	type	Betty and Veronica
Sunset Boulevard / int_94e4c8ab	comment	Betty and Veronica: Betty is, well, the Betty, Norma is the Veronica, and Joe is the Archie.
Sunset Boulevard / int_94e4c8ab	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_94e4c8ab	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_94e4c8ab
Sunset Boulevard / int_96709930	type	Posthumous Narration
Sunset Boulevard / int_96709930	comment	Posthumous Narration: The film actually starts with Joe's death; he tells us his story in Flashback.
Sunset Boulevard / int_96709930	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_96709930	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_96709930
Sunset Boulevard / int_99244825	type	Screen-to-Stage Adaptation
Sunset Boulevard / int_99244825	comment	The stage production is also extremely elaborate.
Sunset Boulevard / int_99244825	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_99244825	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_99244825
Sunset Boulevard / int_9aca7084	type	Playing the Heart Strings
Sunset Boulevard / int_9aca7084	comment	Playing the Heart Strings: During "Final Scene", a slow, somber, instrumental string version of "Sunset Boulevard" plays as a dirge to the fallen Joe Gillis.
Sunset Boulevard / int_9aca7084	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_9aca7084	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_9aca7084
Sunset Boulevard / int_9d12bbc1	type	Foreshadowing
Sunset Boulevard / int_9d12bbc1	comment	Foreshadowing: Note how many times the word 'pool' comes up in the songs.
Sunset Boulevard / int_9d12bbc1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_9d12bbc1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_9d12bbc1
Sunset Boulevard / int_9e1548b4	type	Old Retainer
Sunset Boulevard / int_9e1548b4	comment	Old Retainer: Max.
Sunset Boulevard / int_9e1548b4	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_9e1548b4	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_9e1548b4
Sunset Boulevard / int_a16d511d	type	Insecure Love Interest
Sunset Boulevard / int_a16d511d	comment	Insecure Love Interest: Joe doesn't think he's good enough for Betty, since he's self-aware enough to realize he's sort of a jackass. In the end, he breaks her heart to spare her the pain of finding out on her own.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a16d511d	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a16d511d	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a16d511d
Sunset Boulevard / int_a18042f1	type	Left the Background Music On
Sunset Boulevard / int_a18042f1	comment	Left the Background Music On: As Joe Gillis enters Norma Desmond's parlor, which is tragic and more like a tomb, haunting pipe organ music plays... at which point Norma turns to the pipe organ and comments about the wind getting into the cracked pipes. Near the end of the musical version, as Norma becomes emotionally overwhelmed by the stunned crowds after her staircase descent while the music plays, she seems to have control of that music, commanding the orchestra to stop playing for a moment, just so that she can say the lines of her final speech from the film, word for word, as she is talking to DeMille.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a18042f1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a18042f1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a18042f1
Sunset Boulevard / int_a36fb848	type	Grand Staircase Entrance
Sunset Boulevard / int_a36fb848	comment	Grand Staircase Entrance: Norma invokes this trope when she meets what she thinks is a Media Scrum covering her big comeback. She's actually getting arrested for murdering Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a36fb848	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a36fb848	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a36fb848
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4905771	type	Double-Meaning Title
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4905771	comment	Double-Meaning Title: Most of the movie takes place at Sunset Boulevard, the location of Norma's home. Sunset Boulevard is also a notable Hollywood street, which emphasizes the protagonists' movie backgrounds and the film's criticism of Hollywood. Not only that but Norma, an actress who is no longer in her prime, is metaphorically in the sunset of her years.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4905771	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4905771	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a4905771
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4c37cbe	type	Mood Whiplash
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4c37cbe	comment	Mood Whiplash: After Max's "Greatest Star Of All" and the sorrow of burying Norma's deceased pet chimp comes the loud and high-tempo "Every Movie's a Circus".
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4c37cbe	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a4c37cbe	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a4c37cbe
Sunset Boulevard / int_a58802b7	type	Happiness in Slavery
Sunset Boulevard / int_a58802b7	comment	Happiness in Slavery: Though he's technically a servant, Max slavishly dotes on Norma, doing everything she asks and more, including running her old films over and over and even writing all the "fan mail" that she gets every day. He turns out to be her discoverer, career-long director — and first husband. He's still in love with her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a58802b7	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a58802b7	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a58802b7
Sunset Boulevard / int_a5e0c01	type	As Himself
Sunset Boulevard / int_a5e0c01	comment	As Himself: Cecil B. DeMille plays himself. Norma Desmond first approaches him on the set of Samson and Delilah (1949), on which shooting had just wrapped. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper appears at the end. Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner and Buster Keaton appear in one scene as the "Waxworks", but aren't named.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a5e0c01	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_a5e0c01	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a5e0c01
Sunset Boulevard / int_a82ff02f	type	Meet Cute
Sunset Boulevard / int_a82ff02f	comment	Meet Cute: Joe and Betty (although for them, at the time, it's more "mortifying" than "cute"). Then it's subverted in a dozen different ways. Norma may see her first meeting with Joe this way, but he mostly views her as an annoying meal-ticket.
Sunset Boulevard / int_a82ff02f	featureApplicability	-0.3
Sunset Boulevard / int_a82ff02f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_a82ff02f
Sunset Boulevard / int_aa517da5	type	Forged Message
Sunset Boulevard / int_aa517da5	comment	Forged Message: The fan letters that Norma had been getting over the years were actually written by her butler Max to spare her from the fact that the public had forgotten her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_aa517da5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_aa517da5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_aa517da5
Sunset Boulevard / int_ab5677c1	type	Boy Meets Girl
Sunset Boulevard / int_ab5677c1	comment	It's relatively subtle but Max is constantly directing both Norma and Joe and their entire relationship from the sidelines. It seems odd that he should be putting in so much effort given how much he clearly dislikes Joe from the start but then of course a once-successful movie director would know how a standard Boy Meets Girl love story should play out and, as the final scene shows, he's just as desperate to return to his former profession as Norma is to return to hers.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ab5677c1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ab5677c1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ab5677c1
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba0cd10	type	Cloudcuckoolander's Minder
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba0cd10	comment	Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Subverted by Norma Desmond's butler Max who enables her delusions of grandeur.
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba0cd10	featureApplicability	-0.3
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba0cd10	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_aba0cd10
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba8065b	type	Fatal Flaw
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba8065b	comment	Fatal Flaw: Norma is obsessed with being a movie star again despite her talent in finance. Made worse by her Butler Max who indulges her fantasy because he loves her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba8065b	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_aba8065b	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_aba8065b
Sunset Boulevard / int_ac0827be	type	Private Eye Monologue
Sunset Boulevard / int_ac0827be	comment	Private Eye Monologue: Joe's narration is all done in this style, utilizing a lot of hard-boiled descriptions and unemotional language, which feels genuinely in-character for a cynical, bottomed-out hack screenwriter with very little self-respect.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ac0827be	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ac0827be	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ac0827be
Sunset Boulevard / int_adbbb5c5	type	Writers Suck
Sunset Boulevard / int_adbbb5c5	comment	Writers Suck: Joe sells out his talent more or less for a quick buck and a place to stay, eventually leading to his death. This is highlighted in the musical, where he even gets a song about it.
Sunset Boulevard / int_adbbb5c5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_adbbb5c5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_adbbb5c5
Sunset Boulevard / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
Sunset Boulevard / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: Joe Gillis.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ae3d6438	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ae3d6438	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ae3d6438
Sunset Boulevard / int_b034d333	type	Film Noir
Sunset Boulevard / int_b034d333	comment	Considering the movie's many stylistic nods to silent movies, 1930s-style horror movies and Film Noir, black and white photography is very appropriate.
Sunset Boulevard / int_b034d333	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_b034d333	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_b034d333
Sunset Boulevard / int_b1562440	type	Sinister Tango Music
Sunset Boulevard / int_b1562440	comment	Sinister Tango Music: "La cumparsita" plays as Norma forces Joe to dance with her on New Year's Eve.
Sunset Boulevard / int_b1562440	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_b1562440	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_b1562440
Sunset Boulevard / int_b6de94d1	type	Executive Meddling
Sunset Boulevard / int_b6de94d1	comment	Executive Meddling: In-universe example, when Joe talks about his screenplays: "The last one I wrote was about Okies in the Dust Bowl. You'd never know because, when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat."
Sunset Boulevard / int_b6de94d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_b6de94d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_b6de94d1
Sunset Boulevard / int_ba5bbda5	type	Mirror Character
Sunset Boulevard / int_ba5bbda5	comment	Mirror Character: It's subtle, but Joe and Norma are both equally obsessed with drama. Norma's failings are numerous and obvious, but pay attention, and Joe is not much better. He had every opportunity to escape 10086 Sunset Boulevard, with or without Betty, with or without leaving Hollywood altogether, with or without as much loot as he felt he could get away with, nothing physical was trapping him in the house, but he chose not to. And when Norma and Betty finally catch wind of each other, he invites the latter to the house (thus dragging her into danger) to Break Her Heart to Save Her... then decides to break up with the former anyway right there and then, to her face, despite knowing more than anybody how unstable she could be. He probably didn't expect to get shot, but everything he did was, consciously or not, designed to maximize the drama. Even earlier it's evident, as he tends to make jokes even where it's inappropriate, and at the New Year's party, where not an hour after having escaped from one bad situation, he's macking on the fiance of the guy who he just asked to board him for the next few weeks(!), not ten minutes after learning of their engagement(!!!). If Norma is delusional and stuck playing a dramatized version of herself from twenty-five years ago, Joe seems all-too-happy to play her victim.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ba5bbda5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ba5bbda5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ba5bbda5
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb18a227	type	It's All About Me
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb18a227	comment	It's All About Me: Norma lives her entire life like this. Joe isn't much better, though.
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb18a227	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb18a227	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_bb18a227
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb5513e5	type	Charlie Chaplin Shout-Out
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb5513e5	comment	Charlie Chaplin Shout-Out: Norma impersonates Chaplin in one scene.
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb5513e5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_bb5513e5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_bb5513e5
Sunset Boulevard / int_bc00493f	type	Precision F-Strike
Sunset Boulevard / int_bc00493f	comment	Precision F-Strike: "Let's Have Lunch" has one use of the word "fuck", and about a few uses of the word "shit". Other songs have the words "bitch", "ass", and "hell" on some occasions.
Sunset Boulevard / int_bc00493f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_bc00493f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_bc00493f
Sunset Boulevard / int_c2e2a445	type	Jade-Colored Glasses
Sunset Boulevard / int_c2e2a445	comment	Jade-Colored Glasses: Joe notes that Betty reminds him of himself, when he was younger, before Hollywood ground down his ambitions.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c2e2a445	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c2e2a445	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c2e2a445
Sunset Boulevard / int_c313d43a	type	True Companions
Sunset Boulevard / int_c313d43a	comment	True Companions: Evidently how Max tries to view things. Subverted first by Joe (who just wants to get paid and leave) and then brutally by Norma.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c313d43a	featureApplicability	-0.3
Sunset Boulevard / int_c313d43a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c313d43a
Sunset Boulevard / int_c335b9ec	type	Irony
Sunset Boulevard / int_c335b9ec	comment	Irony: A musical where the female lead constantly sings about how the movies were better when no one spoke.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c335b9ec	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c335b9ec	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c335b9ec
Sunset Boulevard / int_c4500946	type	Break His Heart to Save Him
Sunset Boulevard / int_c4500946	comment	Break His Heart to Save Him: Joe does this to Betty. Though they've fallen in love, Joe realizes that he can't provide Betty with the kind of life she deserves. There's also the fact that Joe's in a complicated relationship with the mentally unstable Norma Desmond, who's obsessed with him and could potentially become violent (and she later does, killing him). Joe acts like a Jerkass to Betty so she'll leave him and follow through with her original plan to marry her fiancÃ© Artie. He tries doing this as he walks out on Norma, hoping she'll wake up to the reality of her faded career. It didn't end well.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c4500946	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c4500946	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c4500946
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5249b29	type	Nice Guy
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5249b29	comment	Joe sees Betty as a Nice Girl. And he's probably right, even if she is borderline-cheating on her fiance Artie.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5249b29	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5249b29	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c5249b29
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5330897	type	NaÃ¯ve Everygirl
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5330897	comment	NaÃ¯ve Everygirl: Betty, at least in the estimation of a jealous Norma. Betty, for her part, insists she isn't.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5330897	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c5330897	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c5330897
Sunset Boulevard / int_c660bc15	type	Fan Disservice
Sunset Boulevard / int_c660bc15	comment	Fan Disservice: Depending on who plays Norma and how she plays it, the "dance of the seven veils" interlude in "Salome" is this about half the time.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c660bc15	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c660bc15	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c660bc15
Sunset Boulevard / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Sunset Boulevard / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: Andrew Lloyd Webber based Norma's "mad scene" on a similar scene at the end of Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor.
Sunset Boulevard / int_c75df49a	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_c75df49a	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_c75df49a
Sunset Boulevard / int_cbd2bfa3	type	Glory Days
Sunset Boulevard / int_cbd2bfa3	comment	Glory Days: Norma Desmond is convinced that she is still as big a star as she was in the silent film era, even though she hasn't made any films since then.
Sunset Boulevard / int_cbd2bfa3	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_cbd2bfa3	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_cbd2bfa3
Sunset Boulevard / int_d028ca10	type	Deliberately Monochrome
Sunset Boulevard / int_d028ca10	comment	Deliberately Monochrome: The film is in black and white, which wasn't by any means unusual in 1950 but wasn't strictly necessary either. Wilder would proceed with the B&W all the way to 1960. Considering the movie's many stylistic nods to silent movies, 1930s-style horror movies and Film Noir, black and white photography is very appropriate.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d028ca10	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d028ca10	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d028ca10
Sunset Boulevard / int_d1cedb73	type	Slap-Slap-Kiss
Sunset Boulevard / int_d1cedb73	comment	Slap-Slap-Kiss: Betty and Joe's relationship is this. They argue and snark at each other like no one's business, but their grins make it clear they enjoy it, and do genuinely like each other.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d1cedb73	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d1cedb73	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d1cedb73
Sunset Boulevard / int_d31da2e3	type	If It's You, It's Okay
Sunset Boulevard / int_d31da2e3	comment	If It's You, It's Okay: A nonsexual example: Norma doesn't care for talkies or actresses from the post-silent era, but grudgingly accepts Greta Garbo.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d31da2e3	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d31da2e3	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d31da2e3
Sunset Boulevard / int_d4689f3	type	Sarcasm Failure
Sunset Boulevard / int_d4689f3	comment	Sarcasm Failure: Joe Gillis is exceptionally snarky, but suffers from this more than once as the situation around him takes yet another turn he doesn't want to make into a joke.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d4689f3	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d4689f3	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d4689f3
Sunset Boulevard / int_d55108a1	type	Horrible Hollywood
Sunset Boulevard / int_d55108a1	comment	Horrible Hollywood: One of the most famous examples in film. Norma is a narcissist who is full of herself, no thanks to her former glory as a famous Silent Movie actress, while Joe is a hack writer who takes advantage of her. In addition, Hollywood press writers seeking monetary gain played a part in ruining Norma's career. That said, the film acknowledges that there are decent people working in the film industry, such as DeMille, who defends Norma in front of his contemptuous employees and explains to them that her downfall wasn't entirely her fault.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d55108a1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d55108a1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d55108a1
Sunset Boulevard / int_d62dd556	type	The Chessmaster
Sunset Boulevard / int_d62dd556	comment	The Chessmaster: Joe thinks he's this. Boy, is he wrong.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d62dd556	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d62dd556	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d62dd556
Sunset Boulevard / int_d7c3ba61	type	Race Lift
Sunset Boulevard / int_d7c3ba61	comment	Race Lift: In the original Canadian production, Norma was played by Diahann Carroll, who is African American. Some regional productions have cast a black actor as Joe Gillis.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d7c3ba61	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d7c3ba61	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d7c3ba61
Sunset Boulevard / int_d8a81f59	type	Starts with Their Funeral
Sunset Boulevard / int_d8a81f59	comment	Starts with Their Funeral: The film starts with a corpse floating in a swimming pool, then flashes back â€“ turns out it's the narrator.
Sunset Boulevard / int_d8a81f59	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_d8a81f59	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_d8a81f59
Sunset Boulevard / int_dab2f3ee	type	Good Smoking, Evil Smoking
Sunset Boulevard / int_dab2f3ee	comment	Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Norma Desmond stands out because she smokes her cigarettes in a weird finger-mounted holder. One of her least weird tendencies.
Sunset Boulevard / int_dab2f3ee	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_dab2f3ee	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_dab2f3ee
Sunset Boulevard / int_dbca2c99	type	Red Herring
Sunset Boulevard / int_dbca2c99	comment	Red Herring: Max seems to have motive and opportunity for the murder of Joe Gillis: he was Norma's discoverer and first husband, and is still slavishly loyal to her, trying to comfort her even as Joe wants to leave her, and he was outside with him. However, it turns out that Max is actually polite and docile, and Norma shoots Joe herself.
Sunset Boulevard / int_dbca2c99	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_dbca2c99	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_dbca2c99
Sunset Boulevard / int_deea2fb5	type	Idle Rich
Sunset Boulevard / int_deea2fb5	comment	Idle Rich: Norma is an oil millionaire but cares little for the business.
Sunset Boulevard / int_deea2fb5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_deea2fb5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_deea2fb5
Sunset Boulevard / int_e0c470a1	type	The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You
Sunset Boulevard / int_e0c470a1	comment	The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Norma Desmond, after going insane from killing Joe, is tricked into believing she will shoot a scene of her long-desired Salome movie. She then delivers a speech in which she states: "You see, this is my life. There's nothing else: just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark", while looking straight at the audience, then says she's "ready for her close-up" and proceeds to her finale, in which she walks right towards the camera as the image blurs.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e0c470a1	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e0c470a1	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e0c470a1
Sunset Boulevard / int_e24a1629	type	Sugar-and-Ice Personality
Sunset Boulevard / int_e24a1629	comment	Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Max is a rather bizarre (and creepy) example. He's cold, uptight and extremely professional, but he does his best to keep Norma's delusion intact and it's clear that he's still in love with her.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e24a1629	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e24a1629	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e24a1629
Sunset Boulevard / int_e25ae563	type	Final Love Duet
Sunset Boulevard / int_e25ae563	comment	Final Love Duet: Subverted, as it occurs right before the finale and its Twist Ending (which, of course, the male lead does not survive).
Sunset Boulevard / int_e25ae563	featureApplicability	-0.3
Sunset Boulevard / int_e25ae563	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e25ae563
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4965307	type	Composite Character
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4965307	comment	Composite Character: Sheldrake is the one who tries to rent Norma's car for the next Bing Crosby picture, eliminating the character of Gordon Cole, who is the one that inquires about the car in the original film.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4965307	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4965307	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e4965307
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4b69188	type	Very Loosely Based on a True Story
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4b69188	comment	Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Norma Desmond's backstory is essentially the same as Gloria Swanson's, playing her. Her life after films turn to sound, not so much; when she was offered the role, she had already successfully put that part of her life behind her. However, she did know peers who were very much like the character, which was why she was reluctant to accept. She didn't want audiences to mistake the story for hers. Swanson thought she had made a comeback, only to learn she had been typecast. The silent footage of a young Norma acting in a film directed by Max is taken from Queen Kelly, a never-finished film starring Gloria Swanson, directed by Erich von Stroheim.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4b69188	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e4b69188	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e4b69188
Sunset Boulevard / int_e563bf09	type	Insistent Terminology
Sunset Boulevard / int_e563bf09	comment	Insistent Terminology: Everything with Norma has to be her way, including the words. She's not making a comeback, she's making a return.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e563bf09	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e563bf09	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e563bf09
Sunset Boulevard / int_e567510d	type	Determinator
Sunset Boulevard / int_e567510d	comment	Determinator: "Salome" is all about her (and Norma's) obsession to get whatever she sets her mind to.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e567510d	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e567510d	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e567510d
Sunset Boulevard / int_e680af6f	type	Grief Song
Sunset Boulevard / int_e680af6f	comment	Grief Song: "Surrender"
Sunset Boulevard / int_e680af6f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e680af6f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e680af6f
Sunset Boulevard / int_e9e35e8f	type	Exact Words
Sunset Boulevard / int_e9e35e8f	comment	Exact Words: Technically Norma never says she'll give Joe any cash payment. She just says he shouldn't worry about money.
Sunset Boulevard / int_e9e35e8f	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_e9e35e8f	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_e9e35e8f
Sunset Boulevard / int_ea5c413d	type	Biting-the-Hand Humor
Sunset Boulevard / int_ea5c413d	comment	Biting-the-Hand Humor: The Movie. Studios were very aware of all the Take Thats and In Jokes in the film. Most were not amused and many were wary of the subversiveness of the film.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ea5c413d	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ea5c413d	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ea5c413d
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb5b71fe	type	Clingy Jealous Girl
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb5b71fe	comment	Clingy Jealous Girl: Norma. As Joe is walking out on her, she comments desperately, "No one leaves a star. That's what makes one a star." Then she shoots him.
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb5b71fe	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb5b71fe	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_eb5b71fe
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb8ec7c8	type	Jerkass
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb8ec7c8	comment	Jerkass: DeMille's assistant, who is needlessly cruel in offering to give Norma the brush-off, which the director chastises him for. The same assistant is also rather tactless about Norma's age, but backtracks when DeMille points out that he's old enough to be her father.
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb8ec7c8	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_eb8ec7c8	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_eb8ec7c8
Sunset Boulevard / int_ebe5d89c	type	Disco Dan
Sunset Boulevard / int_ebe5d89c	comment	Disco Dan: Norma is stuck in the 1920s.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ebe5d89c	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ebe5d89c	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ebe5d89c
Sunset Boulevard / int_ec9a5f50	type	Deconstructed Character Archetype
Sunset Boulevard / int_ec9a5f50	comment	Deconstructed Character Archetype: Norma Desmond takes a lot of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl symptoms to their logical conclusion, with the twist that the protagonist isn't interested. From the start it's clear that she doesn't have both oars in the water as she's living in a decayed Big Fancy House, deluding herself that she'll make a comeback with a terrible, Glurge-filled screenplay of Salome. She quickly bonds with the narrator, agrees to commission him (to her disadvantage) and quickly throws his life into chaos, leading him to Character Development. But not in a good way.
Sunset Boulevard / int_ec9a5f50	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_ec9a5f50	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_ec9a5f50
Sunset Boulevard / int_f3fd818b	type	Dark Reprise
Sunset Boulevard / int_f3fd818b	comment	Dark Reprise: At the end, after finally getting her audience, her cameras and the attention she so desperately craved, Norma belts out a powerful reprise of "With One Look," only the extremely dark and creepy orchestrations remind us what is really going on: she just killed a man, went insane and is being taken away by the police as the newsreel cameras record her final descent and humiliation. "Surrender" wasn't exactly a happy song to begin with, but each time it's reprised it gets progressively darker: in the first reprise, DeMille sings sadly about Norma's faded glory; the second reprise occurs just after Max has revealed to Joe that he and Norma were married and explains that he "will not allow [Norma] to surrender"; the third and final reprise is part of Norma's descent into insanity in which she conflates her situation with Salome's in terms of murdering the man they love.
Sunset Boulevard / int_f3fd818b	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_f3fd818b	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_f3fd818b
Sunset Boulevard / int_f7883b17	type	Love Makes You Dumb
Sunset Boulevard / int_f7883b17	comment	Love Makes You Dumb
Sunset Boulevard / int_f7883b17	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_f7883b17	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_f7883b17
Sunset Boulevard / int_f788b2c5	type	Love Makes You Evil
Sunset Boulevard / int_f788b2c5	comment	Love Makes You Evil: Norma turns into a Yandere over her obsession with Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_f788b2c5	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_f788b2c5	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_f788b2c5
Sunset Boulevard / int_f8394279	type	Happier Home Movie
Sunset Boulevard / int_f8394279	comment	Happier Home Movie: Variant: Norma constantly watches the old movies that she starred in.
Sunset Boulevard / int_f8394279	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_f8394279	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_f8394279
Sunset Boulevard / int_f96f8980	type	Love Makes You Crazy
Sunset Boulevard / int_f96f8980	comment	Love Makes You Crazy: Norma's mental state deteriorates as she falls for Joe.
Sunset Boulevard / int_f96f8980	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_f96f8980	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_f96f8980
Sunset Boulevard / int_fa6bfde9	type	Have a Gay Old Time
Sunset Boulevard / int_fa6bfde9	comment	Have a Gay Old Time: When Norma, mistaking Joe for the undertaker who's come to inter her recently-deceased chimp, offers her suggestions for the coffin color: And Joe's narration when he witnesses her and Max giving last rites for said chimp later on:
Sunset Boulevard / int_fa6bfde9	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_fa6bfde9	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_fa6bfde9
Sunset Boulevard / int_fac4ff79	type	Meta Casting
Sunset Boulevard / int_fac4ff79	comment	Meta Casting: Norma Desmond, a forgotten silent film star, was played by Gloria Swanson, a forgotten silent film star. Her butler Max von Mayerling, who used to be a leading silent film director, is played by Erich von Stroheim, who used to be a leading silent film director. (Needless to say, Swanson took her fall from stardom with much more grace and sanity than Norma.) Also, Cecil B. DeMille plays himself, Hedda Hopper (a gossip columnist) plays herself, and the "Waxworks" (Norma's friends who are other forgotten silent film stars) are all played by...other forgotten silent film stars. (And Buster Keaton.) In general, this film is regarded to be one of the biggest cases of Meta Casting in Hollywood.
Sunset Boulevard / int_fac4ff79	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_fac4ff79	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_fac4ff79
Sunset Boulevard / int_fcd9b657	type	Gallows Humor
Sunset Boulevard / int_fcd9b657	comment	Gallows Humor
Sunset Boulevard / int_fcd9b657	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_fcd9b657	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_fcd9b657
Sunset Boulevard / int_name	type	ItemName
Sunset Boulevard / int_name	comment
Sunset Boulevard / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Sunset Boulevard / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sunset Boulevard / int_name
Sunset Boulevard / int_name	itemName	Sunset Boulevard

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Actor-Muso Show / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Boy Meets Girl / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Break His Heart to Save Him / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Cloudcuckoolander's Minder / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Destructive Romance / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Devastating Remark / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Ends with a Smile / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Film Noir Index / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Films Noirs Index / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	First-Person Smartass / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Forged Message / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Getting Crap Past the Radar / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Glory Days / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Good Smoking, Evil Smoking / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Grand Staircase Entrance / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Happier Home Movie / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	I Take Offense to That Last One / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	"I Want" Song / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Insistent Terminology / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	It Will Never Catch On / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Left the Background Music On / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Location Song / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Lyrics/Video Mismatch / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Manic Pixie Dream Girl / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Meta Casting / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Mistress and Servant Boy / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Most Writers Are Writers / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Never Sent Any Letters / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	New Year Has Come / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Oblivious Mockery / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Oh, and X Dies / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Ominous Pipe Organ / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Playing the Heart Strings / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Posthumous Character / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Posthumous Narration / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Rule of Pool / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sarcasm Failure / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Screen-to-Stage Adaptation / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sherlock Scan / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Shrine to Self / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Silly Simian / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sinister Tango Music / int_41052e2e
Sliding Scale of Film Obscurity	seeAlso	Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Smoking Is Cool / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Spurned into Suicide / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Starring a Star as a Star / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Start to Corpse / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Starts with Their Funeral / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Starving Artist / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Stock Footage / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Subordinate Excuse / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Sugar-and-Ice Personality / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The '40s / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The '50s / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The Cameo / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The Name Is Bond, James Bond / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The Other Marty / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The Place / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	The Prima Donna / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	This Is My Story / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Tuckerization / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Uncommon Time / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	Visual Title Drop / int_41052e2e
Sunset Boulevard	hasFeature	AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies / int_41052e2e

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