Sunset Boulevard (film) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Wilder and Brackett were nervous about a major screening in Hollywood, and decided to have the preview in Evanston, Illinois. The original edit opened with a scene inside a morgue, with the assembled corpses discussing how they came to be there. The story began with the corpse of Joe Gillis recounting his murder to the others. The audience reacted with laughter and seemed unsure whether to view the rest of the film as drama or comedy. After a similar reaction during its second screening, the opening scene was deleted. The new edit was well received in Poughkeepsie, New York.

In Hollywood, Paramount arranged a private screening for the various studio heads and specially invited guests. After viewing the film, Barbara Stanwyck knelt to kiss the hem of Gloria Swanson's skirt. Swanson later remembered looking for Mary Pickford, only to be told, "She can't show herself, Gloria. She's too overcome. We all are." Louis B. Mayer berated Wilder before the crowd of celebrities, saying, "You have disgraced the industry that made and fed you! You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!" Actress Mae Murray, a contemporary of Swanson's, was offended by the film and commented, "None of us floozies was that nuts."

Wilder's reply to Mayer's response after the Hollywood screening was both insulting and abrupt. Upon hearing of Mayer's slight, Billy in characteristic fashion strode up to the mogul and said: "I am Mr. Wilder, and go fuck yourself!" Another citation lists that he also said: "Go shit in your hat!" The severity of the response was due to the notion that Mayer brought up the fact that Wilder was Jewish and that he would be better off being sent back to Germany. A statement of such a nature so soon after the war gave additional depth to Mayer's statement. That comment didn't get by Wilder."

Sunset Boulevard attracted a range of positive reviews from critics. Time described it as a story of "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best", while Boxoffice Review wrote "the picture will keep spectators spellbound." James Agee, writing for Sight and Sound, praised the film and said Wilder and Brackett were "beautifully equipped to do the cold, exact, adroit, sardonic job they have done." Good Housekeeping described Swanson as a "great lady spans another decade with her magic," while Look praised her "brilliant and haunting performance."

Some critics accurately foresaw the film's lasting appeal. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that future generations would "set themselves the task of analyzing the durability and greatness" of the film, while Commonweal said that in the future "the Library of Congress will be glad to have in its archives a print of Sunset Boulevard."

The rare negative comments included those from The New Yorker, which described the film as "a pretentious slice of Roquefort," containing only "the germ of a good idea." Thomas M. Pryor wrote for the New York Times that the plot device of using the dead Joe Gillis as narrator was "completely unworthy of Brackett and Wilder, but happily it does not interfere with the success of Sunset Boulevard."

After a seven-week run at Radio City Music Hall, Variety magazine reported the film had grossed "around $1,020,000", making it one of that cinema's most successful pictures. Variety also noted that, while it was "breaking records in major cities, it is doing below average in ... the sticks." To promote the film, Gloria Swanson traveled by train throughout the United States, visiting 33 cities in a few months. The publicity helped attract people to the cinemas, but in many provincial areas it was considered less than a hit.