In the film SUNSET BLVD. (also written as Sunset Boulevard), fact and fiction intertwine. The title refers to the 35-kilometre-long (22 miles) street in Los Angeles where many stars from the silent film era lived in the late 1940s but were now no longer part of the movie industry. Director and screenwriter Billy Wilder wondered how they spent the day and coped with fading fame.
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:49:33 |
Together with Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr. he came up with the story of unsuccessful screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) who by chance meets former movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson, who herself became famous during the silent film era). She lives as a recluse in her mansion on Sunset Blvd. with her butler Max (played by director and actor Erich von Stroheim, also from the silent era). She hosts bridge nights with former colleagues Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H.B. Warner, all playing themselves.
Norma Desmond's house actually stood on South Irving Boulevard and was demolished in 1957. The building where Joe Gillis lives in Hollywood still exists. It is the Chateau Alto Nido Apartments at 1851 Ivar Ave. Filming took place in May and June 1949. A new opening scene was filmed in January 1950.
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| Paramount Studios, Melrose Avenue, 19 July 2023 |
The film was released by Paramount Pictures, so it is no coincidence that Joe Gilles goes to this film studio hoping to sell one of his stories. He walks along Bronson Avenue towards the main gate on Marathon Drive. The gate was built in 1926 and is known as Bronson Gate.
Over the years the studio complex has expanded. A fountain has been placed in front of the entrance and a large car park has been added, shielded since 1978 by a second, double gate at 5555 Melrose Avenue.
For this reason, the original entrance can only be visited as part of the
Paramount Pictures Studio Tour. During our visit, actors were picketing in front of the entrance for better working conditions. The strike began on 14 July and would eventually last 118 days.
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| Sunset Blvd., 0:05:12 |
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| Bronson Gate, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
Later in the film, Norma Desmond hopes for a comeback with a script she wrote herself and sent to Cecil B. DeMille. Because the famous director, playing himself, does not respond, Norma goes to Paramount Studios herself and takes Joe with her. Max drives her 1929 Isotta Fraschini. An elderly doorman (Robert Emmett O'Connor) recognizes the once famous actress and lets the car in.
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:04:41 |
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| Bronson Gate, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:05:27 |
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| Bronson Gate, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:05:35 |
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| Bronson Gate, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
The car drives to Stage 18 where Cecil B. DeMille was shooting the film Samson and Delilah, in the movie as well as in reality. The same studio would also host the indoor filming of Sunset Blvd. as well as Stage 17. Each studio has a plaque listing the most famous films and television series shot here. Cecil B. DeMille and Gloria Swanson were old acquaintances, he directed her several times during the silent film era. He died in 1959 and is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a graveyard within walking distance of Paramount.
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:07:35 |
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| Stage 18, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
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| Plaques Stage 17 en 18, Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
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| Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
Opposite Stage 18 are the offices of the screenwriters, seen in the film when Joe and Max are waiting outside. Little has changed here over the years which can be said of the entire studio complex.
Paramount is the only studio still based in Hollywood. The famous Hollywood sign is visible from the studio.
The tour we did lasted two hours. We stopped regularly and had enough time to take photos, filming is not allowed.
Highly recommend!
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:11:56 |
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| Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
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| Sunset Blvd., 1:12:09 |
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| Paramount Studios, 19 July 2023 |
Screenshots © Paramount Pictures Corporation
