The Transition Of Bill Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard
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Sound films revolutionised the film industry and had a destabilizing impact on the careers of many silent film stars. At the time, before the coming of sound, silent film actors had successful careers and were quite famous and well known to the public eye. With the coming of sound, these actors saw their careers slowly fluttering and ending. Indeed, the coming of sound allowed more possibilities for narrative stories and led to a new way of acting, among other revolutions within the industry, that led to the end of many careers and consequently, recognition and fame. Very few silent film actors would try to make the transition to sound films, although some of them did and carried on successfully for some time, but overall they knew they would not fit for a sound film and simply ended their career.…show more content… Sunset Boulevard tells the story of a penniless scriptwriter who is almost press by a former famous silent film star into the writing of a screenplay for her comeback to Hollywood. The film was produced 20 years after the end of the silent film era, not so long ago for famous name of the time to be forgotten, but long enough for them to have disappeared from Hollywood’s famous actors list. Admittedly, the film starred a former silent star, Gloria Swanson, and ‘stand for those who failed to survive the transition to sounds.’ (Petro, 2010: 2) Sunset Boulevard’s themes make the film and its narrative, and this can be observed on its poster: there are few elements, it is a rather simple but suggestive poster, enough to the viewer to understand some key points of the plot and themes surrounding