Thursday, April 6, 2017

William Beholden



Life's not fair in this town, fortune cruel
Why not pair with a clownish old ghoul?
But ashamed to accept
By a dame you've been kept
You narrate face down in a pool.

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder; 1950) is narrated by the floating corpse of failed screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden). From Wikipedia: "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 (preview) audience reacted with laughter and seemed unsure whether to view the rest of the film as drama or comedy." We're beholden to Donald B. Benson for the title.

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