Download - Sunset Blvd Analysis - Matt · PDF fileMatthew Steckler Film Music History Prof. Sadoff 10.15.08 An Eclectic Methodological Analysis of: Sunset Boulevard (1950) Director: Billy Wilder

Matthew Steckler Film Music History

Prof. Sadoff 10.15.08

An Eclectic Methodological Analysis of: Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Director: Billy Wilder Composer: Franz Waxman Overview As it would happen, the classical era of Hollywood culminated in a film that looked back on the industry with a scathingly critical eye. Sunset Boulevard in 1950 had to its motivational advantage a cast of mostly jaded Hollywood casualties, and a director and composer who were self-referentially outsiders. Its theme – opportunism and its consequences – explores the corrupt side of Hollywood and the exploitation of its greatest resource: people. Billy Wilder’s vision was catching – in the current age we are overburdened with films that take a sharp bite at Hollywood, but none so revealing as Sunset Boulevard, which as its centerpiece chronicles the failed comeback of silent era star Norma Desmond. Escape from death being a prominent undercurrent for many of the film’s characters, Norma’s mythically delusional world begets fatal results. Therefore, a creative and well- crafted sense of emotional urgency had to be conveyed through music, and by his efforts Franz Waxman garnered the first of his two consecutive Oscars for Best Score. Waxman had already established a reputation for musical versatility 15 years prior with his music for Bride of Frankenstein (an early example of an orchestral score), so it was not surprising that he used an eclectic approach to scoring Sunset Boulevard. By his son’s account, Waxman went to spotting sessions for the film with an open mind, deciding foremost what moods, textures and orchestrations might take place, even before any themes were to be written (he also decided – with Billy Wilder, with whom he worked directly - which scenes would have music and which would not). Most of the music had to be timed to fit the demands of the narrative, as Wilder’s script was very detailed and unyielding, both in dialogue and, oddly, the camerawork. There are some critics, noted by Roy Prendergast in Film Music: A Neglected Art, who even felt that the highly charged atmosphere of dialogue and camerawork in this film rendered music unnecessary, but I would have to disagree. In Waxman’s very capable hands, this extensive score has as its strength a propensity for genre- jumping and economy of thematic means that by film’s end leaves a “through-composed” imprint on the listener’s psyche, almost suggesting emotionally that Sunset Boulevard is an opera for modern times, but with clever hipsterisms. Syntax Waxman liberally chose themes that could be easily manipulated if they were leitmotifs, or simply truncated where convenient if they were lengthy in their full form. The opening sequence, which has been much talked about in film criticism, could be perceived sonically as nearly one unified thematic event, a “chase” scene before we realize who’s being chased. Indeed, its music is a vast resource whose independent motifs Waxman reaches for again and again later in the film. That said, the sequence’s point of view is that of the narrator, the already dead Joe Gillis, and the first two cells in Fig. 1 contain



music that are variants of Joe’s own theme, to come later. In the first cell (Paramount credit), we have a minor triad melody spelled 1-5-b3-8 (in Joe’s theme, it will play 1-b3-5). In the second cell (Title credit) the motif foreshadows a meaning of “Joe in crisis”, because in the next instance it appears (10:17) Joe, an out of work Hollywood screenwriter, has just been shunned an advance by his literary agent. The next 2 cells in the sequence relate to Joe as well, from a winding chromatic melody that will reappear next when Joe is chased by bill collectors for his car (11:03), to a one-tone syncopated rhythm that closely resembles the sound of a typewriter. It is only in cell 5 that we are introduced to another character via Norma Desmond’s theme, which is really a two-bar leitmotif written in the exotic Phrygian mode. Finally, through the use of tonally transitional material and surprise hits (cell 6) the sequence is able to shift to underscore, and Joe’s voice takes over as the narrator. This final part of the sequence continues right up until we see the iconic image of Joe face down in the pool (Fig. 2), and it is at this point that we first hear a fragment of a Joe theme in its originally intended state.

Some attention should be given to comparing the themes for Joe and Norma. Joe’s theme in its fullest state (Fig. 2 – cell 2) is eight-bars in length, swinging “hipster” in feel, mostly arpeggiated around an ascending minor seventh chord. Norma’s theme by contrast is two-bars in length, more exotic sounding, moving stepwise in a modal fashion and ending on a descent to the 5. These contrasts have enormous implications for later throughout the film. It is Joe’s theme that has the best ability to metamorphose, through devices such as transposition, fragmentation, intervallic expansion and contraction, and rhythmic variation. While Norma’s theme transposes

D minor triad – 00:00:02 “Chase”/Joe crisis – 00:00:14 Winding “Chase” – 00:00:24 “Chase typewriter” - 00:00:47

Fig. 1 – Opening Sequence “Chase” “Norma+typewriter” - 00:00:50 “Chase” transition – 00:01:23



often and is cleverly extended to create longer melodies, its incipient state is usually preserved in an easily recognized fashion with each re-statement. That said, the two are often ingeniously woven together to chronicle their relationship, and when Betty Schaffer’s role increases in the second half of the film, her theme (Fig. 4) becomes as much a part of the intertwining musical fabric as anyone’s. Sound-in-Filmic Time The opening credit sequence introduces the camerawork moving in real-time, its careful survey of a relatively small frame of view being almost hyper-real. Should a great deal of action have been the norm too early, it would not have allowed the crucial “chase” sound material to embed itself into the viewer’s memory. We see from the outset a principled marriage of motif to important credit (company, title, main characters, writers, other staff), and at the same time are drawn in instantly to the image of a sidewalk curb that gradually pans to an open stretch of roadway, registering it in our brain for future significance. This is because the accompanying music renders it a sense of urgency that is hyper-real when compared to any other street close-up. [As in Fig. 1]

• 00:00:02 [Cell 1: Paramount credit fades in – opening 4 note motif spells D minor as 1-5-b3-8] - 00:00:05 [camera follows downward slowly from sidewalk to curb, the departure from a still state to one in motion syncs with 16ths on D played vigorously in the strings] - 00:00:08 [camera still has not reached its first destination but the words “Sunset Blvd.” come into the frame as three chromatic spikes strike in the brass (see addeundum: Sunset Blvd Thematic Material, bar 5)]

• 00:00:14 [Cell 2: Camera fixates on “Sunset Blvd” painted onto the curb as the first linear melodic fragment occurs: Joe’s second theme where he is in “crisis”]

- 00:00:16 [Camera departs from still state and moves a touch more rapidly toward the road as the final chord in Joe’s “crisis” theme punctuates with a sforzando-crescendo and subsequent spike] - 00:00:22 [Main character credit fades in as string 16th undercurrent continues]

dissolve-> Fig. 2 – How We Got Here Joe speaks from the dead – 02:22 Joe recounts from the beginning - 02:52



• 00:00:24 [Cell 3: Winding chromatic theme over “D” stated with main character credit in view: an example of pyramid sound building that is orchestrated according to registral characteristics; first with bass clarinet + bassoon; also, the camera has repositioned to a fully backwards retreat on the roadway close-up, from its previously slanted retreat]

- 00:00:30 [horns are added to pyramid scheme; secondary characters introduced] - 00:00:30 [above horn theme rhythmic quarters on “D” punctuated by high winds] - 00:00:35 [trumpets added to the pyramid scheme; tertiary characters introduced]

• 00:00:43 [Cell 4: Winding chromatic theme winds downward using principally F minor/D as a brief transitional tonal segue while the writer credit is introduced]

- 00:00:47 [brash timpani syncopated solo figure – the “typewriter theme” - occurs in tandem with writer credit]

• 00:00:50 [Cell 5: Norma’s theme stated by celli in tandem with opening of staff credits; backwards close-up roadway retreat continues; virtuosic piano arpeggiated accompaniment suggests heightened motion, even though the camera hasn’t picked up the pace]

- 00:00:54 [trombones echo the “typewriter” theme on a single “F”] - 00:00:58 [1st shift in bass ostinato up to an Eb (bar 32 addendum)] - 00:01:01 [Norma’s theme restated up a minor 3rd in “F” phrygian, but trombone

echo continues to be on “F” as well (bar 36)] - 00:01:13 [music score credit fades as a consequent phrase to Norma’s thematic

antecedent is stated in the celli (bar 40); bass suggests “C” melodic minor] - 00:01:20 [during director credit a final, quieter pre-transitional variant of the

“typewriter” uttered in clarinets] • 00:01:23 [Cell 6: Camera pulls out of close-up and the roadway’s full length is revealed; an “A” minor 6 transitional brass chord sforzando-crescendos into a heavy low “F” hit]

- 00:01:28 [Low “F” strikes in tandem with the first diegetic sound in the film, a siren]

- 00:01:30 [Joe the narrator enters, music fades to underscore status] • 00:02:17 [Narration has continued in tandem with camera’s following of a police squad to the grounds of Norma Desmond; as the cops approach the pool with the dead body, an eerie single vibrating tone is stated] [As in Fig. 2]

• 00:02:22 [Cell 1: high winds’ 1st iteration of a fragment from Joe’s main theme, taken out of order (it is the third phrase in his theme, followed by the second)]

- 00:02:34 [Joe’s body in view from the perspective of the pool’s basin; calm ripples of water commensurate with the rate of vibrato from the eerie tone; Joe’s thematic fragments are repeated]

• 00:02:43 – 00:02:52 [Cell 2: slow dissolve into a flashback where we will learn how it all

began; Joe’s complete theme is stated for the first and nearly only time in the film; in this manifestation it is “swingy” and “hipster” in rhythmic lilt, with a “poor man’s” piano timbre]



Musical and Filmic Representation Much attention is given to the music of the opening sequence, even without a great deal of on-screen action, because this material alone – with the main exception of Betty’s theme later on - is reworked to constitute the nearly through-composition of the remainder of the film. While the story is built around the demise of aging silent era film star Norma Desmond, the perspective is entirely Joe Gillis’, and for this reason his is the journey most capable of change, both narratively and musically. Taken independently, Norma’s theme is constant and unyielding, representing her piteous inability to change with the times. Joe’s theme, by contrast, is in a constant state of flux, signifying his relentless need to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. Many examples illustrate this phenomenon. In the full statement of Joe’s theme that concludes the opening sequence and begins his flashback, Joe is caricatured as a jazzy hipster young writer on the make, who’s seen hard times with his career but who isn’t out of the game yet. The swing feel and the dorian mode in which his theme is written prove his “jazziness”, albeit in a somewhat removed and cinematic sense (no jazz purist would mistake Waxman’s writing for a quintet playing at the Village Vanguard during the same time period). Yet, because the theme uses a fairly simple diatonic approach, this opens more possibilities for its dramatic alteration in other narrative contexts. For instance, the nonchalance of Joe’s character – even at a time when bill collectors want to impound his car, means his scenes early on can be decorated colorfully with humor, such as in mickey-mousing a golf put going into a hole (9:30), just before Joe asks his agent for an advance. Alternately, the minor triad that begins his theme is transposed to a major one (12:13) as Joe pulls into Norma Desmond’s driveway. The accompanying harmony remains in the minor key, and this juxtaposition creates the strangeness of the world into which he is about to enter.

This is not to discredit Norma’s theme in any way. On the contrary, the relative constancy of her theme belies the strength in her character as someone who knows who she is, even as a delusionary figure. Her two-bar theme, while often transposed to other keys, nonetheless remains intervallically and therefore fundamentally intact as an exotic, gypsy-like mantra of otherworldliness, for a princess who is really an outsider. Norma consciously identifies with being an outsider, even though she was once a star, proven as she seeks to portray Salome, a temptress who is called to task for her morally questionable advances toward a holy man. In the first statement of her theme as she peers out at Joe through the window shades

Fig. 3 – Norma’s Place First Glimpse of Norma – 13:40 “I AM Big…” – 16:37 Organ Tone Wheezing - 18:20



(Fig. 3 – Cell 1; 13:40), the alto flute suggests a well-worn woman who has outlived her ability to radiate an ingenue’s beauty. What becomes of great interest is when her and Joe’s themes are intertwined, underscoring the complexity of their relationship. Because hers is shorter, the theme is added to while Joe’s is transformed. This first occurs as Joe reads her script (20:00 – 22:08); by the scene’s conclusion, Joe realizes he could fix his own problem if he edits her script (major triad version of his theme), but also knows the sacrifice it would take to work with a woman with a questionable sense of reality (his theme played with a b2 to mirror her phrygian mode). The monotone vibrato that sets up the reveal of Joe’s dead body makes several important recurrences. First, the auto-wheezing of Norma’s organ as air passes through it (Fig. 3/Cell 3/18:20) is the first example of music in diegesis in the film. The eeriness of this sound cannot be emphasized enough, and this is Waxman at his most versatile and modern (single eerie monotones have become a cornerstone of the film scoring world ever since). One hears an orchestrated variant of the same thing mickey-mousing Norma’s rising gesture in her screening room as she proclaims, “I’ll show them what a star is!” (Fig. 5 – Cell 1; 32:59), signifying to Joe that perhaps he is in over his head (she already has hinted at coming on to him at this point). In the famous scene at Cecil B. DeMille’s studio, the spotlight operator exclaims “Let’s get a good look at you” (Fig. 5 – Cell 4; 1:09:17), turning his spotlight over to her. What ensues is the one time in the film where the audience is allowed to empathize, as all the actors and staff at once recognize Norma for the star she once was and, before her dream of a comeback is ultimately crushed, she enjoys a few precious moments of royalty. Nonetheless, the eerie vibrato monotone lurks beneath the dreamy wistfulness of harp arpeggios.

With the development of Betty Schaffer’s role as a love interest to Joe in the second half of the film, we both see and hear a contrast to the torment that comes with Joe and Norma’s vicious circle game of exploitation. Her theme (Fig. 5) is exemplified by a songbook style chord progression and Disney- esque melodic construction along the diatonic tension notes of the key (major sixth, seventh and ninth in key places). Fig. 5 reveals the three main places in which Betty’s theme takes center stage: the first, as she tells Joe her dream to write for pictures, and her dream becomes his as they collaborate and begin to fall in love; the second, when Norma discovers in Joe’s pocket the manuscript for that said collaboration; and finally, as Joe tells Betty he cannot leave the lifestyle for which he has undermined his own integrity, as a matter of convenience more than anything else. In all three cases, her music signifies the hope that Joe can attain if he just takes a chance.

“I Come From a Picture Family” “Untitled Love Story” “Look Sweetie, Be Practical” 01:22:08 01:27:30 01:37:01

Fig. 4 – Betty’s Role



The Filmic World For Billy Wilder, however, Hollywood more often than not is rife with its own characters who will not take a chance at integrity. Norma shoots Joe at the end as he attempts to leave her, she is sent to jail but never overcomes her delusion of grandeur. Her butler Max – revealed earlier as her former husband and silent film director – cannot put an end to the myth in which he abets. And, Betty loses her chance at true love and success. Furthermore, the media has a feast sensationalizing Norma’s ultimate demise (the news truck label reads “Paramount News”, and she fools herself into believing the whole newsreel shoot is a film shoot for Salome, descending the stairs in dramatic fashion while her theme plays as a dramatic tango (Fig. 5 – Cell 6; 1:48:27), thereby closing the film. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, was reportedly incensed by Sunset Boulevard at its first screening, since it clearly hit home in snuffing out the hypocrisy that characterized (and still does) the film-for-profit industry. Even more amazing, though, are the credentials of those who were asked to partake in the film and agreed to do so. Gloria Swanson, who played Norma Desmond, was actually a bygone silent film star who lost her standing in the public eye with the advent of talkies. The film that tanked her career, Queen Kelly, was directed by Erich Von Stroeheim, who plays Max and is a close version of himself in the film, as is she (the two had a falling out but had reconciled differences prior to Sunset Boulevard). William Holden, as Joe Gillis, had not made a hit film since Golden Boy ten years prior, and Cecil B. DeMille, H.B. Warner and Buster Keaton all agreed to play themselves in the film. For the director and composer’s part, Wilder and Waxman had both cut their teeth in the studios of Berlin and Paris prior to coming to Hollywood, they shared a Hollywood insider’s passion for technical exactitude and clarity of beauty with image and sound, but resented Hollywood’s megalomania as an outsider might. Wilder’s own parents had been enveloped by the Holocaust in Germany - this had to have a profound effect on him, for dark tinges lined any film project he oversaw, even comedies such as Sabrina. For this reason, Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity stand as achievements that epitomize the film noir genre, but also transcend it because both were so well-made and psychologically were so complex. For Waxman’s part, the genre-jumping versatility of his score points to the great degree of American tonal language he had added to his repertoire by the onset of filming the movie. Waxman wrote a score that stood in the service of the script, but also generated a psychological hyper-drama that assists Wilder’s vision of Hollywood comically poking fun at itself. His other uses of diegetic music are so central to the plot (live music at two parties on New Year’s Eve, Norma’s Chaplin routine to a weird bi-tonal stride piano, etc.) one can forgive him for writing underscore that seeks to match the former at its own game. All throughout we are reunited with elements of that first “chase” sequence… while a true chase happens only once early on in the film, Sunset Boulevard as a whole is about four characters who are trying in essence to escape “death” in some way, shape or form: death of a career (Norma), death of a dream and security/actual death (Joe), death of a myth (Max), and death of innocence (Betty).



“I’ll Show Them What a Star Is” “Madame Got The Razor” Chaplin-esque 00:32:59 00:51:58 01:02:31

“Let’s Get A Good Look At You” “The Stars Are Ageless” “I’m Ready For My Closeup” 01:09:17 01:43:12 01:48:27 Fig. 5 – Perpetuating A Myth





