Film Sunset Boulevard

How many films about extreme wealth are a cautionary tale: the lonely mogul, the billionaire’s comeuppance? A bit rich, of course, coming from a movie business built by the profit-hungry. (For another irony, think of all the antiheroes – Scarface’s Tony Montana or The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jordan Belfort – who end up as posters on bedroom walls.) All of which leaves the deathless Sunset Boulevard. Faded silent-movie great Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) is no one’s role model. Hollywood was kinder to her decades ago. But knee-deep in caviar and leopardskin, with the light glinting off the pool, she still enjoys every cent of her fortune.

Danny Leigh