So many great shots, so many great plot twists. Wow. Just wow.

I loved the special feature on the DVD with the Hollywood location map showing prominent sites in the movie, as well as loads of background information on the sites. (I’m an old-Hollywood fiend, so this was especially interesting for me.)

There’s also a 30 minute documentary on the making of the movie that I still haven’t watched.

Norma Desmond: And I promise you I’ll never desert you again because after ‘Salome’ we’ll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!… All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.

Regarding Norma Desmond, the phrase that comes to mind is ‘scary beyond all reason.’ But even though she’s totally crazy and she tries to commit suicide and so on, she’s very, very strong. It’s admirable… but not in a way that you’d want to imitate.

This really wasn’t a romance.

I watched this with Casey.

Not as trashy as it looks, not as misogynistic as the undergrads say. But it is something like Coen brothers and Curb Your Enthusiasm . . .