jisenhath

Billy Wilder's SUNSET BLVD is possibly THE greatest American film yet made. This is a powerful statement (or assumption) to make, considering there are other outstanding American films which could vie, perhaps, for such stature. Yet SUNSET is in the rare position of being among a handful of films that are achievements of cinema perfection, and these works have in common one very important quality that secures their artistic status - sublime momentum. SUNSET is a mesmerizing experience from beginning to end, its continuity a seamless triumph of cinematic construction. With a cynically incisive script which never once falters, and an exquisite style and look that is visually breathtaking throughout, SUNSET BLVD is a spellbinding and unforgetable piece of filmmaking from one of the world's great 20th Century artists, Billy Wilder, who is arguably the best of the best in American cinema. True, he's contributed his share of mediocrity, and worse; but, then, there isn't an artist dead or alive who hasn't failed aesthetically at one time or another. What Billy Wilder has given us with SUNSET BLVD and his other great films are treasures to cherish.

As a wonderful example of 60s pop art filmmaking, Elio Petri has taken many of the decade's most popular culture crazes (the Bond films, Courreges fashions, discotheque jazz, etc.) and used them with great success to give a plausible look to a highly improbable (in 1965!) future world. Petri's digs at Mad Ave advertising and humanity's relentless pursuit of fame and money (no matter the price) are on-target, and his delight in mocking societal idiosyncrasies (the sun worshipers) is priceless. However, at the heart of The Tenth Victim is the old-fashioned battle-of-the-sexes plot (still very popular in the mid-60s), and yet Petri has the upper hand by his spoofing of the romantic-comedy genre and giving us instead a deliciously amusing trifle that is fun to watch for its joking attitude towards everything it depicts, including Marcello and Ursula! To one reviewer who found it outdated, it must be remembered that this film was made 35 years ago and so it naturally has nothing to do with today's standards - and why should it? That's like dismissing Griffith's Intolerance because it's a silent film!