Wilder on top form with a slick blend of satire (Hollywood on
Hollywood), film noir and melodrama. The movie's black wit is clear
from the opening narration, performed by a corpse; and its bleak vision
of emotional dependency and alienation from reality is darker than
Wilder generally dared. As so often, his script is more interesting
than his slightly plain direction; but the performances make the film.
Swanson is fiery and frantic as the ex-star tormented by her fall from
fame, and the casting of Stroheim, whose directorial career Swanson
destroyed in the twenties, is sharply ironic; his dignity and grace
also humanise Wilder's otherwise complete misanthropy.
