Sunset Boulevard (1950): The Lost Morgue Opening Billy Wilder Cut

Sunset Boulevard was supposed to begin in a morgue. A coroner's hearse brings in a body, an attendant ties a tag to its toe, and in the dark, under the white sheets, the other dead begin to talk to Joe Gillis. Billy Wilder shot it. Then a preview audience in Evanston, Illinois, burst out laughing at that toe tag, and the scene was gone. Every shot of the talking dead is still missing. In this documentary we count down 23 secrets of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard: the working title A Can of Beans, why Montgomery Clift walked away, the silent stars who refused to play Norma Desmond, the screen test that insulted Gloria Swanson, Queen Kelly and Erich von Stroheim at the projector, Cecil B. DeMille playing himself, Buster Keaton and the waxworks, the mansion and its pool, the chimpanzee funeral, the mirror behind the famous pool shot, the song Wilder cut, the studio boss who wanted him run out of Hollywood, and finally the lost morgue opening, scene by scene, with the words the dead were meant to say. Every claim in this video was checked against reliable sources before it was recorded. Chapters 0:00 The opening that was never released 0:47 #23 Paramount did not know what it was making 1:43 #22 Almost everything had another name 2:25 #21 Joe Gillis was written for Montgomery Clift 3:23 #20 The silent queens who said no 4:11 #19 The audition that insulted Gloria Swanson 4:56 #18 Queen Kelly and the man at the projector 5:54 #17 Cecil B. DeMille on his own set 6:43 #16 The waxworks were real legends 7:31 #15 The mansion and the pool 8:18 #14 Schwab's rebuilt on the lot 8:51 #13 The editor listed as co-director 9:29 #12 The chimpanzee funeral 10:02 #11 Tricks from the silent era 10:49 #10 The pool shot was done with a mirror 11:28 #9 Music for a scene you will never see 12:03 #8 The song Wilder cut 12:52 #7 "Run out of Hollywood" 13:31 #6 The hearse at the county morgue 14:36 #5 The dead had stories of their own 15:33 #4 Joe tells the dead how he died 16:17 #3 The preview audience laughed 17:08 #2 Wilder cut the morgue and kept the dead man 17:59 #1 The full scene has never been released 18:57 Oscars, Radio City and the legacy 20:09 Your turn Should Wilder have kept the morgue, or did that laugh in Evanston save the film? Tell me in the comments. If you enjoy the true stories behind the classic films you love, please like the video and subscribe. Sources include: Ed Sikov, "On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder"; Sam Staggs, "Close-up on Sunset Boulevard"; the Paramount shooting script of March 1949; the American Film Institute Catalog; Turner Classic Movies; American Cinematographer; David Freeman in The New Yorker. Film clips are used for commentary, criticism and education under fair use. Sunset Boulevard (1950) © Paramount Pictures. #SunsetBoulevard #BillyWilder #GloriaSwanson #WilliamHolden #ClassicMovies #OldHollywood #FilmHistory