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Sally Field photographed by David Sutton, 1966.

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The Wizard of Oz (1939) dir. Victor Fleming

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Grace Kelly

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Myrna Loy, circa 1940

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Hedy Lamarr

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Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) — dir. Frank Capra     

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Lilian Bond as Gladys Perkins in The Old Dark House (1932)

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MARILYN MONROE as ROSE in NIAGARA (1953), dir. Henry Hathaway. Costume design by Dorothy Jeakins.

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Frances Stevens + costumes TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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Vivien Leigh wearing silver lamé blouse with lace, black velvet skirt by Henri Bendel and Verdura jewelry photographed by George Hoyningen-Huene, 1940

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Marilyn Monroe during a press conference at the Savoy Hotel in London, 1956.

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Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) is probably the most movie-besotted movie of all time. Start with the premise. Gloria Swanson, a silent-film star whose career was derailed by the talkies, is Norma Desmond, a silent-film star whose career was ended by the talkies. Her butler-chauffeur, Max, turns out to be a once-acclaimed silent-film director and Norma’s ex-husband. He’s creepily–and brilliantly–played by Erich von Stroheim, a once-acclaimed silent-film director who’d been reduced to playing character parts, mostly Nazis in World War II-pictures.

The most meta scene comes shortly after screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) takes up residence in Norma’s decrepit mansion, where he serves as a combination amanuensis/boy toy. He tells us that Norma throws regular movie nights, just for the two of them; Max is projectionist. The repertoire, of course, is her own films. We see a bit from one of them, a scene where the young Norma’s face is illuminated by candles.

The clip is from Queen Kelly, a 1929 film that, more than any other single factor, derailed the careers of Swanson (the star) and von Stroheim, the director. At least he was the director until producer Joseph Kennedy (Swanson’s lover and JFK’s father) fired him because the scenes he’d produced were too explicit and dark. Because von Stroheim retained the rights for what he’d shot, the film had never seen in the United States–until Sunset Boulevard. [x]

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Jean Harlow in Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

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I felt it this afternoon. It was like lightning striking. It strikes rarely. SPELLBOUND 1945 — dir. Alfred Hitchcock

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BALL OF FIRE (1941) dir. Howard Hawks