There was more noise made about this one than about almost any film since "Samson and Delilah." This is the one billboards and match covers have been booming as "A most unusual motion picture," a statement I won't dispute. But when the ads go on to peg it as a certain successor to "The Lost Weekend" in the Oscar department, then I must beg to differ.

While there is enough good acting in "Sunset Boulevard" to put it on the "must see" list, the film suffers from several unfortunate features. The most glaring of these is an overstuffed, unbalanced script. Billy Wilder and Charlie Brackett have just laid it on too thick, a fact which becomes more and more apparent as the film draws to its climax. The outcome is never in doubt since the picture is nearly all one big flashback, narrated by the hero who is floating in a swimming pool with three bullets in his back.

If there is any department for which this motion picture may take honors, it is the acting of Gloria Swanson. She plays the part of a forgotten silent screen star whose desire to regain her former glory drives her insane. Although the script requires Miss Swanson to overdo a part which by its very nature demands overacting, her portrayal is excellent.

The acting of the other three principals, William Holden, Erie von Strohieim, and Nancy Olsen is also commendable as is that of the minor characters. Von Stroheim plays the part of Miss Swanson's devoted servant who was also the director who originally "discovered her" and became her first husband. Holden, the script writer whose inability to get anywhere leads to his becoming Miss Swanson's "kept man," suffers through this indignity with a convincing series of pained expressions and outbursts, while his voice narrates the story from a "there I was, what-could-I-do" point of view. Miss Olsen is the "other girl" whose love for Holden brings the piece to its violent conclusion and brings on Miss Swanson's complete breakdown.

It is reported that Wilder and Brackett started shooting "Sunset Boulevard" with only a skeleton script and improvised as they went along. The method resulted in superior photography with a sprinkling of superb touches. This free development, however, was responsible for overburdening the movie with material which detracts from the fine acting.