It is Wilder’s passion, and fulminating anger, that fill every frame of this dark and majestic noir.

...that staircase descent... The staging so that the police and cameramen and reporters all basically freeze, so it's like one of her oil canvases of a legendary or mythical figure come to life... [Norma] transcends space and time.

Billy Wilder’s chillingly cold-blooded satire of Hollywood is one of his finest films — and indeed arguably one of the greatest movies of the period.

The iconic work, viewed through today’s lens, shows that Hollywood hasn’t really changed. Much of film is still bold and startling...The clever, stinging dialogue, written by Wilder, with Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman, is still timely.