Released amid the cast-iron censorship of the Hays Code, the second big screen version of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel had to heavily rely on subtext. In fact, it's likely many of the Academy's more conservative or sheltered members responsible for its nominations in Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, & Best Supporting Actor were entirely oblivious to its queerness.
Being a fly on the wall should come naturally to your average private-eye. But being a literal wall-crawler? That's something new. This is what distinguishes Nicolas Cage's Spider-Noir hero from the other iconic gumshoes who populate our pop culture-but he's also starkly different from any other Spider-Man who has swung across our paths.
Billy Wilder's film starring Gloria Swanson as a reclusive former silent movie star, and William Holden as a young wannabe writer who becomes her kept man, more than ever looks not merely like tinseltown satire or LA noir, but a ghost story. It's the ultimate film about how the screenwriter is always the loser and the chump. You can tell that Norma Desmond (Swanson) is washed up because she has actually written a screenplay which is, however, more than Joe (Holden) ever achieves in the course of this film.