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Reviews
Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951)
Who narrates?
The narrator of this film is William T. Woodson. He's done a lot of narrating and voice-overs down through the years, particularly the miniseries THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE.
Woodson narrated the opening credits of THE INVADERS ("David Vincent knows..."). He also narrates the opening credits for THE ODD COUPLE: "Can two divorced men share the same apartment without driving each other crazy?"
He can also be seen in episodes of such varied television series as PERRY MASON, F TROOP, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW as well as many others. According IMDb, his last known credit is for an episode of DUCKMAN in 1995.
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
The Sunset Blvd/Scared To Death connection!
Although I would certainly agree that this is one of "Hollywood's finest", a true classic, etc., I have to take issue with people who comment on the uniqueness of the script, particularly in having the film being narrated by a corpse. One comment on this site even claims that this may be the first time such a device was used in films.
NOT SO! In 1947, three years before this film's release, a low-budget independent film called "Scared To Death" beat Wilder to it. The film is narrated by the corpse of a young woman lying in a morgue who has been literally "Scared to Death" (hence the title). The picture stars Bela Lugosi & George Zucco (not to mention Nat Pendleton!) This is even more interesting when one considers that Wilder originally wanted SB to open with a scene of recently deceased corpses gathered in a morgue discussing their deaths! I must confess that I have a little suspicion, or fantasy if you will, as to how Wilder arrived at his vision for the opening sequence. After indulging in his little known (until now!) fetish for low-budget horror films (possibly the result of associating with his brother, W. Lee), I believe Wilder was on his way home from the theater musing on what he had just seen when the thought came to him: "Nobody who sees my movies is likely to see THIS! If these guys think opening the movie with narration by one corpse is something, I'll open one with a whole roomful!" Only the killjoys at Paramount Studios prevented Wilder's vision from reaching the screen as he originally intended. Admittedly the scene which ultimately did open the movie is at least equally bizarre and imaginative, as well as being breathtakingly shot.
Is there something to the Scared To Death/Sunset Blvd connection? The world may never know! But I have my suspicions...