The first screening of Sunset Boulevard was not met with thunderous applause; it was met with riotous laughter. The screening was held at Evanston, Illinois; the cause of the laughter was the original opening shot for the film.

Billy Wilder explained: "The picture started originally with a hearse delivering a corpse to the L.A. morgue, where it's brought to join six or eight other corpses, covered in sheets." The dead bodies are panned until the camera settles on two bare feet, protruding from under one of the sheets. A tag that reads "JOE GILLIS, HOMICIDE, 5/17/49," is placed on the left big toe of the corpse, then suddenly, the corpse sits up. It's William Holden, who begins a conversation with the other corpses as to how they got there:

Fat man: Where did you drown? The ocean?

Gillis: No, swimming pool.

Fat man: A husky fellow like you?

Gillis: Well, I had a few extra holes in me. Two in the chest, and one in the stomach.

Fat man: You were murdered?

Gillis: Yes, I was murdered.

They did a second preview in Great Neck, New York. The reaction was exactly the same. That was when Wilder decided to reshoot the opening, with the now-famous shot of William Holden face down in a swimming pool. Underwater photography was not yet sophisticated in those days. It would have been technically impossible to shoot through water and get a clear image beyond, as is seen in the film. To solve the problem, the image filmed was actually shot off a reflection from a mirror inside the pool. This opening image is as historical as the final descent of Norma down the staircase of her mansion.

A preview of the revised film was held in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was highly successful, and the audience indicated that they now accepted the film as a Hollywood tragedy.

A few nights later, MGM honcho Louis B. Mayer threw a lavish dinner for twenty in Swanson's honor. After dinner, the group proceeded to the Paramount screening room, where 300 Hollywood stars and directors were waiting to watch Gloria Swanson's comeback performance. In attendance were many film greats from the silent era, including the film's co-stars in the bridge sequence, as well as Mary Pickford, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and Mickey Neilan. Notably absent, however, was co-star Erich Von Stroheim.

The reaction was phenomenal. Barbara Stanwyck even kissed the hem of Swanson's skirt while telling Swanson how much she appreciated her performance. Famed costume designer Edith Head sent Swanson a note of admiration. Swanson was looking for Mary Pickford to ask her what she thought about the film. A producer told her, "She can't show herself, Gloria. She's overcome. We all are."

Louis B. Mayer, though, was not enthralled. When Wilder approached him, he screamed: "You bastard! You have disgraced the industry that made you and fed you! You should be tarred and feathered and run out of Hollywood!" Wilder's response: "Fuck you." Within the next twelve months, Mayer's reign at MGM was over, and Dore Schary took control of the studio.

Sunset Boulevard had its world premiere at the Radio City Music Hall in New York on August 11th, 1950. It opened to rave reviews and strong box-office performance.

The New York Times Review: "Sunset Boulevard is that rare blend of pungent writing, expert acting, masterly direction and unobtrusive artistic photography which quickly casts a spell over an audience and hold it enthralled to a shattering climax." Sight and Sound Review: "It is one of those rare movies which are so full of exactness, cleverness, mastery, pleasure, and arguable and unarguable choice and judgment, that they can be talked about, almost shot for shot and line for line on hours on end." The Sunday Times Review: "Sunset Boulevard is the most intelligent film to come out of Hollywood for years; lest the idea of intelligence in the cinema should lack allure, let me say that it is also one of the most exciting."

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