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Features: DVD, Collector's Edition, Dolby, Digital Audio, English, Mono Audio, Subtitled
Film legend Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an aging silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screens most memorable characters in Sunset Boulevard. Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olsen as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances.
"No other motion picture about Hollywood comes near Billy Wilder's searing, uncompromising and utterly fascinating portrait of the film community." TV Guide Online
"Incisive melodrama with marvellous moments..." Halliwell's Film Guide
"...the picture will keep spectators spellbound..." Boxoffice Magazine
"...a masterpiece, the best film to capture the transitory nature of film fame, a dark and savage satire..." George Perry, BBCi
Editor's Note
Billy Wilder's masterpiece SUNSET BOULEVARD, a corrosive black comedy that remains the most memorable assault on the emptiness and vanity of the movie business, stars William Holden as young, down-and-out screenwriter Joe Gillis. Narrated in flashbacks by the now-deceased scribe, the film unwinds the series of events that left him lying face down in a pool. Unable to sell his most recent chef-d'oeuvre, and in hock up to his eyeballs, Joe stashes his car in the driveway of what appears to be an abandoned mansion on Sunset Boulevard while trying to elude some persistent repo men. Closer inspection reveals the decrepit property to be inhabited by grandiose former silent movie goddess Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), and her zombie-like manservant Max (Erich von Stroheim). Upon hearing that he's a writer, the lonely but still wealthy woman offers to pay him generously to stay at the house and work on her "comeback" script on the life of Salome. Although spooked by the people and the surroundings, in desperate straits, Joe takes the job, little suspecting the madness of the netherworld he's entered. Wilder's merciless portrait of the dangers of a profession that trades in fantasy cagily couples the cynical amorality of the never-was with the near-psychotic narcissism of the has-been to reveal the vacuity of wealth and the transience of fame.
| Features | Subtitles: English | | Featurette "The Music Of Sunset Boulevard" | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Documentary Edith Head: The Paramount Years On The Famed Costume Designer | | Photo Galleries | | Hollywood Location Map | | Script Of Original Morgue Prologue | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Mono | | "Making Of..." Featurette Includes Interviews With Nancy Olsen, Ed Sikov, Glenn Close, Film Critic Andrew Sarris And Paramount Producer A.C. Lyles | | Commentary By Ed Sikov, Author Of On Sunset Boulevard: The Life And Times Of Billy Wilder |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 8/22/2006 |
| Running Time: 110 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1950 | | Catalog ID: 049274 | | UPC: 00097360492743 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 4:3 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1951) |  | Dreier, et al., Winner, Best Art Direction: Set Decoration Black-And-White | | Franz Waxman, Winner, Best Music, Original Score | | Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman, Jr., Winner, Best Writing, Scoring And Screenplay | | | William Holden, Nominee, Best Actor | | | Erich von Stroheim, Nominee, Best Supporting Actor | | | Gloria Swanson, Nominee, Best Actress | | | Nancy Olson, Nominee, Best Supporting Actress | | | Billy Wilder, Nominee, Best Director | | | John F. Seitz, Nominee, Best Cinematography, Black-And-White | | | Arthur P. Schmidt, Doane Harrison, Nominee, Best Film Editing | |
Golden Globe (1951) | | Gloria Swanson, Winner, Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture-Drama | | Billy Wilder, Winner, Best Motion Picture Director |
| Memorable Quotes| "All right, Mr. DeMille. I'm ready for my close--up."----Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Chicago Sun-Times
"...Gloria Swanson gives her greatest performance....The movie cuts close to the bone....SUNSET BOULEVARD remains the best drama ever made about the movies..." 06/17/1999 p.5Entertainment Weekly
"...A mordant masterpiece about two victims of self-deception who destroy each other and themselves....The movie is unimprovable..." 11/29/2002 p.83 USA Today
"These days, it seems like 1950's best movie." 02/17/2004 p.3D Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
...Gloria Swanson gives her greatest performance... William Holden tactfully inhabits the tricky role of the writer half her age, who allows himself to be kept by her. But the performance that holds the film together, that gives it emotional resonance and makes it real in spite of its gothic flamboyance, is by Erich von Stroheim, as Norma's faithful butler Max. The movie cuts close to the bone... - Roger Ebert
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