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Features: DVD, English, Dolby, Digital Audio
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 | 2-Disc Set | | Region 1 | | NTSC | | Keep Case | | Full Frame - 1.33 | | Audio:
| Dolby Digital Mono - English | | Dubbed - French, Spanish | | Subtitled - English - Optional |
| | Disc 1: Feature Film | | Additional Release Material:
| Audio Commentary: Ed Sikov - Author of "On SUNSET BOULEVARD: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder" |
| | Disc 2:
| Additional Release Material:
| Trailers: Theatrical Trailer | | Featurette:
| 1. SUNSET BOULEVARD: The Beginning | | 2. The NOIR Side of SUNSET BOULEVARD by Joseph Wambaugh | | 3. SUNSET BOULEVARD Becomes a Classic | | 4. Two Sides of Ms. Swanson | | 5. Stories of SUNSET BOULEVARD | | 6. Mad About a Boy: A Portrait of William Holden | | 7. Recording SUNSET BOULEVARD | | 8. The City of SUNSET BOULEVARD | | 9. Franz Waxman and the Music of SUNSET BOULEVARD | | 10. Behind the Gates: The Lot | | 11. Paramount in the '50s - Retrospective Featurette | | 12. Edith Head - The Paramount Years Featurette | | Text/Photo Galleries:
| Hollywood Location Map | | Morgue Prologue Script Pages |
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| Entertainment Reviews
 | Sunset Boulevard - The Centennial Collection - DVD Review By: El Bicho - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 11/26/2008 11:22 AM | | Even though the numbers don’t appear to be a ranking system, one could certainly make the case of the significance of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard being bestowed with “1.” It’s as perfect as a film can get, and no matter what point you come into the story, it hooks you and won’t let go, much like the film’s antagonist, former silent-screen star Norma Desmond (played brilliantly by Gloria Swanson, herself a former silent-screen star.)...read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
|  | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 5/19/2009 |
| Running Time: 110 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1950 | | Catalog ID: 138984 | | UPC: 00097361389844 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: B&W |
| Cast & Crew | Lloyd Gough | | Franklyn Farnum | | Charles Dayton | | Jack Webb | | Fred Clark | | Erich Von Stroheim | | Nancy Olson | | William Holden | | Gloria Swanson | | Edith Head - Costume Designer | | John Seitz - Director of Photography | | Gordon Jennings - Special Effects | | John Meehan - Production Designer | | H.B. Warner - Cameo | | Billy Wilder - Screenwriter | | Buster Keaton - Cameo | | Farciot Edouart - Special Effects | | Jay Livingston - Cameo | | Franz Waxman - Composer | | Arthur P. Schmidt - Editor | | Doane Harrison - Editor | | Hans Dreier - Production Designer | | Hedda Hopper - Cameo | | Ray Evans - Cameo | | Cecil B. DeMille - Cameo | | Charles Brackett - Screenwriter | | Charles Brackett - Producer | | Anna Q. Nilsson - Cameo | | Richard Strauss - Composer | | Billy Wilder - Director |
| Awards |
Academy Awards (1950) |  | Winner, Best Art Direction - Set Decoration (b&w) | | Billy Wilder, Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay | | Franz Waxman, Winner, Best Original Score | | Charles Brackett, Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay | | Jr. D.M. Marshman, Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay |
| 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 |
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