Sunset Boulevard is a
1950 film noir containing elements of
drama,
horror, and
black comedy.
Directed and
cowritten by
Billy Wilder, it was named for the famous boulevard that runs through
Los Angeles and
Beverly Hills.
William Holden plays down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis and
Gloria Swanson is Norma Desmond, a faded
movie star who entraps the unsuspecting Gillis into her fantasy world in which she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Director
Cecil B. DeMille and
gossip columnist Hedda Hopper portray themselves, and the film includes
cameo appearances by leading
silent film figures
Buster Keaton,
H. B. Warner and
Anna Q. Nilsson. Praised by many critics when first released,
Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven
Academy Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited as one of the most noteworthy films of
American cinema. Deemed "culturally significant" by the
United States Library of Congress in
1989,
Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the
National Film Registry.
No comments:
Post a Comment