Sunset Boulevard [videorecording] / [presented by] Paramount Pictures ; producer, Charles Brackett ; writers, Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman, Jr. ; director Billy Wilder.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: 04927 | Paramount PicturesLanguage: English, French Series: Paramount DVD collectionPublication details: Hollywood, Calif. : Paramount Pictures, [2002], c1950.Edition: Special collector's ed. ; Full screen versionDescription: 1 videodisc (110 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 inISBN: - 0792172868
- 9780792172864
- Cinematographer, John F. Seitz ; editors, Doane Harrison, Arthur Schmidt ; music, Franz Waxman ; costume designer, Edith Head.
- Academy Awards, USA, 1951: Oscar - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Sam Comer, Ray Moyer); Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Franz Waxman); Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.)
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult DVD
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | DVD | DRAMA Sunset B | Available | 33111004497745 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard ranks among the most scathing satires of Hollywood and the cruel fickleness of movie fandom. The story begins at the end as the body of Joe Gillis (William Holden) is fished out of a Hollywood swimming pool. From The Great Beyond, Joe details the circumstances of his untimely demise (originally, the film contained a lengthy prologue wherein the late Mr. Gillis told his tale to his fellow corpses in the city morgue, but this elicited such laughter during the preview that Wilder changed it). Hotly pursued by repo men, impoverished, indebted "boy wonder" screenwriter Gillis ducks into the garage of an apparently abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. Wandering into the spooky place, Joe encounters its owner, imperious silent star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Upon learning Joe's profession, Norma inveigles him into helping her with a comeback script that she's been working on for years. Joe realizes that the script is hopeless, but the money is good and he has nowhere else to go. Soon the cynical and opportunistic Joe becomes Norma's kept man. While they continue collaborating, Norma's loyal and protective chauffeur Max Von Mayerling (played by legendary filmmaker Erich von Stroheim) contemptuously watches from a distance. More melodramatic than funny, the screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett began life as a comedy about a has-been silent movie actress and the ambitious screenwriter who leeches off her. (Wilder originally offered the film to Mae West, Mary Pickford and Pola Negri. Montgomery Clift was the first choice for the part of opportunistic screenwriter Joe Gillis, but he refused, citing as "disgusting" the notion of a 25-year-old man being kept by a 50-year-old woman.) Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical version has served as a tour-de-force for contemporary actresses ranging from Glenn Close to Betty Buckley to Diahann Carroll. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Originally released as a motion picture in 1950.
Special features: Commentary by Ed Sikov, author of "On Sunset Boulevard: the life and times of Billy Wilder" ; the making of Sunset Boulevard ; theatrical trailer ; Hollywood location map ; photo galleries ; morgue prologue ; Edith Head - The Paramount Years featurette ; the music of Sunset Boulevard Featurette.
Cinematographer, John F. Seitz ; editors, Doane Harrison, Arthur Schmidt ; music, Franz Waxman ; costume designer, Edith Head.
William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, Nancy Olsen, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, Jack Webb, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper.
Pursued by creditors, Joe swerves into a driveway of a seemingly abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. He finds Norma, an ex-screen queen dreaming of a dramatic comeback and her husband/servant living there. She takes a fancy to Joe and, learning that he is a scriptwriter, persuades him to help her with her comeback screenplay. Being broke he accepts. He falls in love with a young script reader, but Norma breaks up their romance. Thinking she is mad, he tries to leave, but Norma kills him in a scene which she believes is the highlight of her comeback movie.
MPAA rating: Not rated.
DVD, Dolby digital mono, Region 1 encoding.
English or French dialogue; Closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.
Academy Awards, USA, 1951: Oscar - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Hans Dreier, John Meehan, Sam Comer, Ray Moyer); Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Franz Waxman); Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr.)