Directed by:
Billy WilderCinematography:
John F. SeitzComposer:
Franz WaxmanCast:
William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Franklyn Farnum, Jack Webb, Lloyd Gough, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
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. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Len Hendry
USA
Best movies:
Rear Window (1954)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
North by Northwest (1959)
Danny Borzage
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Vertigo (1958)
![Chuck Hamilton](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/354/159354314_9d0f46.jpg)
Chuck Hamilton
USA
Best movies:
Modern Times (1936)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
![Larry J. Blake](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/888/159888689_a6f1e3.jpg)
Larry J. Blake
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Band of Angels (1957)
High Noon (1952)
![Eddie Dew](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/000/159000097_cf4c3f.jpg)
Eddie Dew
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
![Jack Perrin](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/507/507483_86acf4.jpg)
Jack Perrin
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
![Gertrude Messinger](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/018/160018298_f7b5e0.jpg)
Gertrude Messinger
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Our Relations (1936)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
Frank O'Connor
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
![Bert Moorhouse](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/217/160217477_338503.jpg)
Bert Moorhouse
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
![Fred Aldrich](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/260/160260239_2c735f.jpg)
Fred Aldrich
USA
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
![Gertrude Astor](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/330/160330139_48c9e1.jpg)
Gertrude Astor
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Al Ferguson
Ireland
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Gaslight (1944)
East of Eden (1955)
Tiny Jones
UK
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Edward Biby
USA
Best movies:
The Kid (1921)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
![Joe Gray](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/150/161150963_b6aacf.jpg)
Joe Gray
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Robert Emmett O'Connor
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Easter Parade (1948)
![Lee Miller](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/364/161364575_523eb2.jpg)
Lee Miller
UK
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Howard Negley
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
North by Northwest (1959)
Notorious (1946)
![Eva Novak](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/494/161494933_70d450.jpg)
Eva Novak
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Perc Launders
USA
Best movies:
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Strangers on a Train (1951)