What else can be said about Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterpiece Sunset Boulevard that hasn’t already been said? It’s a classic about the dark and desperate side of Hollywood, a place full of delusional lost souls seeking their last grasp of fame before it chews up and spits them out. It remains one of the crown jewels of film history and a testament to Wilder’s genius as a supreme filmmaker.
Buy Sunset Boulevard 4K UHDThe famous plot stars the great Gloria Swanson as the immortal Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film queen who refuses to accept that her time in the cinematic spotlight has ended. She hires hunky young screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) to help her stage her comeback. He believes he can manipulate her into advancing his own career, but he finds out the hard way as their relationship takes a dark turn into jealously, madness, and death.
There isn’t a single frame of this film that doesn’t drip with authenticity, dread, and destiny. The characters that inhabit it are also fully realized, impactful, and intensely realistic. Surrounding Swanson and Holden are incredible supporting performances by Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson who bring their own gravitas into the film’s grim black comedy tragedy. It’s one of the most perfect films ever made.
Making its 4K UHD debut, I bet the new restoration brings out the intensity of Wilder’s seminal film. The vintage special features are still entertaining and viable. They include audio commentary by author Ed Sikov (On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder), the featurettes Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning, Sunset Boulevard: A Look Back, The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic, Two Sides of Ms. Swanson, Stories of Sunset Boulevard, Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William Holden, Recording Sunset Boulevard, The City of Sunset Boulevard, Franz Waxman and the Music of Sunset Boulevard, Behind the Gates: The Lot, Edith Head: The Paramount Years and Paramount in the ’50s, a deleted scene, and more!
If you don’t happen to own this landmark Hollywood film already, then this new release will definitely be a stellar addition to your collection.
Other releases:
The Burmese Harp 4K UHD/Blu-ray (Criterion): Kon Ichikawa’s 1956 lyrical portrait of the futility of war about a private sent on a lone mission to persuade a trapped Japanese battalion to surrender also. When the outcome is a failure, he disguises himself in the robes of a Buddhist monk in hope of temporary anonymity.
Fires on the Plain 4K UHD/Blu-ray (Criterion): Ichikawa’s 1959 bleak follow-up to The Burmese Harp centers on the closing days of WWII where remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain starvation.
Better Off Dead 4K UHD/Blu-ray (Paramount): John Cusack stars in the 1985 cult classic as a troubled teenager whose girlfriend (Amanda Wyss) ditches him for a boorish ski jock. After this, he decides that suicide is the only way out, but things don’t go quite as planned.
Friendship (A24): A squirm-inducing tale of a suburban dad (Tim Robinson) who falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor (Paul Rudd).
