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 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.

Optional French dialogue; closed-captioned.

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" ; a 28 min. documentary, Sunset Blvd., a look back (c2002) ; 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, Buster Keaton.

DVD, Doby digital mono, Region 1 encoding.

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.)