Sunset Boulevard [Blu-ray]

Gloria Swanson gives a career-defining performance as faded silent screen star Norma Desmond in director Billy Wilder’s dark and masterful film classic, “Sunset Boulevard.” William Holden is Joe Gillis, the young, down-on-his-success screenwriter whom Norma drafts to assist provide her with a workable script for her planned “go back” to the brand new-day screen. Erich von Stroheim is Max von Mayerling, Norma’s devoted servant and chauffeur, who harbors a couple of personal revelations of his own. Hollywood hasn’t ever taken a more ominous, compelling or electrifying take a look at Hollywood than on this brilliant, Oscarr-winning tour de force that also mesmerizes with its witty, sardonic script, unforgettable cast, and provocative storyline. The outstanding cast also includes Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, Jack Webb and — as themselves — Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H.B. Warner.