Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir containing elements of drama,
horror, and black comedy. Directed and cowritten by Billy Wilder, it
was named for the famous boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and
Beverly Hills. William Holden plays down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe
Gillis and Gloria Swanson is Norma Desmond, a faded movie star who
entraps the unsuspecting Gillis into her fantasy world in which she
dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Director Cecil B.
DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper portray themselves, and the
film includes cameo appearances by leading silent film figures Buster
Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson. Praised by many critics
when
first released, Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Academy
Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited
as one of the most noteworthy films of American cinema. Deemed
"culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress in
1989, Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films
selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Boulevard_%281950_film%29
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges
was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges)
1838:
The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language
daily broadsheet newspaper was founded.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India)
1848:
A new constitution drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke was proclaimed,
severely limiting the powers of the monarchy of the Netherlands.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Rudolf_Thorbecke)
1957:
The Sputnik 2 spacecraft was launched, carrying Laika the Russian
space dog as the first living being to orbit the Earth.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2)
1971:
The UNIX Programmer's Manual was first published.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,There's a land that I heard
of once in a lullaby.Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,And
the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true. -- Judy Garland
as "Dorothy Gale" in The Wizard of Oz --
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Judy_Garland)