Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Gloria Swanson, William Holden
I hadn't watched this one since I was a teenage and it did not disappoint. Gloria Swanson stars as Norma Desmond, a silent film star, who has been put to the silent by talking pictures. She is now a recluse living in am enormous crumbling mansion. Joe Gillis, a small-time writer, stumbles upon the house and they strike up a business deal that turns into a love affair. Norma dreams of a big comeback into movies, but things don't go her way. Murder and mayhem ensue.
Trivia: The name Norma Desmond was chosen from a combination of silent-film star Norma Talmadge and silent movie director William Desmond Taylor, whose still-unsolved murder is one of the great scandals of Hollywood history. (On the morning of Febriary 1, 1922, Taylor was shot and killed in his Hollywood bungalow. His killer was never identified.)
Up Next: 2001: A Space Odyssey
