Sunset Boulevard

Year of release: 1950

Screenwriters: Billy Wilder; Charles Bracket; D M Marshman Jnr

Key awards: Oscar for Best Screenplay

Sunset Boulevard was a collaboration between three writers - Wilder and Brackett (who worked together on 13 scripts in their careers) - and Marshman Jr who was brought in to work on the storyline as the original script was failing to satisfy either Wilder and Brackett.

The picture is seen as a classic film noir, peeling off the gloss of a Hollywood movie industry to reveal an underbelly of desperation and insecurity. The story concerns two tragic figures - a faded silent movie star desperate to regain her fame and an unsuccessful screenwriter desperate for a hit.

The film was immediately hailed by critics and has since come to be recognised as a culturally and historically significant piece of work. It was amongst the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in the US.

Billy Wilder (REX) Other notable screenplays by Billy Wilder:

Double Indemnity (1944)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Apartment (1960)