AUGUST 22: Gloria Swanson - 7:00pm
Sunset Blvd.
Billy Wilder (1950) 110 mins PG
Sunset Blvd.
Billy Wilder (1950) 110 mins PG
Deceased screenwriter Joe Gillis' (William Holden) ethereally detached voice reveals his fateful personal & professional entanglement with Hollywood silent screen diva Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Billy Wilder's ghoulish noir presents an intensely cynical & cruel view of Hollywood. This iconic masterpiece was awarded 3 Oscars for script (Charles Brackett), art direction (Hans Dreier) & music (Franz Waxman). Also starring Erich von Stroheim, Buster Keaton, Nancy Olson, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper.
Articles from CTEQ Annotations on Film:
Relevant Articles from Senses of Cinema:
AUGUST 22: Gloria Swanson - 9:00pm
Queen Kelly
(Eric von Stroheim) 1928 USA 96 mins
Queen Kelly
(Eric von Stroheim) 1928 USA 96 mins
A gentle convent girl (Gloria Swanson) is seduced by a roguish prince & banished to her aunt's brothel in East Africa, where she takes her place as the queen of the title. Reconstructed version of Stroheim's most opulent & sexually decadent work is a delirious triumph of esoteric style. Barely released in its time, this is the luminous home movie watched by Swanson in Sunset Blvd.
Preceded by:
Film by Samuel Beckett
(Alan Schneider 1965) 22 mins. Beckett's only cinematic venture is a demonstration of Berkeley's thesis that "to be is to be perceived". Featuring Buster Keaton.
Articles from CTEQ Annotations on Film:
Relevant Articles from Senses of Cinema:
"Praise Regained: Queen Kelly and the Lure of the Lost Film" - Darragh O'Donoghue