Lessons On Movies.com
An ESL / EFL Online Gap-Fill Quiz on Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder. It was named after the boulevard that runs Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California. The film William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded movie star. She draws him into her fantasy world where she of making a triumphant return to the screen. The story is in 1950s Hollywood and depicts how cruel the effects of losing one’s star can be. The movie ends with murder and Swanson losing her mind. A BBC of the film said it is, "the finest movie ever made about the narcissistic hellhole that is Hollywood”.

The movie was praised by many when it was first released. It was for eleven Academy Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a and is often cited as one of the greatest films of American cinema. In 1998, it was number twelve on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century. Time magazine it as a story of, "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best", while Box Office Review wrote, "the will keep spectators ”. RottenTomatoes.com said it was: “Arguably the greatest movie about Hollywood.” To the film, Gloria Swanson travelled throughout the United States, visiting 33 cities in a few months.