The 1950 Academy Award nominated classic film, “Sunset Boulevard” will be featured at the Silver Screeners Classic Movie Matinee on Sunday, September 24, 2:00 p.m., at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County, 201 N. Mulberry Street, Mount Vernon.
Sunset Boulevard (stylized onscreen as SUNSET BLVD.) is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California.
The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film star who draws him into her fantasy world where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen, with Erich von Stroheim as Max von Mayerling, her devoted servant. Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough and Jack Webb play supporting roles. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper play themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent film actors Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson.
Praised by many critics when first released, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards (including nominations in all four acting categories) and won three. Deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989, “Sunset Boulevard” was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. A discussion with information about the film will take place before the start of the movie.
For more information, call the main library at 740-392-BOOK (2665), visit www.knox.net or email communityrelations@knox.net.