10 Great Movies About Hollywood

From one timeless classic to another, Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard came out just before Singin' In The Rain and made just as big an impression on the world of film.

Starring Gloria Swanson as the iconic and quotable fading star Norma Desmond, the film follows screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) as he attempts to write a screenplay for Desmond's big comeback. Though the two form a relationship, Joe eventually falls for an aspiring young writer, causing Norma to fall into madness.

Swanson's performance as Norma is a staggering achievement that is as hysterical and tragic as it was seventy years ago, and the film's iconic quotes - from "I am big. It's the pictures that got small", to "All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" - have since slipped into some of cinema's best remembered movie moments.

Behind all the brilliant performances, surprise cameos, and tightly-formed script, Sunset Boulevard is also a very effective tragicomedy and film noir which ends in particularly bleak but powerful fashion, and will remain a high-point in cinema history for years to come.