Video: Watch a Restored Trailer of Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD Ahead of Cannes Premiere

To mark the 75th anniversary of Bill Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, the cinematic masterpiece has been meticulously restored in 4K and will have its theatrical world premiere as part of the Cannes Classics program at the Cannes Film Festival this Saturday, May 17.

Using rare archival elements and a 35mm print from the Library of Congress as a reference, the painstaking restoration was undertaken to faithfully honor and preserve Wilder’s original vision for generations to come. Watch the restored trailer for the film, which serves as the basis for the hit musical, currently running on Broadway.

Originally released on August 10, 1950, Sunset Boulevard was among the first films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry and is in the top 20 of the AFI’s Greatest American Films of All Time. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won three for Best Art Direction, Best Music and Best Writing.

Gloria Swanson and William Holden give riveting performances as two of the silver screen’s most memorable characters: the aging silent film queen Norma Desmond and struggling young screenwriter Joe Gillis. The bizarre and twisted story that unfolds between them is a brilliant combination of noir, black comedy and character study, as well as a scathing and pitch-black commentary on Hollywood that continues to resonate in today’s influencer-driven, true crime-obsessed, and self-reflective culture.

Sunset Boulevard also features masterful, Oscar-nominated performances by Erich von Stroheim as Desmond’s ex-husband/butler and Nancy Olson as the wholesome script reader who falls for Gillis, along with cameo appearances by director Cecil B. DeMille, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and silent film actor Buster Keaton.  

The film later became the basis of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which features a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Before it premiered on Broadway, the show was first performed in London's West End at the Adelphi Theatre in 1993, starring Patti LuPone, where it ran for almost four years and played to nearly two million people. The American premiere was at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, Los Angeles in December 1993 with Glenn Close as Norma. The musical was an instant success and played 369 performances before moving to Broadway in 1994 with what was then the biggest advance in Broadway history, at $37.5 million.

Jamie Lloyd's hit reimagination of Sunset Boulevard is currently playing at the St. James Theatre. Led by Nicole Scherzinger, the production has received seven Tony Award nominations, MAKING IT the most nominated revival of the season. 

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