The creepy residence is home to faded movie star Norma Desmond (the hypnotic Gloria Swanson), and devoted manservant Max (Erich von Stroheim). Desmond is planning an unlikely movie comeback and wants Cecil B DeMille to direct her hapless version of ‘Salome’. Eyeing an easy buck, Joe offers his writing services to the deluded one-time great, who covets more than just his editing skills.

‘Sunset Boulevard’ is both a savage indictment of the star system (and the monsters it produces), and an all-too-knowing depiction of a writer's impotence in Hollywood. Classic scene unspools after classic scene filled with priceless one-liners.