Sunset Boulevard [Special Collector's Edition]

"Billy Wilder's 1950 masterpiece starring Gloria Swanson and William Holden gets a long-awaited release on DVD from Paramount. The image is fully restored in beautiful black-and-white with the original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio. Audio is available in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono in English or French. Billy Wilder biographer Ed Sikov provides the commentary track; however, he offers little analysis into the film's production. First off, this disc offers versions of the film's original opening in the morgue, shown with different drafts of the script. One of the best features on the disc is ""Edith Head: The Paramount Years,"" a documentary about the costume designer and her contributions to the film. ""Sunset Boulevard: A Look Back"" is a 25-minute history of the film, featuring interviews with last surviving principal cast member Nancy Olson, producer A.C. Lyles, film critic Andrew Sarris, and other industry types. ""The Music of Sunset Blvd."" is a short featurette about Franz Waxman's award-winning musical score. Other features include theatrical trailers, photo galleries, and Hollywood location maps. For a first-ever release of such a landmark film, this disc comes highly recommended as a welcome release for classic Hollywood fans as well as those seeing Sunset Blvd. for the first time. This title is also available as part of the three-disc set The Billy Wilder Collection."