Boulevard! A Hollywood Story

Aug 16, 2021

1h 26m

★ 6.2

The strange but true story of the undiscovered Sunset Boulevard musical

Overview

In the mid-1950s, Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, young composers and romantic partners, are hired by legendary silent film star Gloria Swanson to write a musical based on her film Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder in 1950.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Automat Pictures

Lottie & Lorraine Pictures

Boulevard! A Hollywood Story Trailers

Cast

Self

Jeffrey Schwarz

Self

Brooke Anderson

Self

Cari Beauchamp

Self

Stephen Bock

Self

David Del Valle

Self

Alan Eichler

Self

Barbara Fixx

Self

Laurie Franks

Self

Steve Hayes

Self

Richard Leibell

Self

Derrik Lewis

Self

Robert Osborne

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

0.0

Kuster Beaton

Jan 20, 2025

In 1970, Kuster Beaton, a former silent-film star, gives an interview looking back over his career. A journalist asks him about his legendary power : an alleged super-speed that enabled him to shoot his films without special effects.

7.8

Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field: The Documentary

Nov 8, 2019

Tucumán, Argentina, 1965. Three years before George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead was released, director Ofelio Linares Montt shot Zombies in the Sugar Cane Field, which turned out to be both a horror film and a political statement. It was a success in the US, but could not be shown in Argentina due to Juan Carlos Onganía's dictatorship, and was eventually lost. Writer and researcher Luciano Saracino embarks on the search for the origins of this cursed work.

7.4

The Right Stuff

Oct 20, 1983

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.

7.4

Palm Trees in the Snow

Dec 25, 2015

Spain, 2003. An accidental discovery leads Clarence to travel from the snowy mountains of Huesca to Equatorial Guinea, to visit the land where her father Jacobo and her uncle Kilian spent most of their youth, the island of Fernando Poo.

8.0

The Polymath, or The Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman

Apr 26, 2007

A portrait of Samuel R. Delany, an award-winning African-American gay author whose credits include everything from science fiction to several issues of the Wonder Woman comic book. Using a range of experimental techniques and borrowed footage from Delany's home movies, Taylor captures his subject's thoughts on racism, violence, and his struggles with sexual identity.

8.0

Newsies

Feb 16, 2017

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.

No Image Available

7.2

Tin Tan

Nov 12, 2010

Germán Cipriano Gómez Valdés Castillo, a young radio announcer from Cuidad Juárez, succeeds in drawing attention to the pachuco movement through his character Tin Tan, laying the groundwork for a new form of binational and mass linguistic expression: Spanglish. He soon became a leading figure in theater and film on the American Continent. Singled out by critics as a destroyer of the language, he quickly won the approval of the public. His ability to improvise revolutionized the film industry. His talent as an actor, singer, dancer and comedian contributed to the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. From El Hijo Desobediente to Capitán Mantarraya, from Cuidad Juárez to Havana, from mambo to rock, the legacy of Tin Tan makes him one of the great icons of Mexico today. This film tells his story as it has never been told before.

7.3

The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland

Jul 2, 2021

The legendary British-American actress Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020), who conquered Hollywood in the thirties, challenged the film industry when, in 1943, she took on the all-powerful producer Jack Warner in court, forever changing the ruthless working conditions that restricted the essential rights and freedom of artists.

7.3

Audrey Hepburn: Remembered

Aug 11, 1993

Audrey Hepburn was one of the movies' best-loved stars, blessed with beauty, talent, an elegant sophistication and an enduring aura of youthful innocence. As Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, she spoke for the world's suffering children and families, earning an affection and admiration that only increased with news of her untimely death. From the star herself we learn of her career and the family and friendships that were her priority.

4.6

Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast

Feb 27, 2019

In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards.

7.0

Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman

Dec 7, 2005

Following in his father's footsteps, Albert Pierrepoint becomes one of Britain's most prolific executioners, hiding his identity as a grocery deliveryman. But when his ambition to be the best inadvertently exposes his gruesome secret, he becomes a minor celebrity & faces a public outcry against the practice of hanging. Based on true events.

8.3

Maledictis

Mar 4, 2023

During the anti-communist uprisings of the late 1950s, a writer of comedic poems against socialism was constantly pursued by Securitate troops.

6.1

I Am Steve McQueen

Jun 24, 2014

A walk through the incredible personal and artistic history of legendary actor, race car driver and cultural icon Steve McQueen (1930-80).

6.4

Little Richard: I Am Everything

Apr 11, 2023

The story of the black, gay origins of rock n' roll. It explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard's complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions.

8.6

The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga

Apr 2, 2019

Japan, 1954. A legend emerges from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastated by atomic bombs in 1945. The creature's name is Godzilla. The film that tells its story is the first of kaiju eiga, the giant monster movies.

6.9

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

Jun 6, 2018

The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.

7.5

Ed Wood

Sep 28, 1994

The mostly true story of the legendary "worst director of all time", who, with the help of his strange friends, filmed countless B-movies without ever becoming famous or successful.

7.6

The Last Emperor

Oct 4, 1987

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

6.0

Satan's Blood: recuerdos de «Escalofrío»

Oct 15, 2016

The story of the shooting of Satan's Blood (Escalofrío), a film directed by Carlos Puerto in 1978.