Billy Wilder directs this Oscar-winning classic exposé of the Hollywood studio system. Struggling Hollywood writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is attempting to avoid his creditors when he pulls his car into the garage of an apparently deserted mansion. He soon discovers that it is in fact the home of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), an ageing actress who was once a star of silent films. Desperate for money, Gillis agrees to work on a screenplay adaptation of 'Salome' which Norma has written for her intended comeback. Gillis then gradually becomes trapped in Norma's bizarre fantasy world, and when he tries to leave her, she makes an attempt at suicide. The film also features silent screen legends Cecil B. DeMille, Buster Keaton and Erich von Stroheim in supporting roles.

Billy Wilder directs this Oscar-winning classic exposé of the Hollywood studio system. Struggling Hollywood writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is attempting to avoid his creditors when he pulls his car into the garage of an apparently deserted mansion. He soon discovers that it is in fact the home of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), an ageing actress who was once a star of silent films. Desperate for money, Gillis agrees to work on a screenplay adaptation of 'Salome' which Norma has written for her intended comeback. Gillis then gradually becomes trapped in Norma's bizarre fantasy world, and when he tries to leave her, she makes an attempt at suicide. The film also features silent screen legends Cecil B. DeMille, Buster Keaton and Erich von Stroheim in supporting roles.

Jean Renoir's classic prison escape movie, often seen as a humane and pacifist indictment of war, offers an ambiguous perspective on class differences. In a WWI German prisoner-of-war camp, three French soldiers, working-class Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin), middle-class Jew Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) and aristocratic senior officer Captain de Boieldieu (Pierre Fresnay), are held prisoner by Commandant Von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stroheim). The film shows how a bond of sympathy exists more between the German Commandant and the senior French officer than between the three Frenchman of different classes. Even though de Boieldieu sacrifices himself for the two others to escape, the film makes no attempt to conceal what they are returning to once their role as war heroes is over.