Jack Lemmon...Billy Wilder`s "The Apartment"..

[KiwiCoromandel]

In the canon of classics by famed writer/director Billy Wilder ( Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, The Seven Year Itch, Stalag 17, Double Indemnity etc) this jewel of a comedy easily stands as one of his most beloved.

A young Jack Lemmon plays C. C. Baxter, a put-upon insurance company drone who tries advancing his career by lending his apartment out to senior executives as a safe place for their trysts. He becomes infatuated with one of the sparky lift operators (Shirley MacLaine), a situation complicated by her affair with his boss, played by the brilliant Fred MacMurray, who did a lot more in his career than the Disney films that stereotyped him.

The film won Oscars for best film, director, editing, screenplay and for its splendid art direction. Made as a contemporary film, one of the huge delights of watching The Apartment today is appreciating all that glorious period detail.

source:Jim Schembri:AP

image:AP:Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in "The Apartment"