The Apartment (1960) United Artists Director: Billy Wilder Producer: Billy Wilder Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Edie Adams. Awards ceremony: -33rd Academy Awards: April 17, 1961. Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, California. Other films nominated for Best Motion Picture this year: -The Alamo. -Elmer Gantry. -Sons And Lovers. -The Sundowners. Plot summary: New York City, December 1959. Bachelor C.C. Baxter (JACK LEMMON) is an office employee in an insurance company. He lives in apartment 2A at Number 51 West 67th Street (second floor) but is rarely home in the evenings on account that he allows his superiors to use it so that they can cheat on their wives with other women. Baxter's co-operation earns him an unfair promotion with the firm. He is in love with elevator girl Fran Kubelik (SHIRLEY MACLAINE) but she is having a not-so secret affair with Baxter's boss Mr. Sheldrake (FRED MACMURRAY). When Sheldrake lets Fran down Fran attempts to commit suicide in Baxter's apartment by taking a lot of sleeping pills. Baxter returns home to find her and manages to save her life with the help of his doctor neighbour. Later, Sheldrake's wife kicks him out after she discovers his affair and he tries to reunite with Fran, but in the end she goes running after Baxter and the two of them spend New Year's Eve at his apartment playing gin rummy. Standout scene: Fran's overdose and then Baxter and the doctor trying to revive her. Facts: -The 33rd Academy Awards. -Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, it won 5. -The second Best Picture to be directed by Billy Wilder (the first was The Lost Weekend). -The second Best Picture to feature Shirley MacLaine (the first was Around The World In Eighty Days). -This was the first black and white film since MARTY (1955) to win the Best Picture Oscar and would be the last one until SCHINDLER'S LIST in 1993. Personal opinion: A fun film with some nice touches of comedy and witty dialogue. The whole 2-hours is well structured and features some strong performances from the well-written characters. One moment I found interesting was that during a telephone call between Dobisch and Baxter, Dobisch tells Baxter that he needs to use his apartment because he wants to entertain a young lady "who looks like Marilyn Monroe". The script was written by Billy Wilder, who had worked with Monroe the previous year on Some Like It Hot - and which also starred Jack Lemmon. Wilder and Monroe did not get on in real life, so this was quite a surprise piece of dialogue! For the most part the film was stimulating and above average but at other times there just seemed to be a few flat spots too. Overall I think it's a pretty decent film and keeping in tradition of quality movies associated with this director. Did it deserve the Oscar? ❓QUESTIONABLE. 1960 was also the year of Hitchcock's PSYCHO. Need I say more? 7½/10

Review date: 08 March 2025