Das Appartement (1960)

Das Appartement: Directed by Billy Wilder. With Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston. A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.

“Jack Lemmon is the man.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Apartment really surprised me. The Best Picture winner starts off right in the middle of the action, but yet the first hour seems long and overrun. Too much time seems spent in trying to develop the characters (and oh so many of them) and not enough time is spent on just seeing what will happen. Just when I was about to lose faith, the film picks it up like I have never seen before. The whole sub-plot of the four guys wanting to use Lemmonu0026#39;s apartment for their evening tyrsts is dropped and Wilder smartly concentrates on Lemmon, MacLaine and MacMurray and the film creates true magic.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Apartment is more of a drama than a comedy and balances the two elements perfectly. Just after one of the more dramatic moments of the film, we see Lemmon straining his pasta with a tennis racquet. The use of the doctor and his wife in supporting roles are completely there for comedy and yet add so much to the film. The ending also rates up there with the best of all time using an old device that doesnu0026#39;t seem at all cliched in this film. Some say that u0026quot;Some like it hotu0026quot; was Wilderu0026#39;s best, but now I have to disagree. The Apartment is better and surely would have made my top ten had the first hour not been so predictable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHow Jack Lemmon didnu0026#39;t win Best Actor is beyond me. His is a great performance, getting to act on more than one scale. MacMurray, another Wilder favourite is perfectly cast in the role of a family-wrecker. I wish they would have put a scene in which his wife confronts him with u0026quot;The Newsu0026quot;. MacLaine glows on the screen even when she is sick and in bed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI fully recommend this film to all, it being Wilderu0026#39;s best makes it a must see.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e8/10 stars.”