The Apartment is such a special film. As a Wilder fanatic I have a very hard time picking his best picture but The Apartment is arguably the one that most encapsulates all of his strengths and is undeniably human. It is when he and IAL Diamond perfectly nailed the Wilder version of Ernst Lubitsch, who was Wilder’s idol. Wilder had a lot of similarities with Lubitsch but was also more of a realist and definitely more cynical.
The Apartment is also the most multifaceted of Wilder’s landmarks and in not having the bleaker and harder impact of Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd or Ace in the Hole it has I think been somewhat overlooked for how impactful and daring it is especially for 1960. After the failure of Ace in the Hole, Wilder had to resort to much lighter fare through the 1950s and this is really him coming back to what was always in his heart.
It remains the most touchingly honest film about how life can really suck in a bitterly ironic way, and even more so around the holidays. For me it’s a love letter to Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (and other films like The Crowd) but also is the best example of Wilder’s complete understanding of American society. The choice of black and white scope photography only increases the bleak landscape our characters find themselves in and it perfectly underscores the drama. The ending is a much more touching version of Some Like It Hot and predates The Graduate doing a version by seven years.
And yes it absolutely plays even better in a theater where the scope visuals REALLY open up. I was lucky to see a print years ago and would love to do so again!
You can’t tell that ever since I first saw the film as a kid (letterbox vhs rental when I had a cold) that deep down I knew my cinematic spirit animal was C.C. Baxter...(Lemmon not getting the Oscar is one of the all time Oscar snubs but then again he was up against Burt Lancaster unleashed in Elmer Gantry.)
The Apartment is such a special film. As a Wilder fanatic I have a very hard time picking his best picture but The Apartment is arguably the one that most encapsulates all of his strengths and is undeniably human. It is when he and IAL Diamond perfectly nailed the Wilder version of Ernst Lubitsch, who was Wilder’s idol. Wilder had a lot of similarities with Lubitsch but was also more of a realist and definitely more cynical.
The Apartment is also the most multifaceted of Wilder’s landmarks and in not having the bleaker and harder impact of Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd or Ace in the Hole it has I think been somewhat overlooked for how impactful and daring it is especially for 1960. After the failure of Ace in the Hole, Wilder had to resort to much lighter fare through the 1950s and this is really him coming back to what was always in his heart.
It remains the most touchingly honest film about how life can really suck in a bitterly ironic way, and even more so around the holidays. For me it’s a love letter to Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (and other films like The Crowd) but also is the best example of Wilder’s complete understanding of American society. The choice of black and white scope photography only increases the bleak landscape our characters find themselves in and it perfectly underscores the drama. The ending is a much more touching version of Some Like It Hot and predates The Graduate doing a version by seven years.
And yes it absolutely plays even better in a theater where the scope visuals REALLY open up. I was lucky to see a print years ago and would love to do so again!
You can’t tell that ever since I first saw the film as a kid (letterbox vhs rental when I had a cold) that deep down I knew my cinematic spirit animal was C.C. Baxter...(Lemmon not getting the Oscar is one of the all time Oscar snubs but then again he was up against Burt Lancaster unleashed in Elmer Gantry.)