It’s 1929 and musicians Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon) have the misfortune to witness Chicago’s St Valentine’s Day Massacre. On the run from mobsters, they flee to Miami with Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, featuring one Sugar ‘Kane’ Kowalczyk (Monroe). Their only problem is that it’s an all-female band, so Joe and Jerry assume new identities: Josephine and Daphne.

The genius of Billy Wilder and his three leads delivers a film that’s belly-laugh funny. But what sets it apart is its subversion, playing fast and loose with gender, sexuality and morality in a way that still feels joyously modern. ‘Nobody’s perfect!’ might be the film’s immortal final line, but 60 years on no other big screen comedy comes quite as close to perfection as this.

Screening as part of BFI Comedy Genius, a nationwide season celebrating comedy on screen. It is supported by funds from the National Lottery, led by Film Hub Midlands on behalf of the BFI UK Film Audience Network. See bficomedy.org for more details. #bficomedy