Wilder’s romance-farce isn’t a Christmas film exactly – elves, Santa and reindeer are in very short supply – but the holiday season is central to its wonderfully maudlin, sentimental tone. 

Following the popular and critical success of his gender-bending farce Some Like It Hot, Wilder reteamed with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond for this darker comedy set in the world of nine-to-five corporate New York. Jack Lemmon was again on hand, this time as lonely office bottom-runger C.C. Baxter, who goes after promotion by allowing his seniors the use of his apartment for their extramarital liaisons. Meanwhile, he hopes to catch the eye of the sassy elevator girl, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). 

Deliriously funny, The Apartment is also shot through with Wilder’s customary wit and cynicism, creating a bleak vision of estrangement in the modern working city. The film won five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.

Baby Pictures (carers and baby) screening on Fri 16 Dec at 10.30am. Click here.