The Apartment
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen
Directed: Billy Wilder
Studio: Arrow Academy
Format: Blu-Ray
Disc Release Date: December 26, 2017
Note: Looks like the film has sold-out and they went pretty fast on day one. But for sure click the amazon link below and save it just in case more do pop up.
About:
In 1960, following on from the success of their collaboration on Some Like it Hot, director Billy Wilder (Ace in the Hole, Sunset Boulevard) reteamed with actor Jack Lemmon (The Odd Couple, Glengarry Glen Ross) for what many consider the pinnacle of their respective careers: The Apartment.
C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Lemmon) is a lowly Manhattan office drone with a lucrative sideline in renting out his apartment to adulterous company bosses and their mistresses. When Bud enters into a similar arrangement the firm’s personnel director, J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity), his career prospects begin to look up… and up. But when he discovers that Sheldrake’s mistress is Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce), the girl of his dreams, he finds himself forced to choose between his career and the woman he loves…
Winner of five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, The Apartment features a wealth of Hollywood’s finest talent – on both sides of the camera – at the top of their game. By turns cynical, heart-warming and hilarious, Wilder’s masterpiece now shines like never before in this all-new, 4K-restored edition from Arrow Films
The Apartment is a Classic film made in the 60’s that could and might make my movies to watch once a year deal. Right between Christmas and New-years is a perfect time to view this. The Story follows Jack Lemmon’s Role C.C. Baxter who works at a Life insurance Company and is on his way to the top. He is on his way to the top fast due to all the help he applies to his Higher up Co Workers and eventually boss by booking his apartment out for nights so the men can get lucky with women and most of the time to keep it away from there wives. Of course he doesn’t like this that much as he is always hanging around at work or other places as he has nowhere to go. The story moves into a romantic plot that has a twist but does fall in place at the end.
Story wise the film is great and over the top at some points. It has about everything in it, Comedy, Drama, romance, a little action and an ending you was hoping would happen. Action was top-notch with Jack Lemmon possibly in his best role and same go’s to Shirley Maclain whom was also a stand out. Very pretty and great camera Presence. Story and Acting is what brings this movie to the top and it’s always on someones list like top 100 of all time lists.
Overall the film is a Must watch and for a collector a must own. For me its a movie that will join the list of movies to watch once a year. Reviews are always around 4 or 5 stars and it deserves it. So Happy that Arrow Pick this up and now we have a nice looking boxset in a collectors limited edition. The Blu-Ray Quality is pretty great and it can’t get any better. It looks so good with its deep blacks and sharp PQ
Go Get it before its gone.
With that said I think I have to give this a 5 out of 5 Stars. It’s a great movie that hangs on the comedy side but also has a ton other emotional values. I will for sure watch this again before the time slot I gave this for my yearly viewing which is in between Christmas and New Years as that is the time line in the film. It’s the film to watch after It’s A Wonderful Life. Cant believe this is my first Viewing of this film.
Extras:
- Limited Deluxe Edition Blu-ray [3000 copies]
- Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Optional 5.1 remix in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with film producer and historian Bruce Block
- New appreciation of the film and select scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp
- The Flawed Couple, a new video essay by filmmaker David Cairns on the collaborations between Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon
- Billy Wilder ABC, an overview by David Cairns on the life and career of the filmmaker, covering his films, collaborators and more
- New interview with actress Hope Holiday
- Inside the Apartment, a half-hour “making-of” featurette from 2007 including interviews with Shirley MacLaine, executive producer Walter Mirisch, and others
- Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon, an archive profile of the actor from 2007
- Original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (BD-ROM content)
- Theatrical trailer
- Special collector’s packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick
- Collector’s 150-page hardcover book featuring new writing by Neil Sinyard, Kat Ellinger, Travis Crawford and Heather Hyche, generously illustrated with rare stills and behind-the-scenes imagery