Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is one of the great holiday movies, one of the great romantic comedies, and one of the great screenplays, so here at the end of the year we offer up our favorite film to watch between Christmas and New Years. We’re making this one available to all, so we hope you enjoy—listening-wise. Happy new year!
The bit where they say three and hold up four fingers? Classic.
When I was a teenager I watched Sabrina for the first time and I remember being distinctly bothered by her suicide attempt at the beginning. I was honestly kind of horrified by how it was trivialized and how quickly they moved on from it. It could have been me not understanding the genre and tone because I was young but it felt so odd. This movie takes the suicide attempt more seriously but still, I couldn’t imagine it being a plot point used today without a great impact on the story. After realizing they’re both directed and written by Wilder, I’m wondering if there’s a pretty significant difference in how they thought about suicide at the time, or if it’s just his writing choice? It definitely stood out to me.
I watched this last year because of y’all but enjoyed it much more this year (CR regimen working on me I guess ;)
“‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... nothin’”
Margie was a scene-stealer for me. She brought wonderfully-leveled comedy and tragedy.
For another between-Xmas-and-NY movie - lighter and less layered for sure - Holiday, with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, is top on my list of old movies.
The bit where they say three and hold up four fingers? Classic.
When I was a teenager I watched Sabrina for the first time and I remember being distinctly bothered by her suicide attempt at the beginning. I was honestly kind of horrified by how it was trivialized and how quickly they moved on from it. It could have been me not understanding the genre and tone because I was young but it felt so odd. This movie takes the suicide attempt more seriously but still, I couldn’t imagine it being a plot point used today without a great impact on the story. After realizing they’re both directed and written by Wilder, I’m wondering if there’s a pretty significant difference in how they thought about suicide at the time, or if it’s just his writing choice? It definitely stood out to me.
Made for a fun movie night. Thanks!
I watched this last year because of y’all but enjoyed it much more this year (CR regimen working on me I guess ;)
“‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... nothin’”
Margie was a scene-stealer for me. She brought wonderfully-leveled comedy and tragedy.
For another between-Xmas-and-NY movie - lighter and less layered for sure - Holiday, with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, is top on my list of old movies.
(Well done, Logan!)
Thank you for making this available to everyone. I love this movie and it was so fun to hear you chat about it. Happy New Year!