The Apartment – Kino Lorber (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1960
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Edie Adams

Release Date: March 15th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 125 Minutes 15 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.95

"C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon, The Fortune Cookie) knows the way to success in business…it’s through the door of his apartment! By providing a perfect hideaway for philandering bosses, the ambitious young employee reaps a series of undeserved promotions. But when Bud lends the key to big boss J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray, Double Indemnity), he not only advances his career, but his own love life as well. For Sheldrake’s mistress is the lovely Fran Kubilek (Shirley MacLaine, Irma La Douce), elevator girl and angel of Bud’s dreams. Convinced that he is the only man for Fran, Bud must make the most important executive decision of his career: lose the girl…or his job." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD)

The Apartment comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 87.2 GB

Feature: 86.9 GB

This is a solid transfer that does a great job with image clarity, shadow detail, and gray scales. Also, this transfer retains an organic look. That said, when compared to Arrow Video 2017 Blu-ray release, this transfer’s contrast is noticeably brighter.

The Apartment comes on a 50 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.8 GB

Feature: 39.2 GB

It should be noted that the Blu-ray is not sourced from the 4K master used for the 4K UHD disc; it uses the same source that MGM used for their Blu-ray.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 4.5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. The mono mix is in excellent shape; dialog always comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced; ambient sounds are well-represented. Range wise, this track sounds great considering its mono limitations. The 5.1 mix is also in great shape, and it does a good job of expanding the mono source. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with film historian Joseph McBride, author of Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge, and an archival audio commentary with film historian Bruce Block.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 21 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), an archival documentary titled Inside The Apartment (29 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Magic Time: The Art of Jack Lemmon (12 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with film historian Joseph McBride, author of Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge, and an archival audio commentary with film historian Bruce Block.

Other extras on the Blu-ray disc include trailers for Some Like It Hot, Irma La Douce, The Fortune Cookie, Avanti, and The Front Page.

Other extras include a limited-edition slipcover.

Summary:

The Apartment would reunite Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder, who had previously collaborated on Some Like It Hot. In all, Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder would collaborate seven times. The other five films are: Irma la Douce, The Fortune Cookie, Avanti!, The Front Page, and Buddy Buddy.

And though The Apartment contains all the ingredients that have since become synonymous with their other collaborations, most notably, their use of humor, The end result is a much darker film than those aforementioned films.

The premise is superbly realized, the narrative is wonderfully paced, and the characters are well defined. And performance wise, the entire cast is all very good in their respective roles. This film’s greatest asset is Jack Lemmon’s captivating performance in the role of C.C. Baxter, the protagonist of the film, who uses his apartment to help further his career. Another performance of note includes Shirley MacLaine in the role of an elevator operator named Fran Kubelik, who is having an affair with C.C. Baxter’s boss.

From a production standpoint, this is a film where everything perfectly falls into place. And nowhere is this more evident than in regards to Billy Wilder’s masterful direction. Most notable is this film's moment of truth scene, where a distraught Fran takes a large dose of sleeping pills after she comes to the realization that her affair with a married man has no future. And not to be overlooked is this film's finale, which provides one of cinema’s most satisfying conclusions.

Though The Apartment gets a solid audio/video presentation from Kino Lorber, those who already own Arrow Video’s 2017 Blu-ray release will want to hold onto it for its exclusive extras.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer