The Apartment

Trivia: Shirley MacLaine kept improvising, much to the chagrin of the writer and director. She was made to do multiple takes of one sequence because she kept missing a word out.

Trivia: The last black and white movie to win the Best Picture Oscar, until The Artist in 2011.

Trivia: The Christmas party was really filmed just before Christmas, with almost all of it filmed in the first take as everyone was in the holiday spirit already. Director Billy Wilder said "I wish it were always this easy. Today, I can just shout 'action' and stand back."

Trivia: To make the office appear larger than it was, the team used forced perspective - adult actors at the front, with child actors behind them, and tiny desks with wire-operated dolls at the back.

Trivia: The song sung by Baxter while cooking meatballs is "Capriccio Italien" by Tchaikovsky.

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Mistakes

Factual error: At the end of the scene where CC Baxter meets the doctor for the first time in the hall, Baxter is standing in the doorway of his apartment as the doctor enters his own apartment. From that view, you can see into Baxter's kitchen, which has a window - right where the apartment the doctor just entered is located. That could not be an outside wall.

Chip Bergquist

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Quotes

J.D. Sheldrake: Ya know, you see a girl a couple of times a week, just for laughs, and right away they think you're gonna divorce your wife. Now I ask you, is that fair?
C.C. Baxter: No, sir, it's very unfair... Especially to your wife.

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