The Apartment
If the ‘sung’ heroes of The Apartment are writer-director Billy Wilder, co-writer I.A.L. Diamond and a pitch-perfect cast led by Jack Lemmon and shirley Maclaine, the unsung hero is art director Alexandre trauner (his name anglicised in the film’s credits to Alexander). the hungarian’s genius for meticulous research and intricate detail is showcased in the stunning shot of Lemmon’s CC ‘Bud’ Baxter at his desk (no. 861) at Consolidated Life Insurance, going from a busy working office to staying late because he has leant his own apartment to his superiors for extra-marital hanky-panky in the hopes of promotion.
the shot was inspired by a similar set in King Vidor’s silent classic The Crowd, another look at the de-humanising effect of modern working life and one of Wilder’s favourites. the set was created on stage 4 at goldwyn studios and filled with $2.5 million-worth of IBM office equipment, half an acre of linoleum flooring and an aluminium ceiling. “Most of the points of view took advantage of the ceiling which offered another advantage,” said trauner. “the spectator simply fills in the background for himself and concentrates on the action in the foreground.” Yet the set itself was only 120 feet by 120 feet. It took trauner’s genius to make it look like a Kafka-esque corporate hell, using nifty forced perspective tricks to create an illusion of depth in a confined space: 800 bigger desks filled with tall men in the foreground, 200 smaller-sized desks in the background, and a backdrop painting heading off into infinity.
“trauner was unique,” Wilder explained. “he created that illusion. that’s when picture-making becomes real fun when you do it with mirrors, like a magician. You’re pulling rabbits out of hats.” for the moment the office is full of employees, Wilder would tell interviewers that the background desks were filled with dwarfs. this is myth making, but the truth is equally colourful: children in business suits and marionettes played Consolidated Life employees.
Wilder described working on the office set as “our Chariot race”, a nod to Ben-hur. shooting in December 1959, the crew completed work in the set in a day-anda-half. for Wilder, the film was about, “how do you get ahead in corporate life and stay a mensch, keeping your humanity, not just toward others, but towards yourself?” Cinemascope cinematography (by Joseph Lashelle) does its best to minimise Baxter as a small man lost in a big world.
stage 4 at goldwyn studios has been torn down — it’s now a parking lot — but the impact of trauner’s set still stands. “It was nothing bombastic,” said Wilder of his art director’s work. “It just looked right.”
trauner won one of the film’s five Academy Awards, seemingly for this one set, turning a chrome and glass prison into Oscar gold.
The Apartment Is out now on DVD, blu-ray and Download.