Cast and Crew: I.A.L. Diamond (Co-writer, Associate Producer); Ray Walston

What It’s About: C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) gets ahead in his company the old fashioned way:  he lets lecherous executives use his apartment for their affairs.  Things get more complicated when Jeff Sheldrake’s (Fred MacMurray at his oiliest) latest conquest turns out to be Frank Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) the cute elevator girl that Baxter has a crush on…

Why Watch it Today?: Writer/Director/Producerc Billy Wilder was gifted at making films that worked around the Production Code and broke out of or established genre conventions, and today’s film is no exception, a romantic comedy drama which features and attempted suicide and follows through on the consequences of the actions of all those “lecherous old men” characters, while still managing to be quite romantic and funny.   It may seem like a strange choice for Christmas Eve, but key events in the film happen on this night and over the holidays.

Where to Get It: Your local library; Amazon, iTunes, XFINITY; Netflix (DVD)