Whether fast-talking his way out of a tight situation, straining spaghetti through a tennis racket or saving Shirley MacLaine from a suicide attempt, Jack Lemmon is totally watchable throughout this black-edged romantic comedy from Billy Wilder.

Lemmon plays the doormat insurance clerk who sees the loaning of his flat to bosses for their extra-marital affairs as the short cut to promotion.

He begins to reassess his priorities, though, when the lift-girl he fancies (MacLaine) turns out to be big chief Fred MacMurray's current squeeze. It won five Academy Awards, including best film, director and screenplay, and clocked up numerous other nominations, with acting nods for Lemmon, MacLaine and Jack Kruschen as Lemmon's doctor neighbour.