Irma La Douce (Region B)

One of director Billy Wilders biggest box office hits following his landmark comediesSome Like It HotandThe Apartment, the spectacularIrma La Douce adapted from the 1956 musical for the French theatre reunites Wilder with hisApartmentstars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, providing the latter with one of her most fondly remembered (and Oscar-nominated) early roles.

MacLaine is Irma, a popular Parisian prostitute whose new pimp is an unlikely procurer: Nestor (Lemmon) is a former honest cop who was just fired and framed by his boss after Nestor inadvertently had him arrested in a raid. However, Nestors love for Irma is making his newfound vocation impossible, so he poses as a phoney British lord who insists on being Irmas one and only client. But when Lord X appears to have become the victim of foul playfurther comedic complications ensue!

Irma La Douceoffers many of the same sardonic observations on hum