"I'm proud to say I sort of walked off with the film. I had all the balls."
~Joan Crawford on "The Best of Everything."
"The Best of Everything" 1959
Cast: Hope Lange~Stephen Boyd~Suzy Parker~Martha Hyer~Diane Baker~Brian Aherne~Robert Evans~Brett Halsey~Donald Harron~Sue
Carson~Linda Hutchings~Lionel Kane~Ted Otis~June Blair~Myrna Hansen~Alena Murray~Rachel Stephens~Julie Payne~Louis Jourdan
and Joan Crawford as Amanda Farrow.
Director: Jean Negulesco
Producer: Jerry Wald
Costumes by Adele Palmer
Box Office Figures for "The Best of Everything":
Top Grossing Film Position: Film did not rank.
Gross Rentals: less than $1,000,000.
If you have seen this movie, please write a review below. Once your review is submitted, I will post the review below.
Thank you for your review on this film.
Reviews
Reviewer: writerdonna7
Stars: Three
Review: "The Best of Everything" is based on the novel by Rona Jaffe and it's popular fiction roots show. With
a wonderful splashy opening song by Johnny Mathis and the sight of young, pretty Hope Lange as Caroline Bender answering an
ad (hilariously promising "the best of everything" in a secretarial career) at a posh Manhattan publishing house,
the film revolves around three young women seeking their fortunes in the Big Apple. The three central characters (all of whom
start in the typing pool at Fabian's Publishing and come to share a cold water flat) include Lange as impeccably and jauntily
suited Caroline (she really does wear a suit well), the woman with the most smarts and dignity of the three, who quickly demonstrates
a natural aptitude and moxie for the publishing business; impossibly gorgeous Suzy Parker as aspiring actress Gregg Adams
(Parker, a top model of the time, seems way too glamorous, sophisticated and beautiful to be lost in the typing pool or ignored
by casting agents); and Diane Baker as chirpy, annoying, naive April Morrison, fresh from Hicksville and willing to swallow
any hook or line that is thrown her way. Her main goal is to marry.
The usual soap opera commences, but it's fun stuff with lots of dish and dirt. Although the attitudes towards women remind
women of why the feminist movement began (sexual harassment tolerated by the resident lecher, Mr. Shalimar, played with alcoholic
panache and humor by Brian Aherne; all women with careers looked on as "hard" and having missed the boat in romance;
double standard between men and women), honey, anyone who has seen the inside of a secretarial pool today can tell you things
haven't changed terribly much beyond -- cosmetically -- the sexual attitudes. The secretaries storming the Bastille in the
morning, brimming with gossip and tales of engagements, are much the same today, and Joan Crawford is believable as the tough
editor Amanda Farrow who gives her "girl" a hard time (and in her short time onscreen, she really does command it)
-- with the exception of some of her unintentionally hilarious lines. (When she retires to pursue a love affair, hoping it's
not "too late," she later returns and announces, "It was too late.") And what man today would hand his
girl socks to darn with she so cheerfully happy to comply?
But it's all fun! My favorite line: when the busload of employees are en route to the company picnic, singing, and Baker
chirps to Lange, "Isn't it wonderful?" and Lange says, "I'd rather be shot in the head."
|