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(More customer reviews)I saw this film back in 1959 when it first came out and I also read Rona Jaffe's book on which it was based. It was about the world of New York secretaries. And it seemed to speak directly to me as I was then working as a secretary for a large management-consulting firm. I loved it then because it seemed so real. Now, 44 years later, I'm reminded of that reality.
I remember wearing white gloves and a hat to work each day, even in the summer. I remember setting my hair in pincurls. I remember my electric typewriter, which was the latest technological advance. I was married then and remember being addressed as "Mrs." by my boss, even though I was only 19 years old. All the secretaries had desks next to each other in one open room; it was years before the advent of cubicles made famous by the Dilbert cartoon. And years before any of my fellow co-workers aspired to anything other than marriage and children. The one female executive was pitied and looked at as a sour old maid.
In the film Joan Crawford is cast as that one office "witch", who had not married because she was involved with a married man and was paying for her bad decision. Indeed, there was more than one married man involved in affairs in the film, but it was always the woman who was made to suffer. Hope Lange had the role of the young hopeful who, because of being jilted by her boyfriend, starts to achieve some success in business. Then there is Diane Baker, fresh faced and innocent at the beginning, but whose life is almost ruined by the wrong man. Most pitiful of all though is Suzy Parker, who gives up her secretarial job to be an actress and is used and then dropped by an important director. The men are all cads with the exception of Stephen Boyd who accuses Hope Lange of wanting to achieve success because she's afraid of being a "real woman". Brian Ahern is a lecher who is always pinching the girls; their reaction though is typical of the times --they just laugh it off and don't take him seriously. Robert Evans is a seducer with no morals. And Louis Jourdan is the director who keeps a girl around only for as long as she amuses him.
This is a film that could never have be made today.All the women are secretaries. All the men are bosses. Everyone is white and middle class. They all have the same values. However, in spite of all that, it is a really good story. It moves fast and held my interest throughout. And the acting is quite good. In a limited way I found myself really caring about the characters. I really do know people who were just like those depicted on the screen. Therefore, I recommend this video - even if it's for no other reason to see what life was like back in 1959.
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The Best of Everything (1959)Rona Jaffe's best-selling novel comes to life in this witty tale about the personal and professional lives of the men and women in a New York publishing firm.Heading a huge cast. JOAN CRAWFORD "gives an excellently etched performance" (Hollywood Reporter) as a tough-talking editor who can't seem to win at love.There are a few more interesting stories around the office than there are in the manuscripts at Fabian Publishers.Among the principal players: a new secretary (HOPE LANG) who quickly gets her boss's (CRAWFORD) job and romances a handsome editor (STEPHEN BOYD); a Colorado secretary (DIANE BARKER) who falls for the wrong man (ROBERT EVANS); and a would be actress (SUZY PARKER) who's jilted by a two-timing director (LUIS JOURDAN).Slick and glossy, The Best Of Everything is a panorama of office politics before women's liberation.
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