The Best of Everything (1959)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Edith R. Sommer (screenplay) and
Mann Rubin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 October 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

THESE ARE THE GIRLS who want the best of everything... but often settle for a lot less!

Plot:

An expose of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher ups.

Plot Keywords:

Editor | Love | Actress | Publishing House | Secretary

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Hope Lange	...	Caroline Bender
Stephen Boyd	...	Mike Rice
Suzy Parker	...	Gregg Adams
Martha Hyer	...	Barbara Lamont
Diane Baker	...	April Morrison
Brian Aherne	...	Fred Shalimar
Robert Evans	...	Dexter Key
Brett Halsey	...	Eddie Harris
Donald Harron	...	Sidney Carter
Sue Carson	...	Mary Agnes
Linda Hutchings	...	Jane
Lionel Kane	...	Paul Landers
Ted Otis	...	Dr. Ronnie Wood
Louis Jourdan	...	David Savage
Joan Crawford	...	Amanda Farrow

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #19344) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Alfred E. Smith Housing Project, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This film features many important Manhattan sites. Thirty-three minutes into the film, Caroline Bender (Hope Lange) and April Morison (Diane Baker) are crossing Christopher Street from south to north near where Waverly Place comes into Christopher Street east of Sheridan Square. They walk east on Christopher Street, while carrying on a conversation. Look above their heads. In the rear, you will see the red neon sign of The Stonewall Inn lit up, even though the afternoon sun is still shining. Yes, this is the same Stonewall Inn where a decade later the modern gay liberation movement began when drag queens confronted police who had come to raid the bar.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Gregg goes over the rail, she has both shoes on, even though there was a close-up before and after of her shoe stuck in the grate.

Quotes:

Amanda Farrow: Now you and your rabbit-faced wife can both go to hell!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Atomic Recall (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

A perennial favorite that is always enjoyable to view.

I first saw this film in 1959 at the Hoyts Double Bay cinema in Sydney when fifteen years old. I loved it then and still do. The ensemble cast is great - in those days the actors acted "naturally" and you "felt" for them in the respective roles. A "glossy" film of the period -the relationships therein still relevant to today's world but now the sexes are on the same level, women would not or should not allow the type of treatment displayed in the past. The soundtrack music is wonderful and it is a delight that Film Score Monthly released the CD in January, 2005. Pity scenes were cut prior to release - even at two hours you want more! I have registered with Amazon for the DVD (they do now have a special page). To view this film in CinemaScope after forty six years of pan and scan will be great. Twentieth Century Fox, please look further into your catalogers of fifties CinemaScope productions for DVD - there IS a large market out there. I await arrival from US of March, 2004 Vanity Fair Special article on the film, which is said to be fifteen pages with many photos on set. Cheers.