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32 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :-
Simone Signoret Is Magnificent, 20 May 2009
10/10
Author: drednm

This film hasn't lost any of its bitter bite since it debuted in 1959. Laurence Harvey plays an ambitious young man who leaves a squalid industrial town somewhere in England for a good job in a nicer city. He immediately makes friends in the office and joins an amateur theater group when he learns that a pretty rich girl (Heather Sears) is a member. He also meets an older French woman (Simone Signoret) who is also a member.

He starts an affair with the older woman while he blatantly pursues the rich girl, much to the dismay of her parents. Her father is a coarse but self-made man; the mother is a snooty society woman. The girl has a sort of boyfriend who constantly uses his wealthy upbringing and schooling to put Harvey "in his place." Even in post-World War II England, the "class system" is very evident. Harvey's attempts at being upwardly mobile are constantly shot down.

The girl is sent to France in an attempt to get her away from Harvey, and he falls into a torrid affair with Signoret. But he cannot get the girl (and her money) out of his head. Months go by before he runs into the girl and renews his pursuit. Of course she gets pregnant and the family relents, rushing her into marriage, an act that has bitter and surprising consequences for all involved.

Signoret won the best-actress Oscar (and just about every acting award that year) for her work here and she is magnificent. She is worldly and sad yet is not about to accept her fate. Harvey (Oscar nominated) gives his best performance as the blatant social climber. His "angry young man" is at once despicable and sympathetic. Sears scores as the naïve young woman who tries to balance her life and her parents' wishes.

Hermione Baddeley (also Oscar nominated) has a great scene toward the end of the film. She plays Signoret's friend, the one who enables their affair by lending them her apartment. Donald Wolfit is excellent as the girl's father. Ambrosine Phillpotts is good as the mother. Donald Houston, Raymond Huntley, Wilfrid Lawson, Beatrice Varley, and April Olrich are all good in smaller roles.

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36 out of 42 people found the following comment useful :-
Signoret, smoking, 22 April 2006
10/10
Author: totalwonder from United States

Loneliness and longing in this extraordinary, ageless masterpiece. The film is dominated by the phenomenal Simone Signoret and I got dizzy looking at her beautifully complicated face. Laurence Harvey's petulance works wonders here and Jack Clayton, the director, orchestrates a soap opera for the thinking man. Everythings rings true even the most unbelievable details. The older woman syndrome is so masterfully captured here that, at times, you want to look away because the truth in Signoret's eyes is piercing as she sexily smokes her cigarette blowing the smoke right at us. I'm just rambling I know, my intention is to wet your appetite. Another extra bonus is the superb performance by Hermione Baddely, renamed by Noel Coward as Miss Gooddely. A total must!

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27 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Room at the Top is the finest film I have ever seen., 22 June 2004
10/10
Author: loverna from Philadelphia, PA

Simone Signoret is the epitome of sexy, womanly vulnerability, and Lawrence Harvey is superb as the money/status seeking blue collar worker willing to do whatever it takes to climb the ladder to success but oh, at what a cost. Heather Sears plays an under-appreciated role as the naive young rich girl who can't understand what Joe Lampton (Harvey) sees in such an "old woman" as Alice Aisgill(Signoret). Each character is fully fleshed out, from the fellow at work and his fiancé June, who befriend Harvey and invite him to the drama group where he meets Signoret, to Heather's parents. Her mother in particular presents a perfect display of class meeting crass in her oh so proper and oh so cold behavior to Harvey. The supporting cast all offer stellar performances. I have seen this film 17 times and will no doubt see it many more times,if I am lucky.

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18 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Wonderful Simone Signoret, 4 November 2007
Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

Set in an English factory town, "Room At The Top" tells the story of an ambitious, blue-collar cad named Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey), the film's anti-hero, attracted to two women. One woman is his boss's daughter; ergo, she is his ticket to a bright financial future. The other is an older woman named Alice (Simone Signoret).

The script trends in the direction of melodramatic soap opera, with emphasis on character development. It's rather talky. And the plot is somewhat slow. On the other hand, because of the way in which sexual relationships are portrayed, the script was a bit ahead of its time. The story has a lot to say about individual sacrifice.

The film's naturalistic, B&W lighting is fine. Background music is nondescript and unimportant. The most significant element of the film, perhaps, is the high quality of acting. Both Donald Wolfit and Hermione Baddeley give really fine performances in support roles. But, of course, the real reason to see "Room At The Top" is to marvel at the outstanding performance of Simone Signoret, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in a lead role.

Although this is not my kind of film, it is very well made. It's an important film, both for its avant-garde sexual content and for the acting achievement of wonderful Simone Signoret.

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18 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Signoret's Performance Is Unforgettable, 14 March 2006
9/10
Author: David (Handlinghandel) from NY, NY

This is a superb movie. The plot is reminiscent of "An American Tragedy." But it takes place in England, and the hero is very much an Angry Young Man. Nevertheless, it is so beautifully written and directed it feels as fresh and new as if the such issues had never before been touched in movies.

Laurence Harvey, whom I'm generally not crazy about, is superb as the lower-class guy determined to make it big. He sets his sights on the boss's daughter, appealingly played by Heather Sears. But something happens to sidetrack him. And that something -- Simone Signoret -- is the main reason to see and to cherish "Room At The Top." She is very believable as the slightly shady older woman with whom he has a romance. And her eyes! Her eyes, suggesting wisdom and great depths of sadness, will break you heart. It seems like a simple performance and it is uncluttered, stark. But it is flawless. I can think of almost no other performance by a woman in an English-language movie that compares to Signoret's.

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13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic, 15 August 2004
Author: jlon from Dublin

This movie started one of the best of genres: the gritty Northern England working-class social dramas of the early '60s. DVD review.

An ambitious accountant gets involved with two quite different women with tragic results.

One of the best British movies ever. What recent movie from Britain has packed such a punch? Could be considered a romantic movie for men. Some great acting talent appear: Wolfit, Harvey, Sigornet, Cuthbertson, Huntley and Houston. I loved those terraced houses, factory chimneys, haircuts, class divisions, bombed-out buildings, fights, street and office scenes. But how could Harvey's character (who's only 25) be an ex-POW from the War when he would have been about 10? Best scene: the chat with the aunt and uncle: "Money marries money lad". Priceless final scene. Clayton (already a veteran in the industry as an assistant director) made a remarkable debut.

Room At The Top is one of the best British movies ever.

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Notable for many reasons but mostly for Simone Signoret's astonishing performance., 6 July 2000
10/10
Author: wmccomb from Toronto, Canada

Jack Clayton directed two masterpieces: The Innocents, Truman Capote's adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of The Screw, and Room at the Top, based on the novel by John Braine. The story of a young man on the make in postwar Britain is compelling. The black and white cinematography is silken. But what you will remember most is Simone Signoret's heartwrenching performance as a mature woman rendered helpless by her love for the opportunistic character played by Laurence Harvey.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
a heartwrenching movie, 7 February 2000
Author: val-54 from Dundas, Ontario

This is an excellent film. The human traits of ambition and greed are played out wonderfully by the well selected cast. Harvey is his usual dour self and the industrial settings of urban England add to the melancholy mood of the film. He is so good as the misguided protagonist that you end up supporting his machinations. For me it seemed to reflect the constant battle between the classes, and the value of merit and truth in life.

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15 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
Talky but fascinating, depressing, 9 January 2001
8/10
Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States

Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) is a young English man who wants to get ahead in life--quickly. He falls in love with a married, older (by 10 years) French woman named Alice (Simeone Signoret), but realizes he can only get ahead by marring the boss' daughter Susan (Heather Sears). What can he do? This was considered very strong stuff in its day. There is swearing, frank sex talk, pre-marital sex and adultery. The film is a bit slow, but is almost always interesting. The direction is assured and some of the shots are fascinating (Freddie Francis was the director of photography--no shock here--he was always great). The acting is simply great, especially Signoret (who is heartbreaking) and Harvey. Harvey is handsome, sexual, evil, romantic...all rolled into one. He's just incredible. Worth seeing, but be warned...it is depressing.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Outstanding angry young man film., 25 May 2005
10/10
Author: mbuchwal from United States

Although "Room at the Top" is set in Britain just after WWII, Americans of today will recognize in Joe Lambton the prototype of a yuppie – an offensively pushy, horny and self-obsessed social climber with no concern for the feelings of others, but a winning charm that pushes him all the way to the top.

An orphaned working class veteran who has studied bookkeeping, Joe leaves his bombed out home for another dismal industrial town where he goes to work at a dead end civil service job, while trying to promote himself into the ranks of the wealthy by romancing the young daughter of the richest man in town. In the mean time, he commences a tawdry affair with a wealthy woman who may be a prostitute.

At almost every turn, Lambton runs afoul of the husband or lover who got there first, but he won't be deterred from his goal of climbing higher up the social ladder, no matter who it hurts and even if it means having to commit adultery or marry for money.

For all of that, he is by turns a sympathetic character, as ably portrayed by Laurence Harvey, in spite of the fact that his lust for the older rich woman, matter of factly played by Simone Signoret, has consequences that should make him seem thoroughly detestable. Seeing the world from his point of view, we can't help but feel that his upper class foils deserve the trouble he visits upon them, even if we feel that he is wrong to corrupt himself and betray his working class origins.

The first rate production is trimmed down to essentials, yet has a balletic quality of movement when it comes to even the smallest gestures that is an unusually effective combination of masterful montage, choreography and camera movement. It is a great example of how technique and subject matter can come together to achieve a flawlessly artful yet modest effect. One of the best of the British angry young man genre.

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