Room at the Top (1959)

Simply Perfect

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A really bitter pill of a movie, "Room at the Top" presents the world as a place full of those who trod on people to get ahead and those who get trod upon.There's not much room for anyone else, the film suggests, and the film's dreary visual style matches its tone. Everything looks equally bleak, both the cheap rooms that serve as locations for trysts and the swanky clubs and homes of the rich.Laurence Harvey plays nasty jerk who leaves a trail of hurt women wherever he goes and whose comeuppance comes at the sake of one dead woman and another who he's only marrying because he gets her pregnant. Simone Signoret plays an older woman who falls hard for him and tries to convince him, unsuccessfully, to forget about getting ahead and instead do what will make him happy. It's a solid kitchen sink drama, but a deeply depressing one."Room at the Top" made a big impact on American audiences and garnered two Oscars in 1959: Best Actress (Signoret) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Neil Paterson), with that win becoming the only film to stop juggernaut "Ben-Hur" from making a clean sweep of that year's Oscars. It also snagged nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Jack Clayton), Best Actor (Harvey), and Best Supporting Actress, for Hermione Baddelley's teensy-weensy performance as best friend to Signoret. Indeed, I believe Baddelley's performance is the shortest to ever be nominated for an Oscar, and it's a testament to how much the movie community liked this film that she snuck in at all.Grade: B+

In 1956, John Osborne wrote his play "Look Back in Anger," which was a turning point in British drama in examining class revolt and changing social conditions in England in the post war years. But while Osborne's play is now virtually forgotten as a "kitchen sink" period piece, "Room at the Top," which examines similar issues in the film medium, has stood the test of time.Laurence Harvey stars as the social climber from humble origins, a role that is the reincarnation of Osborne's "angry young man" Jimmy Porter in "Look Back in Anger." Porter succeeds in marrying a woman above his social rank, then abuses her. But as portrayed by Harvey, the character of Joe Lampton is much more complex, as his driving ambition to win the hand of the daughter of an influential industrialist is balanced by his soulful connection to an older married woman. The self-loathing of Lampton is apparent throughout, as he constantly humiliated by his social superiors. Possibly the worst abuse comes from his future mother-in-law, who is dripping in contempt for what she perceives as a commoner. In the process, Joe becomes nearly as tortured as Raymond Shaw, the protagonist of "The Manchurian Candidate," for which Laurence Harvey will always be remembered.In the portrayal of the younger woman named Susan, Heather Sears is outstanding for her naivety and cheerful optimism in the attraction she feels for Joe Lampton. But it is in the interpretation of the older woman, Alice Aisgill, that the film will always be remembered for the transcendent performance of Simone Signoret.Signoret's portrayal of Alice as the vulnerable French expatriate in a loveless marriage to a British highbrow is almost a mirror image of the social misfit Lampton. The characters bond in their common ground as outsiders in the claustrophobic British class system in the fictional town of Warnley. In virtually all of her scenes, Signoret is magnetic in her sensitivity, as especially apparent in her eyes.Every viewer will have his or her favorite scene in this film. For me, it is moment in the cottage where Joe and Alice have escaped to an idyllic seaside retreat where they rush into the house out of the rain. Joe offers Alice a cigarette, but she refuses. She tells him that she wishes to abstain for smoking and drinking during their holiday for she wants each of their moments together to remain "clear and sharp" in her memory. This unforgettable moment could only be realized by a performer of Signoret's abilities.Led by Signoret, Harvey, and a stellar cast of British actors, this old-style black-and-white film with the rapid-fire pacing and wrenching emotional ending rises to the top as one of the great cinematic experiences of the second half of the twentieth century.

It is very easy for me to overlook films such as Room at the Top because I was always reading similar books at school and watching kitchen sink dramas all the time as a kid.Yet this was one of the films that heralded the kitchen sink dramas in British cinema, the naturalistic films set in working class towns. It has a bitter bite as men who fought in the war still faced up to the class divide.Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) arrives in a provincial Yorkshire city such as Bradford with a secure job in the council's accounts department. Joe who was a prisoner of war is determined to succeed and does not lack in confidence. In his sights is young, vulnerable Susan Brown (Heather Sears), daughter of the local businessman, Mr Brown (Donald Wolfit) who like Susan's snooty boyfriend is all too aware of this social climber.While Susan is sent abroad to be kept away from Joe's clutches, he turns for solace to Alice Aisgill (Simone Signoret) who he met at a local theatrical club when he was pursuing Susan. Alice is an older married woman from France, still sensual but unhappily married to her husband who is also cheating on her.Joe thinking that Susan and her riches are outside his grasp falls in love with Alice attracted to her European sensibilities, but divorcing her husband is not easy and then Joe finds Alice is pregnant and her family want a quick wedding.This is a tempestuous drama helped by Signoret's layered performance oozing sexuality as well as vulnerability. Harvey also gives a good performance, wanting to get to the top but conflicted in pursuing a girl for her wealth and a woman whom understands him.

This film won an Oscar, as did Simone Signoret for best actress and the screenwriter Neil Paterson for best screenplay. It made a huge hit when it was released, and it had a major social impact in Britain as well. Based on the best-selling novel by John Braine, the film dealt with the aspirations of the working class to rise in the world, and the intimidation they felt from the rich upper middle class, in this case a Yorkshire mill-owner, played with ruthless honesty and typical Yorkshire bluntness by Donald Wolfit. The hero, or I should really say anti-hero, of the story is Joe Lampton, played by Lawrence Harvey. His desire to get on in life is all-consuming, and he is desperate to escape the row cottage in the small Yorkshire mill town where he has grown up with his widowed mother. He was in the RAF in the War, but was only a sergeant, and spent most of the War as a POW. It is 1947 and he has now returned to civilian life and has to decide what to do. So he moves to a larger mill town, which is not an entirely working class location, and gets a job in the offices of the local textile mill. On his very first day, he sees the pretty young daughter of the mill owner and decides he is going to 'get' her, both because he wants her and as a means of advancement. He is brutally frank about wanting to 'marry a million pounds'. He wants to get to the 'top'. Wolfit\s daughter is played by the young Heather Sears. It is a great pity that she did not appear in the sequel film LIFE AT THE TOP (1965, see my next review), and that she was replaced with Jean Simmons, who was not right for the part, and the difference in tone destroyed much of the continuity. Heather Sears was absolutely perfect. She played the daughter as a sweet, dreamy, but spoilt and wilful creature lost in her romantic notions. She is completely dazzled by Larry Harvey and in love with him, and keeps saying to him as things work out for them: 'Isn't it wonderful?' For her, she is living out a romantic dream. But she is far from a passionate creature in the carnal sense, which is essential to the story. For that side of things, Harvey has his own passionate love affair with the woman who is to be the one true love of his life, played by Simone Signoret with overwhelming soulful intensity. Signoret could say more with her bedroom eyes than almost any actress one can think of. You can see her thinking, and what is more, you can see her feeling. That takes some doing in moments without dialogue. She certainly deserved her Oscar. Larry Harvey's performance is wonderful and dominates the film, as indeed it should. The film is magnificently directed by Jack Clayton, and is one of his finest achievements. The cinematography by Ossie Morris is even better than his usual superb standard, with Brian West as operator. I knew (at a later date, not when this was made) so many people connected with this film, not least Larry and Jack. Alas, I never met Signoret. That would have been something. This film is a real classic, powerful, emotional, upsetting, compulsive viewing, and deeply tragic. It is what can be called without hesitation 'the real thing'.