The Best of Everything [1959 / 2015] [Twilight Time] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
A Big, Glittering . . . Hollywood Screen Spectacular!
A fabulously juicy melodrama based on Rona Jaffe's spicy novel about working girls at a 1950’s-era New York publishing house, ‘The Best of Everything’ [1959] is brought to the screen by that master painter of CinemaScope, director of photography William C. Mellor and artistically directed by Jean Negulesco. Starring Hope Lange, Diane Baker and Suzy Parker as a trio of roomies working under an “exacting” female boss (the one and only Joan Crawford), the film details their trials and tribulations, both professional and very very personal. Also starring Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan and future super-producer Robert Evans as the naughty men in their lives, the film is highlighted by a staggeringly beautiful score from the singular Alfred Newman, available on this Twilight Time release as an isolated track.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1960 Academy Awards®: Nominated: Best Costume Design and Color for Adele Palmer. Nominated: Best Music and Original song for “The Best of Everything.”
FILM FACT No.2: 20th Century Fox producer Jerry Wald announced he was buying the rights to the novel of the same name in April 1958. In his first interview about the film adaption, Jerry Wald said: “There are 10 roles in this for young people, and I hope to get some of our outstanding actors such as Lee Remick, Hope Lange, Diane Varsi, Suzy Parker, Robert Evans, Lee Philips and Bob Wagner.” In further early casting considerations, Jerry Wald mentioned Joanne Woodward, Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Margaret Truman. Rona Jaffe officially sold the rights to her book for $100,000 in November 1958. Rona Jaffe did not want any part in writing the screenplay, but instead wanted a cameo role: “I want to appear in the movie in a walk-on part. I would just appear briefly as one of the office's pool of stenographers” she said. Martin Ritt initially was set to direct, but he was replaced by Jean Negulesco in January 1959 reportedly because Martin Ritt was upset with the casting of Suzy Parker. Martin Ritt dismissed this rumour, saying the script was not his “cup of tea.” When Suzy Parker learned that Martin Wald was sick, then Suzy Parker agreed to do the film, reporting for work in January 1959. Suzy Parker had agreed to take the role in the summer of 1958, but a broken arm and a 14-month recovery delayed her appearance. On playing a neurotic actress, Suzy Parker commented: “I know the type extremely well.” Joan Crawford's peripheral role in the film generated much criticism. The men Joan Crawford was involved with romantically never appeared on the screen and many of her scenes were cut, as mentioned above. The composed score was composed and conducted by Alfred Newman, with orchestrations by Earle Hagen and Herbert Spencer. Additional development of Alfred Newman’s themes was done by Cyril Mockridge for two scenes in the film. The songs “Again” and “Kiss Them for Me” by Lionel Newman and “Something's Gotta Give” by Johnny Mercer are used as source music. The title song for the film was composed by Lionel Newman, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, and performed by Johnny Mathis. Producer Jerry Wald first showed interest in Johnny Mathis for the title song in August 1958. Due to the film's success, a short-lived daytime soap opera of the same name was aired on ABC in 1970. Robert Evans's career as an actor came to an end after this film, and he later enjoyed success as a studio head at Paramount Pictures in the 1970’s, supervising ‘The Godfather,’ and serving as producer of such films as ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Marathon Man.’
Please Note: Check out these critics comments on what they thought of ‘The Best of Everything’ the fantastic and brilliant film:
“Few movies are such pleasurable perfect time capsules . . . ‘The Best of Everything’ rewards the eye at every turn.” – Laura Jacobs, Vanity Fair
“Underrated, influential film . . . Enjoyable on a number of different levels – as highly informative social artefact, as a photo-feminist tract, as an aesthetic treat, as a showcase for newcomers and old pros.” – Farran Smith Nehme, Self-Styled siren
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, Louis Jourdan, Joan Crawford, Gertrude Astor (uncredited), Alan Austin (uncredited), Joseph Bardo (uncredited), June Blair (uncredited), Paul Bradley (uncredited), Wally Brown (uncredited), Steve Carruthers (uncredited), Harry Carter (uncredited), John Corrydon (uncredited), Patricia Crest (uncredited), Roxann Delman (uncredited), Jesslyn Fax (uncredited), Steven Gant (uncredited), Helen Gerald (uncredited), Gwenllian Gill (uncredited), Molly Glessing (uncredited), Robert Haines (uncredited), Myrna Hansen (uncredited), Mike Mahoney (uncredited), Byron Morrow (uncredited), Voltaire Perkins (uncredited), Leoda Richards (uncredited), John Rockwell (uncredited), James Stone (uncredited) and Paul von Schreiber (uncredited)
Director: Jean Negulesco
Producer: Jerry Wald
Screenplay: Edith Sommer (screenplay), Mann Rubin (screenplay), Rona Jaffe (novel) and Joan Crawford (screenplay revision) (uncredited)
Composer: Alfred Newman
Costume Designer: Adele Palmer
Cinematography: William C. Mellor, A.S.C (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Color By DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) (Anamorphic)
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Music: 2.0 DTS-HD Stereo Audio Isolated Composed Score Soundtrack
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 121 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: 20th Century-Fox / Twilight Time
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘The Best of Everything’ [1959] is a star-studded cast and really enlivens this glossy 1950’s soap opera film, based on the novel by Rona Jaffe. The action unfolds at the Gotham-based Fabian Publishing company, where numerous women work as typists under the aegis and power-wielding, shark-like editor Amanda Farrow [Joan Crawford] who has achieved wealth and success, but is far from idolized by her underlings, who understand clearly that their boss has chalked up all of her accomplishments at the expense of a satisfying personal life. Caroline Bender [Hope Lange] is a recent graduate of a prestigious women's college whose sole desire in life is to marry her college sweetheart Eddie Harris [Brett Halsey] where she admits openly that she cares little for power, ambition or career advancement.
Eddie Harris gets a job in the secretarial pool of Fabian Publishing and soon takes an apartment with some female co-workers. Caroline Bender quickly realizes that she has an advantage seat to witness the romantic entanglements and office politics of Fabian Publishing's many female employees. Amanda Farrow is having an affair with a mysterious married man, and Caroline Bender's roommates have tales of their own to tell, like April Morrison [Diane Baker] has become pregnant by the unscrupulous Dexter Key [Robert Evans], who suggests she have an abortion; and Gregg Adams [Suzy Parker] has become involved with smooth-talking Broadway director David Savage [Louis Jourdan], who is not the most faithful man in the world.
Everything considered, ‘The Best of Everything’ should have been better. Infinitely better, in fact, than Rona Jaffe's bestseller about Manhattan career girls. Whatever the book lacked in skill and substance, it could hardly have missed as a lively, colourful screen yarn. Even with a sea of predominantly young faces, some splendid colour shots of New York City and an office bulging with frustrations, the picture plays like a composite of many predecessors about the heart vs. the desk. Produced by Jerry Wald, with a star studded cast headed by Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd, Suzy Parker, Diane Baker and Joan Crawford.
Should these diversified women — Caroline Bender, Gregg Adams, April Morrison and Gregg Adams — working for the Fabian Publications find the right man? This we are assured during the opening credits, as Johnny Mathis voice croons that special romantic song “Love Is the Best of Everything.”
Edith Sommer and Mann Rubin screenplay deserve some credit for compressing the vignettes, and the casting is dandy. Ms. Hope Lange is Caroline Bender, the spunky new secretary who shelves an editor, Stephen Boyd, plus an old sweetheart, on her upward climb. Ms. Suzy Parker plays the rakish Gregg Adams, who slithers into an affair with a stage director, Louis Jourdan. As the naïve April Morrison played by Ms. Diane Baker drops into the arms of a slick playboy Dexter Key played by Robert Evans. And the picture retains the most amusing and probably most likable Fabian Publications inmate, the gabby little Bronx fiancée Mary Agnes neatly played by Sue Carson.
Two story changes warrant comment. The tender romance of the nice young widow and the aging executive, the novel's most deeply felt interlude, is barely scraped. In these roles, Sidney Carter [Donald Harron] and Barbara Lamont [Martha Hyer] briefly collide in the Fabian Publications corridors and gape soulfully. On the other hand, the small part of Amanda Farrow, the sleek executive witch who torments her young charges, has been fattened and overstated, even with some suave trouping by the amazing autre Ms. Joan Crawford.
You need only watch what happens when the camera turns on Joan Crawford in her role of a mean, nervous, frustrated career woman to see what the picture lacks in general. I know this kind of thing, the woman fighting an uphill battle for love, has been a Ms. Joan Crawford specialty in recent years, but experience alone won't explain the electricity. Let's admit first off that the script gives her no more than something to hold onto the story, that it asks her to navigate in two emotional directions at once, and to make a sudden unaccountable change of character in the denouement, but just the same, when she comes on, you wake up and begin to wonder what's going to happen. You feel badly cheated when it turns out finally that they're not going to let you even take a look at her particular married man and that "rabbit-faced" wife of his. All her problems are worked out off-stage, but even so, restricted to a few mean looks and some vitriolic dialogue, Ms. Joan Crawford comes near making the rest of the picture look like a distraction.
Impressively progressive with one line of dialogue and maddeningly retrograde the next, ‘The Best of Everything’ induces whiplash when watched decades after its 1959 release. Based on a novel by Rona Jaffe and directed with pop-art flair by Jean Negulesco, the ensemble film centres around Caroline Bender, a secretary at a New York City publishing company who rises through the ranks while watching her female co-workers fend off harassment and cruelty from the men around them and Caroline Bender has to deal with a few sexists of her own. This is refreshingly honest about how awful men can be when given unchecked privilege and power, but it’s less enlightened about the professional aspirations of women.
Meanwhile, the sprawling storylines begin to feel as if you’re watching a few seasons of a television series “Mad Men” crammed into a single feature. Ms. Joan Crawford shows up on occasion to spit fire as a female editor, but the film largely presents her as an unmarried hag who can’t find romantic happiness because she’s prioritized her career. Ms. Hope Lange gets a Ms. Joan Crawford style speech near the climax of the film lambasting men for callously treating women like playthings, but it’s hard to feel that the film fully believes in it, considering there is a later comedic bit in which Ms. Joan Crawford laughs off a senior editor’s habit of “pinching” the secretaries. ‘The Best of Everything’ can seem like a frustrating time capsule. A far better take on mid-century, workplace misogyny would come one year later, in 1960 with director Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment.’ One thing that really annoyed me with this 1959 film and any film in the 1950’s is that you get to see loads of actors doing a very disgusting habit of smoking and I am so pleased into days modern films we do not have to see actors having to smoke, especially if that actor actually hated smoking in the first place.
The Best of Everything Music Track List
The Best of Everything (Composed by Alfred Newman) and (Lyrics by Sammy Cahn) [Johnny Mathis sings during the opening credits. Also sung by a chorus at the end of the film and heard played often in the composed film score]
AGAIN (uncredited) (Music by Lionel Newman) [Played when Caroline is introduced over drinks]
MY BONNIE LIES OVER THE OCEAN (uncredited) (Traditional) [Sung by the girls on the bus]
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (uncredited) (Written by Johnny Mercer) [Played at the picnic]
Wedding March (uncredited) From “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Music by Felix Mendelssohn) [Played when the bouquet is thrown]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – 20th Century Fox and Twilight Time presents us the film ‘The Best of Everything’ with a wonderful Color By DeLuxe 1080p image and is presented in the original 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) (Anamorphic) aspect ratio with a beautifully vibrant, occasionally eye-popping image that brings 1959 New York City to brilliant life. Excellent detail, with top-notch clarity, and a definite sense of depth distinguish this stellar effort, which benefits the natural grain structure that maintains the look and feel of celluloid and a rich colour palette that enhances the smart fashions on display, and deep blacks and crisp whites nicely offset the bright colours. Close-ups highlight facial features well, flesh tones appear natural and remain stable, and fine shadow delineation keeps crush at bay. This is a slick, smooth image transfer and breathes new life into the film and will surely please fans of this popular 1950’s cinema style soap opera saga.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Fox and Twilight Time brings us the film ‘The Best of Everything’ with two audio options and they are 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and the Music: 2.0 DTS-HD Stereo Audio Isolated Composed Score Soundtrack. Both of these audio tracks offer sterling audio fidelity and excellent clarity, though prioritization is occasionally a minor and transitory and slight problems with the surround mix, where for example, lines of dialogue during musical moments can get just slightly buried at times. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track doesn't have a lot of surround presence, but a good amount of richness and depth compensate for the lack of directionality. The clickety-clack rattle of typewriters provides a subtle undertone to the office scenes, and the hustle and bustle of the New York cityscape comes across well in exterior sequences. Dialogue is always clear and easy to comprehend, and the Alfred Newman's glorious score (which can be enjoyed without any dramatic hindrances on an isolated audio track) fills the room with ease. Best of all, no age-related imperfections, such as hiss, pops, and crackles, intrude.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Isolated Score Track: Here we get to hear the wonderful emotional and romantic Alfred Newman composed film score in the 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, but of course now and again you will get to hear long gaps of no sound.
Audio Commentary with Author Rona Jaffe and Film Historian Sylvia Stoddard: Here we are first introduced by Film Historian Sylvia Stoddard and also informs us that joining her later on will by Author Rona Jaffe who wrote the novel “The Best of Everything” and points out the traditional composed music sets the start of the film, and also point out the ariel view of the skyline of New York and points out prominent landmarks we are viewing, especially of Manhattan and also talks about the historic aspect of New York City and especially the hundreds of immigrants that landed at the port of New York. Sylvia Stoddard also points out how quiet the streets of New York, that is because they filmed it on a very early Sunday morning so it would not cause a lot of problems when filming the street scenes of New York. At that point Author Rona Jaffe comes in to talk about when she was a struggling author in New York City in the 1950’s, and was producing her craft since she was two and half years old, and then describes her later life when eventually started working in a publishing company as a typist and was there for nearly four years and eventually rising to be an associated editor and eventually had several stories published in national magazines and then decided to quit her job to concentrate more on writing novels full time, but despite having no money coming in, had to live with her Parents until the money started rolling in. Eventually Author Rona Jaffe was visiting Simon & Schuster that was founded in April 1924 when Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster pooled their resources and published Simon & Schuster’s first book, The Crossword Puzzle Book, packaged with a pencil to visit a school friend working there who worked in the publishing department, at the same time a famous Hollywood producer happened to be there at the same time and comments that Author Rona Jaffe will one day will bring out a brilliant novel that we can option to turn it into a film and Simon & Schuster informed Rona Jaffe they were seeking novels about working girls in New York City who worked mainly in offices, so Rona Jaffe left the building and started seeking out book stores for other authors who have produced novels about working girls in offices and found their novels totally dumb, and thought to herself I could do a much better job on writing a novel about working girls in an office environment, and so Rona Jaffe went on a vacation to Hollywood and was invited to lunch by a producer, and mentions to him that she was in the process of writing a novel about working girls in an office, and the producer informs her that if you can produce this novel we will option it for a film and so while Rona Jaffe was flying back to New York and had a really great vison for the type of novel that will be a winner and would be about hundreds and hundreds of working girls in an office environment in some big publishing corporation in New York. When we see a printed advert for Secretaries, this we are informed was an original printed advert that appeared in the New York Times in the 1950’s and where it says, “You deserve the Best of Everything,” that is where Rona Jaffe got the idea for the title of her novel. At this point in the film we see Hope Lange walk into the building of the publishing company she wants to work for as a secretary, and after exiting the floor where she will be working, we see the name FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY where Hope Lange is hoping this will be the start of her career to better things to come and to climb the ladder of success. Rona Jaffe says the layout of the office is a total replica of the paperback novel company who were going to publish Rona Jaffe novel into a paperback novel, and also comments about the colour scheme of the office in the film and especially the different colours of the doors that represents your status in that company. When Rona Jaffe worked in one of these publishing companies, you had to be in that office where you work at 9:00am sharp and of course as you will see all the women come speeding in like a stampede, and Rona Jaffe says that her novel was originally about five close women colleagues who are very close friends, but because of the length of the film at 121 minutes it had to concentrate of just three close women colleagues as friends. Rona Jaffe starts to talk about the main men characters in the film, especially the actor Stephen Boyd, who as you will see his character had a serious problem with alcohol and especially seeing him drinking a lot of alcohol and seeing him knowing he had a rough night with his boozy friend, and you get to see him at the water drinking fountain. Rona Jaffe also talks about some of the other women characters who are wearing specific style of suites that informs us that they are quite high up in the chain of command. Sylvia Stoddard now talks about all the gossip that goes on in the film between the women in the office, especially talking about people who have had their teeth done or who are going with whom. Rona Jaffe says her novel wanted to portray the real goings on in these office environments, and again Rona Jaffe talks about Hope Lange’s character with her romance with the Eddie character and his promise to come back from London and to marry her, but in the novel Eddie had already dumped her and that is why she went to get at the FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, as otherwise she would get totally bored and also hoping Eddie will change his mind and come back to her. At this point the wonderful Joan Crawford has made her first appearance and we soon find out that Miss Farrow is not going to be the greatest boss to work for, but also her character has lots of layers, but is also very insecure and of course that is why she is cruel to Hope Lange’s character, who eventually shows Miss Farrow you can still be a good boss, and treat people with respect, but of course Miss Farrow acts like she does to hopefully bring out the best in her secretaries, who do not realise it at the time. Ronal Jaffe informs us that later on about a scene that is cut, which shows us that Miss Farrow can be much more human. Rona Jaffe talks about the costume designer Adele Palmer especially for the female actresses, who originally designed clothes for RKO films. They talks about the casting of the characters that differ from the novel, but in the film they wanted bring out the best in their characters, but most of the women characters in the novel were all very naïve, especially the ones who originally lived outside of New York and especially the ones that commuted into New York City. They now comment on the actress Suzy Parker who first makes her appearance and who is the third character in the trio of friends, who is wearing a head scarf that is covering her hair and they mention that when people watched this scene on the giant cinema screen, and when she finally reveals her hair that comes tumbling down, the audience gasped and they also feel she was a very glanderous actress. When we see the actress Diane Baker back in the office, we get to see why this out of town girl is very naïve about the executive men in that company, who turn out to be total sex pests that was very prevalent in the 1950’s, especially in the big cities in America and were also total lotharios, and so actress Diane Baker eventually meets Mr. Shalamar for the first time and of course he thinks women are easy game and especially thinking that women like what the men want to treat them like that as sex objects, which of course in the 21st Century would not except that attitude or take those men to either a sexual tribunal or even taken to court. Rona Jaffe mentions that the name Mr. Shalamar is named after her shower curtain, but it was also named after a perfume in America in the 1950’s, but checking up via the internet, the shower curtain was called Shalimar, as to the perfume, that was actually called Shalimar Eau de Parfum and was originally created by Jacques Guerlain in 1921. Also Rona Jaffe informs us about Mr. Shalamar is that she actually encountered a real life boss that she worked for in the publishing company she worked for, and found him totally repulsive. They talk about the actress Diane Baker and the films the actress has appeared in and they were ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ [1959], ‘300 Spartans’ [1962], ‘Marnie’ [1964], Diane Baker also appeared with Joan Crawford in ‘Strait-Jacket’ [1964], and was also appeared in a film with Gregory Peck entitled ‘Mirage’ [1965]. They also talk about some of the films that Hope Lange has appeared in like ‘Bus Stop’ [1956], ‘Peyton Place’ [1957], ‘Pocketful of Miracles’ [1961], ‘Blue Velvet’ [1986] and ‘Clear and Present Danger’ [1994]. Hope Lange also appeared in lots of television productions like “Cyrano De Bergerac” [1962], “The Ghost & Mrs. Muir” [1968 – 1970] and also appeared in “Murder, She Wrote” [1987 – 1993]. They also talk in detail about when novels came out in hardback, but when they were eventually brought out in paperback form those novels became even more successful especially in America, because you could pick up a paperback in any Drug Store in America and would sell on average 250,00 paperback copies on just one title alone. They now talk about the actor Brian Aherne who plays Mr. Shalamar the office lecher, who plays it with a great deal of charm and what he does in this movie would be totally illegal today and takes rejection with some very small reaction and thinks he is just having a little bit of fun, but of course there are laws today to thwart these types of men in not allowing them to get away with such abhorrent acts against young naïve women, but of course in the 1950’s men thought what they did towards women, thought women wanted it to happen to them, which of course was totally the opposite and these predatory men were totally misogynous dinosaurs. Rona Jaffe says that all the women portrayed in the film, has actually met when working in the publishing company, and of course made writing the novel was so very easy to transfer these characters from the novel to the film, and also experienced exactly what you see in the film. We now get to view the character Gregg Adams at the rehearsals for the play she is to appear in and it is very interesting when we first met Gregg Adams and makes it clear that her character originally is not really interested in any kind of relationship , but of course later on in the film it turns out that Gregg Adams gets totally obsessed about one person she has fallen madly in love with. But that particular person is only interested in just having sex with Gregg Adams and of course eventually we get to see her end up in a very tragic event that happens to her character on getting 100% rejected. When we see Gregg Adams leaving the theatre where she was doing rehearsals, we are informed that we are in 45th Street of New York where three theatres are visible and the scene was actually shot in May 1959. We also hear that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were hoping to be in ‘The Best of Everything,’ but they were both turned down, and especially Paul Newman because he as under contract with Warner Bros., and they would not allow him to appear in the 20th Century-Fox film. Rona Jaffe says that when her novel “The Best of Everything” was about to be released, they publicised it as a novel about married men having affairs with the women in the publicity company. Rona Jaffe talks about the Stephen Boyd character, who does not want to get married and in the novel his character is a dog, but they changes his character for the film, to show eventually he is a very sympathetic character, especially towards Hope Lange’s character in the film and especially when her male finance gets married to another woman in London, but also of the Stephen Boyd’s character at first is only interested in his relationship to booze, but eventually Hope Lange’s character helps him to realise there is more to life than alcohol. We finally get to see the three character friends in their New York apartment, but in reality the real types of apartments in New York were not very big compared to what we see in the film, they definitely never had any windows and you were lucky to have an air shaft. When you see Hope Lange’s character lying on the single bed on her back, well on the back of the Blu-ray cover is that scene in the film, but the image is in reverse. They then go into the history of the actress Joan Crawford and how she rose up the ladder of her acting career, but also how Joan Crawford got involved with the company Pepsi-Cola and they give great detail about how Joan Crawford spent a great of time travelling all over America promoting Pepsi-Cola with her husband Alfred Steele (14 January 1956 – 19 April 1959) who was the CEO of the Pepsi-Cola Company until his death from a heart attack in April 1959, five days shy of his 59th birthday and was the fourth and last husband of actress Joan Crawford. After the death of Alfred Steele, Joan Crawford decided to go back to appear in the film ‘The Best of Everything’ and at the same time Alfred Steele had to borrow heavily against his future earnings to finance the lavish apartment on Fifth Avenue that Joan Crawford insisted he needed, but accumulated a massive amount of debt and Joan Crawford was forced to sell the property, so that is why Joan Crawford had to go back into films to pay off this outstanding debt all on her own. Eventually we get to see Stephen Boyd’s apartment with Hope Lange’s character and they say that his New York apartment was quite accurate for an executive of his status in the publicity company he worked for, and eventually we get to see both of them getting totally drunk, but not like in the film ‘Lost Weekend’ more like jolly good drunks. They talk about Hope Lange’s character in the film and how she likes to be her own boss and will not be treated in a harsh way like Miss Farrow and how she stands up against the old dragon, whereas women in that office environment in 1950’s America had to be trained to be very passive and very sweet and especially good and that is why Hope Lange’s character wanted to be very feisty and to stand up for herself and not put up with any nonsense. Also pointed out is that by now you will have noticed the women all wear pearl necklaces, and especially large golf ball beads necklaces and you will eventually see throughout the film that these necklaces get larger and larger and you also will see Joan Crawford’s character wearing a seven strand necklace. They say that a lot of women in 1950’s America that going into publishing was a very prestige job, especially if they were Major in English at a USA College and especially wanting to be around books, and even if their wages were not very good, and despite this, they were very desperate for a job in a publishing company. They also say that the men got much higher wages than the women in the 1950’s and Rona Jaffe says that one day she went to her boss and asked why are the men getting more money than the women, especially doing the same job as the men, and her boss said that women will eventually get married and support a family and also tells Rona Jaffe that she will eventually leave and get married and Rona Jaffe replies back, “How do you know I will get married and leave,” and again her boss replied back, “The fact is the women in the office are only temporarily and expendable and are going to get married.” So again in 1950’s America that is what women had to put up with and endure with these dinosaur bosses. At one point in the film they point out a fabulous pre-war building that has Miss Farrow’s apartment in it, and says it is very lavish for the 1950’s and had a fabulous view of New York and was probably a bit expensive for Miss Farrow’s position in the FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, and normally you would have had to be married to a high powered executive to own an apartment like Miss Farrow’s, but of course it helps that she lives on her own, and probably was getting a real good salary from the FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, and they point out Miss Farrow’s nice cocktail apron she was wearing, that was very common in 1950’s America and especially with women who entertained a lot and also gave lavish dinner parties. Rona Jaffe says when her novel came out, life in America was going through lots of changes, especially when people were commuting into big cities to work and to live, and again changes were happen very fast and especially in New York City, as it was a very frenetic life style, and of course women started getting very sophisticated, especially in New York and tended to find heterosexual men rather dull and not so sophisticated. When we see the actress leaves Miss Farrow’s apartment with the Louis Jordan character and see them walking together on a New York street, well it is pointed out that this was in fact the backlot of 20th Century-Fox, as is the luxurious apartment of Louis Jordan’s character and some of the paintings we see on the walls, the artist is totally unknown and feels that someone at 20th Century-Fox had painted them, and feels the Louis Jordon character has very good taste in art. As we get to chapter 23, we get the scene with the two classic Greyhound buses with all the staff from FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY on their typical annual picnic trip outing, which is supposed to be for team building, and of course the FABIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY executive philosophy is that all their workers have to be keen to go on these outings and of course it is a totally opposite attitude for the workers, and Rona Jaffe worked for several publisher companies who did the same yearly outing’s, and sometimes going to parks, sometimes to executives homes, but what we view in the film is a Country Club, and with all the typical traditional picnic activities, like the three legged race, that potato sack race, and of course get the general plethora of drunk executives and also playing around in the bushes. Also it is the only time the women can get drunk and tell their boss to their face what they think of them. They comment about the fact that when the film ‘The Best of Everything’ came out, all the critics compared it to the film ‘Peyton Place,’ but of course that film it had the typical sexual predatory father. At one point in the film, they point out that the very naïve April comes upon the white British Jaguar XK140 that was a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1954 and 1957, that was owned by Dexter, who April is about to meet and in 1950’s America a lot of young rich Americans who spent time all over Europe would bring back British Triumph MG’s and Jaguar cars as status cymbals and of course tells you what Dexter’s character is really like, who uses women as disposable items and of course most of the time just gets women pregnant and couldn’t care less about the woman having to deal with the pregnancy all on her own. They talk about the Art Directors for the film ‘The Best of Everything,’ which were Mark-Lee Kirk, Jack Martin Smith and Lyle R. Wheeler and this was Mark-Lee Kirk’s last film and other films all three had worked on was ‘Hello Dolly!’ [1969], ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ [1970], and several of ‘The Planet of the Apes’ films, and the sequel to the ‘The Valley of the Dolls’ which was ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’ [1970], and other films they all worked on was ‘Tony Rome’ [1967], ‘In Like Flint’ [1967], ‘Fantastic Voyage’ [1966] and also worked on ‘Peyton Place’ [1957] and ‘An Affair to Remember’ [1957] and together they received 29 Oscar Nominations and a total of Five Oscars, and are credited to 345 films and one of them was originally involved with the original 1939 ‘A Star Is Born’ film. At the same time the 1959 film ‘The Best of Everything,’ they quote the age of some of the actors in that film and they were Hope Lange was 28, Stephen Boyd was 28, Brett Halsey was 26, Martha Hyer was 35, Donald Harron was 35, Diane Baker was the baby at 21, Robert Evans was 29, Suzy Parker was 28, Louis Jordan was 40, Brian Aherne was 57 and Joan Crawford was 53. We hear that 20th Century-Fox built 35 sets for the fil, and the Wedding Shower scene we view is overflowing with booze, but of course that is now the thing of the past, and 90% of the dialogue was directly from the novel, which is what 20th Century-Fox wanted from the author’s novel. They talk about the history of actor Louis Jordan who was born Louis Robert Gendre in Marseille, France, in 1921, and one of three sons of Yvonne (née Jourdan) and Henry Gendre, a hotel owner. He was educated in France, Turkey, and the UK, and studied acting at the École Dramatique. While there, he began acting on the professional stage, where he was brought to the attention of director Marc Allégret, who hired him to work as an assistant camera operator on the film ‘Entrée des Artistes’ [‘The Curtain Rises’] and spent most of his career cultivated dashing polished lead roles and Louis Jordan was spotted in a French film by a talent scout working for David O. Selznick, who offered the actor a contract in March 1946. His first American film was ‘The Paradine Case’ [1947] starring Gregory Peck and is a drama directed by Alfred Hitchcock, who did not want Jourdan cast as the valet in the film. Louis Jordan remained in America and starred in over 70 films, but was hampered by the limitation of roles he was offered and most of which featured him as an old fashioned continental lover and Louis Jordan appeared in his biggest hit playing the romantic lead alongside Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier in the film version of the novella by Colette, entitled ‘Gigi’ in 1958. This film won nine Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Also appeared in the all-star romance film of ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ [1954] about three women trying to make it in the world. Louis Jordon co-starred with Frank Sinatra, Maurice Chevalier and Shirley MacLaine in the musical film ‘Can-Can’ [1960]. They say when the film ‘The Best of Everything’ was released, there was a lot of censorship and they had to make a lot of changes to the movie, but the people who loved the novel, also loved the film and they did not mind the racy things that they read in the novel was not in the film, but they still loved the film, and in America in 1959 you could not say the word “pregnant” in films and television. When we get to chapter 19, we get to view the scene that is truly bizarre, where Dexter turns out to be a nasty piece of work, and we see him drive off with April in his white Jaguar car, as April thinks they are going to get married, because she is of course she has been made pregnant by Dexter, but of course Dexter is taking April to get an abortion and it is truly disgusting and of course April is totally devastated, as all April wanted to do is get married to Dexter and of course in the 1950’s if you was not married and you are made pregnant you are looked upon someone who has no morals and a chased woman, especially having a baby out of wedlock, even though it was not the woman’s fault and of course could ruin the woman’s life, and of course when April hears where Dexter is taking her and is offering her a large amount of money, we get to see the totally tragic event, where April jumps out of the moving car and lands on the grass face down and eventually ending up in hospital totally ashamed of what has happened to her and of course sadly loses the baby, and in the corridor where Dexter is writing out a cheque for a large sum of money, and we see Hope Lange giving Dexter a really nasty stare and is extremely angry with his mindless attitude and suddenly slaps him real hard on the side of his face and all women watching that scene in the cinema would all cheer out loud. Eventually when we get to chapter 23 we get to see obsessed Gregg Adams standing outside Louis Jordan’s apartment door hoping to get in, but cannot as he took his spare key away from him, and then you see this man come up behind her and frightens Gregg Adams and keeps banging on the door trying to let her in and in desperation with her twisted mind escapes via the fire escape and we eventually see the tragic end to her life in general, and all because her heal got stuck in the grate of the fire escape and a group of them all rush to the apartment block and when they arrive they see the dead body of Gregg Adams being wheeled off to the mortuary and of course the Hope Lange character looks at Louis Jordan with a daggers star and as the lens pans back, we see the sad dejected scene of Louis Jordan going back to his empty apartment. Author Rona Jaffe mention that she went to the opening night of ‘The Best of Everything’ film and after viewing really loved what she viewed, but went back again the next day to view the film again and at the end of the film she now hated it, as a what a lot she wrote in the novel was not in the film, but overall Rona Jaffe feels the film actually stands on its own for what it is, and also feels it is a very classic movie of the 1950’s. As we get to chapter 24 and we see the Hope Lange character in a her new very spacious office and has now gone up in the world as an editor, but we notice she is wearing a small black hat in her office and when she is leaving her office wearing her small black hate and we are informed that there were women like Hope Lange’s character in the 1950’s America who worked in Vogue and Harpers publications who all wore little black hats and grey gloves, and the reason those women wore the little black hats in their office, is to make people feel they are important. As we get near to the end of the film, we see Hope Lange’s character has just exited the building she was working in and is now out into New York City and meets the Stephen Boyd character to indicate a very happy ending to the film, and basically walking off together to hopefully have a happy bright future together, as they have now both found happiness they were truly seeking. Both commentators say they both enjoyed watching and commentating on the movie and they hope we enjoyed viewing the film also. Well I personally really enjoyed the wonderful and fabulous film that everyone should try to get to view and to see how glamorous these films made in the 1950’s period looked.
Theatrical Trailer [1959] [1080i] [2.35:1] [2:53] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘The Best of Everything.’ This preview informs us that . . . In the outspoken tradition of ‘Peyton Place,’ 20th Century-Fox brings a great new best-seller to the screen . . . It undresses the ambitions and emotions of the girls who invade the glamorous world of the big city, seeking success, love, marriage and the best of everything . . . and often settle for less! The Great Best-Seller Story of . . . The Girls Who Would Do Anything To Get . . . ‘The Best of Everything.’
Special Feature: Fox Movietone News [1959] [1080i] [1.37:1] [1:09] Here they inform us that ‘The Best of Everything’ in notable Premiere with Fashion Topper, and is described by Joe King. But with this 1959 Fox Movietone News it chronicles the star-studded premiere of 'The Best of Everything' film which included appearances of Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Johnny Mathis the singer, cast members Hope Lange with husband Don Murray and Robert Evans, and author Rona Jaffe, along with a couple of fur-clad fashionistas.
PLUS: ‘The Best of Everything’ Twilight Time limited edition 8 page booklet written by Julie Kirgo. Includes some wonderful colour photograph stills from the film and the iconic film poster.
Finally, ‘The Best of Everything’ is a high gloss large screen soap opera which follows the careers of four career women, Hope Lange, Suzy Parker, Diane Baker, and Martha Hyer at a New York publishing firm. Presiding over this group of young fillies is wise old Joan Crawford who's been around the track a few times on screen and in real life. Joan Crawford looks right at home as the boss lady as well she should have at this point. ‘The Best of Everything’ is one of the great staples of one of my favourite genres: 1950’s melodramas. A cross between Peyton Place and Three Coins in a Fountain, this luscious drama follows several secretaries who try to pursue both love and a career, although as Johnny Mathis sings in the title song during the opening credits, “Romance is still the best of everything,” they learn that sometimes, a woman can't have both. We get some wonderful location shots of New York in the fifties that make the film a real treat. This is one of my favourite films, so obviously I'm going to recommend it. Although it varies drastically from Rona Jaffe's racy novel, it was still very shocking compared to the earlier films of the 1950’s. Pregnancy, mistresses, torrid love affairs, infidelity, and casual sex are all topics within this film. WORD OF WARNING: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, this film might not be your friend. When Suzy Parker starts hiding out on the fire escape, the camera tilts for the next few scenes and that might make you feel sick. In other words “Don't Look Down, Mom!” Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
