The Best of Everything (1959)An expose of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher ups. Director:Jean Negulesco |
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The Best of Everything (1959)An expose of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher ups. Director:Jean Negulesco |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Hope Lange | ... |
Caroline Bender
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| Stephen Boyd | ... |
Mike Rice
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| Suzy Parker | ... |
Gregg Adams
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| Martha Hyer | ... |
Barbara Lamont
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| Diane Baker | ... |
April Morrison
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| Brian Aherne | ... |
Fred Shalimar
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| Robert Evans | ... |
Dexter Key
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| Brett Halsey | ... |
Eddie Harris
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Donald Harron | ... |
Sidney Carter
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Sue Carson | ... |
Mary Agnes
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Linda Hutchings | ... |
Jane
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Lionel Kane | ... |
Paul Landers
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Ted Otis | ... |
Dr. Ronnie Wood
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| Louis Jourdan | ... |
David Savage
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| Joan Crawford | ... |
Amanda Farrow
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With her unofficial fiancé Eddie Harris studying in England for a year, Radcliffe educated Caroline Bender decides to get her first ever job as a secretary at Manhattan located Fabian Publishing, which offers its employees "the best of everything". There, she finds her story is somewhat similar to all the other secretaries, who are biding their time in the secretarial pool either before getting married - to a current or future beau - or moving on to their dream job. In the latter category is aspiring actress Gregg Adams, who with fellow secretary, the naive and inexperienced April Morrison, become Caroline's new roommates. Caroline also finds that as a secretary to the editors, she has to learn the special needs and foibles of each. They include the "witch" Amanda Farrow whose demanding exterior masks a truly lonely woman, the aging Lothario Fred Shalimar, and the understanding Mike Rice, whose best friend is a bottle of booze. The path to true happiness for each of Caroline, Gregg ... Written by Huggo
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.