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Room at the Top (1959)

 -  Drama | Romance  -  22 January 1959 (UK)
7.7
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Ratings: 7.7/10 from 2,488 users  
Reviews: 33 user | 19 critic

An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.

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(screenplay), (novel), 1 more credit »
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Title: Room at the Top (1959)

Room at the Top (1959) on IMDb 7.7/10

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Won 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 10 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Heather Sears ...
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Allan Cuthbertson ...
Raymond Huntley ...
John Westbrook ...
Ambrosine Phillpotts ...
Richard Pasco ...
Beatrice Varley ...
Delena Kidd ...
Eva
...
April Olrich ...
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Storyline

The English factory town is dreary but Joe Lampton has landed a job with a future. To have something to do at night he joins a theatrical group. His boss's daughter Susan is playing ingenue roles on stage and in real life. She is attracted to Joe and Joe thinks about how much faster he will get ahead if he is the boss's son-in-law. This plan is complicated by his strong desire to be with an older woman who also belongs to the theatrical group. She is French and unhappily married. Joe believes he can get away with seeing both women. Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess,com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

A Savage Story of lust and ambition

Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

22 January 1959 (UK)  »

Also Known As:

Der Weg nach oben  »

Company Credits

Production Co:

,  »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Westrex Recording System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Released in the same year as Anatomy of a Murder, an American film that also challenged censors with its sexually explicit content. It too was a major box office success and went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. See more »

Goofs

The story takes place in 1947, but all the women's fashions and hairstyles are strictly in the contemporary 1958 mode, when the film went before the cameras. See more »

Quotes

[last lines]
Susan Brown: Joe, wasn't it absolutely the most wonderful wedding? Now we really belong to each other, till death us do part. Darling, you're crying! I believe you really are sentimental after all.
See more »

Connections

Followed by Life at the Top (1965) See more »

Soundtracks

"Roses from the South"
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauß
Arranged by Lambert Williamson
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Simone Signoret Is Magnificent
20 May 2009 | by See all my reviews

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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Recent Posts
Great performance from Laurence Harvey marzmello
If Warnley is Bradford, what is Dufton? margot
similar films daleac
DVD? haciendacaliente
What year was Room at the Top released? 58 or 59? roryo-2
Not just this, the sequel is soon to be on DVD too! nowisthetimeforheroes
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