vincentlynch-moonoi Yes, after getting off to a rather poor start, this film grows on you. Or at least it grew on me. The beginning, setting the stage, seemed so very cliché, but as the film progresses we see that most of the characters have a fairly interesting story to tell us.The real treasure here is Hope Lange, whom I remember enjoying in movies and on television quite a bit before she faded in my memory. She's excellent here, an probably the highlight of the film. As the main character, she matures in her character's role from naive secretary to executive...and makes it believable.On the other hand, Stephen Boyd, whom she eventually appears to fall in love with, does little more than stand around in a few scenes. And in those few scenes he was pretty ineffectual. Surprisingly, he was stunning in his very next film -- "Ben-Hur"! I also wan't very impressed with Suzy Parker as a secretary. Her role is significant, but somehow she just didn't have star quality...other than her looks.I would like to have seen more of Martha Hyer, a very underrated actress. Her part is not that significant here.Diane Baker was quite good as another of the secretaries, and significant parts of the film revolve around her affair and later romance.Brian Aherne is around as an older editor who can't keep his hands off the young secretaries. He's okay, but I was not impressed.Louis Jourdan is here as a Broadway director, and although his role is not large, it is significant, and he handles it well.And then we have Joan Crawford. Her present-day image as a witch (or something that rhymes with that)...well, this role helped cement that image. But, her role is my biggest criticism of the film. Almost seems like they sat around saying, "Hey, we need a witch to counteract with a couple of the characters. Maybe we could get that over-the-hill actress Joan Crawford." It almost becomes camp. This was Crawford's last film before she fell into horror pictures.The acting runs from hot to cold in this film (as described above), and Crawford is little more than a distraction. But there's a lot to like here, as well. It really does have quite a good story line, however, and as previously mentioned, Hope Lange is superb.

trig6 I watched the first few moments on TCM a few years ago but stopped after about 15 minutes. I saw it listed on the schedule at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, and I vowed I would make the 40 minute drive. The Stanford is an old fashioned movie house that starts each movie with the curtains still shut Yes, they have curtains. They opened as the Fox logo fanfare began to play. When "The Best of Everything" appeared in huge pink letters spread against the New York City skyline, I knew I was right for waiting.I lapped this movie up. There were so many little moments that added to the look and feel of the movie: When Hope Lange walks into the publishing office for the first time, the titles of the magazines published there are etched on the glass (The Teenager and Elegance); Joan Crawford's swanky apron that she wore so she could serve her guests at her party without mussing her outfit; the way the camera tilted to indicate how crazy Suzy Parker was becoming (it was almost sideways at one point); how Hope Lange kept living at that dumpy flat she shared with the others even though she obviously was making a lot more money than at the beginning of the film (guess it was too scandalous for a single gal to live alone).Hope Lange was so beautiful; so was Suzy Parker. And how about Mark Goddard in a non-speaking role. I fell in love with him when I was a kid watching Lost in Space.Seeing this gem on the big screen prompted me to plan another trek down to the Stanford to see The Old Dark House. Incidentally, I bought a small soda and popcorn at the concession stand, and I was taken aback when the worker asked me for two bucks.

Lolly2222 Having grown up in the typing pool era and dealing with office politics and men who were apt to make a banquet of beauties into a delightful meal day to day, this movie hits the mark. Good afternoon fare. I understand that Louis Jordan wanted to work in this movie to play opposite the quintessential GORGEOUS Suzy Parker. Everyone wanted to be in and I believe it has done well and held up over time. Best on screen kiss between Hope Lange and the late Stephen Boyd.It may not appear that anything of this is plausible but actually it was and probably still is even given the scare of sexual harassment. I thought the movie was well cast except the awful acting of Evans. What a grease ball but he found his niche someplace else. Other than that, all stepped up to the plate.

dodgerdiva That's a bad, raunchy, predictable, tacky, salacious soap opera? "The Best of Everything" is just such a guilty pleasure for me, something along the lines of "Valley of the Dolls". I mean, "Best" has everything. Somebody gets pregnant out of wedlock (when's the last time you heard THAT phrase?), there are affairs everywhere, drinking, backstabbing, jealousy, and even a tragic but not altogether unexpected death.Caroline Bender (Hope Lange) and Mike Rice (the delicious Stephen Boyd) are the centerpieces of the goings-on. Their chemistry is immediate and is the glue that keeps this film from becoming too fragmented.Suzy Parker, the off-the-chart gorgeous ex-fashion model, appears as Gregg Adams, an aspiring stage actress, a role that, according to any biography I've ever read about her, was apparently not much of a stretch. But Parker does a surprisingly credible job here, more than holding her own in a couple of scenes opposite Louis Jourdan who plays David Savage. Jourdan probably took this role for the money and the special screen credit because he was clearly headed down the aging star/has-been road.Diane Baker is fine as naive, gullible April Morrison, Martha Hyer as Barbara Lemont has a particularly juicy storyline, and film legend Joan Crawford chews her usual serving of scenery as Amanda Farrow, another role, like Jourdan's Savage, that Crawford likely took for the paycheck.There is some obviously dated dialog and plot devices (this IS 1959), and the predictability of the soap opera genre. But if you like a good soap as I do, "The Best of Everything" will more than satisfy you.