Die Macht und ihr Preis

I notice that THIS time when asked if he knew of any Commies Rat Fink Bob said "no". Guess art does not imitate life, huh? Then again, at no point should this dull, talky, ploddingly directed film be confused with art.

Before filming The Power and the Prize, MGM had two years before done another and better film on the corporate business culture with Executive Suite. It's not that The Power and the Prize is a bad film, but Executive Suite was better and surely had more star quality.

In Executive Suite the head of a corporation that manufactures furniture dies suddenly with no groomed successor to move in. The whole film is about the struggle for power to succeed.

The Power and the Prize has the head very much alive in Burl Ives and he's got a successor in mind in Robert Taylor. Taylor is also the fiancé of Ives's niece so real control won't be leaving his hands. He's given Taylor an assignment in Great Britain to complete a merger of a British firm with their's. And he's to do it on Ives's terms which means total control.

Mrs. Ives, who's played by Mary Astor, gives Taylor an additional assignment to check out some charities she's been contributing to in Europe.

Taylor develops a conscience about what he's doing and additionally falls in love with Elizabeth Mueller who works for the charity. He breaks it off with the niece and fails in the assignment.

The rest of the film is a struggle between the bitterly disappointed Ives and Taylor who Ives tries to destroy.

Taylor, no longer the callow matinée idol of the thirties, really developed into a fine player and some of his best performances on screen are in the fifties. Ives's part is a pre-cursor of his Big Daddy role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof without the southern ambiance.

It's a good film, but I think the issues were far better done by MGM in Executive Suite.

Robert Taylor has to evaluate "The Power and the Prize," a 1956 film also starring Elisabeth Mueller, Burl Ives, Mary Astor and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Taylor plays Cliff Barton, second in command to George Salt (Burl Ives) - he's also engaged to marry Salt's niece. Assigned to close a difficult deal in England, Cliff is unhappy about his boss' instructions, but tries to carry them out anyway. Salt wants him to withhold part of their demands until the very end of the negotiation. He warns Salt that doing things his way will blow this important deal, but Salt insists.

While in London and checking on a charity for Mrs. Salt, Cliff meets a German refugee, Miriam Linka (Mueller). They fall in love, and Cliff wants to marry her. Meanwhile, sure enough, the deal is blown, and Salt blames Cliff. Complicating things is Cliff's cancellation of the wedding (though his bride-to-be is just as happy about it as he is) and some nasty rumors that have been circulated about Miriam. Back at the office, it appears there is going to be a power struggle.

This is a grand MGM drama about conscience and following what you know to be honest and right versus just "following orders." There are some good moments, but all in all, it's pretty routine. The character of Miriam seems off the wall, lecturing Cliff as soon as he walks into her agency. Mueller in fact gives a very hyperactive performance which isn't a good match with Taylor's deliberate, steady portrayal. For me, the best acting comes from Charles Coburn as one of the officers in Salt's company and Mary Astor as Salt's wife. Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who has such a magnificent speaking voice, is excellent but alas, it's neither a big role nor a showy one.

Certainly not a bad movie but all of these actors have appeared in better.

"Executive Suite" this ain't. THE POWER AND THE PRIZE falls short on several counts already mentioned in previous critiques (I fully agree with the somewhat poorly acted female leads, but they are severely hampered by weakly written characters, especially Taylor's young fiancee; look at her disappointment at her wedding being delayed and compare that to being dumped). The one mildly interesting twist is the the concern over the vague political past of Taylor's new love interest. The fact that she's a concentration camp survivor is of little empathy compared to the doubts various people have of whether she's a commie! Given Robert Taylor's known ultra-conservative bent, it's strange to see him act sympathetic and even unconcerned about her politics. Fact is, Taylor seems to be sleepwalking through this one--- and despite only being in his mid-40's he looks old. The final confrontation between Ives (a part that begs for real-life proto-fascist Adolph Menjou) and Taylor is anti-climatic, lacking any real tension or drama (unlike EXECUTIVE SUITE'S boffo final board meeting). All the production values are present, it's just the script should have been sent back for a re-write. A 3/10--- interesting only as a snapshot at what our priorities were 47 years ago.

Hollywood put a great cast of veteran actors into this film, everyone of them performed to perfection and lets remember, it was made in 1956, and many of these actors were under contract to the studio to perform in certain films. Most of these actors were getting old and even Robert Taylor, (Cliff Barton),"D-Day the Sixth of June",'56 was 44 years of age appearing with a new star, Elisabeth Muller,(Miriam Linka) and had intentions in the film to marry her. Elisabeth Muller made this film her Swan Song and never appeared in an American film after this film. Burl Ives,(George Salt),"Ensign Pulver",'64, was the CEO of a company in New York and considered Cliff Barton his son and planned on him to carry out a great business deal in England. Charles Coburn, (Guy Eliot),"Town on Trial", Cedric Hardwicke, (Mr. Careu),"The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel",'51, and Mary Astor,(Mrs. George Salt),"The Maltese Falcon",'41 gave great supporting roles. This is a rather interesting film about big business years ago and still seems to apply in the business world today, ONLY WORSE. If you love great veteran actors and love the many films they performed in over the years, this is the film for you.