Room at the Top

Set in an English factory town, "Room At The Top" tells the story of an ambitious, blue-collar cad named Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey), the film's anti-hero, attracted to two women. One woman is his boss's daughter; ergo, she is his ticket to a bright financial future. The other is an older woman named Alice (Simone Signoret).

The script trends in the direction of melodramatic soap opera, with emphasis on character development. It's rather talky. And the plot is somewhat slow. On the other hand, because of the way in which sexual relationships are portrayed, the script was a bit ahead of its time. The story has a lot to say about individual sacrifice.

The film's naturalistic, B&W lighting is fine. Background music is nondescript and unimportant. The most significant element of the film, perhaps, is the high quality of acting. Both Donald Wolfit and Hermione Baddeley give really fine performances in support roles. But, of course, the real reason to see "Room At The Top" is to marvel at the outstanding performance of Simone Signoret, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in a lead role.

Although this is not my kind of film, it is very well made. It's an important film, both for its avant-garde sexual content and for the acting achievement of wonderful Simone Signoret.

Laurence Harvey wants "Room at the Top" in this 1959 film also starring Simone Signoret and Heather Sears. Directed by Jack Clayton, the story concerns a young man, Joe Lampton (Harvey), sensitive about being from a low British class, who wants to marry the boss' daughter (Sears) for her money and position. She's part of a small amateur theater company, so he joins. There he meets an older woman, the unhappily married Alice Aisgill. The two drift into an affair and fall deeply in love. Two things stand in their way: Joe's ambition and Alice's brute of a husband.

This is, to put it simply, a devastating story that will stay with you long after the film is over. The movie belongs to Signoret, so sexy, so beautiful, so sad - she's perfect. Her vulnerability, her frankness, her coolness, and her deep unhappiness will shatter you. She deserved her Oscar hands-down.

Harvey is magnificent as Joe. He's handsome, sexy, greedy, bitter, evil, and utterly determined to punish the upper class because he was born poor. The last scene is a knockout. I haven't seen the sequel - I can only imagine! Heather Sears does an excellent job as the whiny object of his affections, and Hermoine Baddeley, as Alice's friend, gives a marvelous performance. She was not only a top bawdy comedienne but a brilliant actress.

Signoret was one of the great film presences, and if you see Room at the Top for no other reason, see it for her. The entire film is a knockout.

I recently viewed this film from 1959 and was totally riveted to it. Directed by Jack Clayton, it is a timeless love story set in post-war Britain with the incomparable Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey at the centre of the storm. The background highlights the struggle between class and ambition in 1950's Britain. Laurence Harvey plays Joe Lampton, the "angry young man" who is motivated to make something of himself in a world that he is not comfortable with. Harvey portrays a new kid on the block who has taken a job at city hall, where he works with other young men like himself. He and his buddies remind us of randy high school students discovering the world and women all at once.

While Joe shows all the aptitudes necessary for advancement, he is a man of principle who inherits the hostility of the working class that flares up when provoked by snide remarks about where he came from. He has trouble playing the game but no trouble attracting the attention of the ladies. At first attracted to the daughter of a local tycoon, he knows that he is an outsider and seeks the advice and friendship of an older woman - the genuine and magnetic Signoret, who plays the lovelorn wife of a local businessman and philanderer. Over time, he falls deeply in love with the older woman and the time they spend alone provides some of the most compelling scenes you are likely to find in the cinema of the 1950's. After successfully wooing her, he runs headlong into the realities of life, leading to a gut-wrenching climax, which you won't forget.

This is an excellent film. The human traits of ambition and greed are played out wonderfully by the well selected cast. Harvey is his usual dour self and the industrial settings of urban England add to the melancholy mood of the film. He is so good as the misguided protagonist that you end up supporting his machinations. For me it seemed to reflect the constant battle between the classes, and the value of merit and truth in life.

This is a superb movie. The plot is reminiscent of "An American Tragedy." But it takes place in England, and the hero is very much an Angry Young Man. Nevertheless, it is so beautifully written and directed it feels as fresh and new as if the such issues had never before been touched in movies.

Laurence Harvey, whom I'm generally not crazy about, is superb as the lower-class guy determined to make it big. He sets his sights on the boss's daughter, appealingly played by Heather Sears. But something happens to sidetrack him. And that something -- Simone Signoret -- is the main reason to see and to cherish "Room At The Top." She is very believable as the slightly shady older woman with whom he has a romance. And her eyes! Her eyes, suggesting wisdom and great depths of sadness, will break you heart. It seems like a simple performance and it is uncluttered, stark. But it is flawless. I can think of almost no other performance by a woman in an English-language movie that compares to Signoret's.