Leilão de Almas

As a sequel to "Room at the Top" by the same author John Braine, it is less passionate but more intricate and psychological, as Laurence Harvey finds himself in the difficult position of being married to Jean Simmons, the daughter of a prominent businessman (Donald Wolfit) who gives him everything as his son-in-law except integrity and self-respect. He finds himself at a loss missing this most important thing in life as his wife deceives him with his best friend, and he tries in desperation to find an alternative, which he believes himself to find in Honor Blackman, a successful political TV journalist. The experiment is not very successful though, and he still considers himself stuck in the net of his father-in-law, while Jean Simmons is very different from her father. It's a complicated case which poses many problems and questions, but ultimately there seems to be some solution in the form of some compromise. The cast is excellent, every actor here is super and just right, even Robert Morley as a competitor of Donald Wolfit adds to the party, and above all this is a humanly interesting film, posing questions and problems of marriage, position, career, integríty and loyalty/disloyalty - an extra touch of excellence to the film is Richard Addinsell's music, which is needed indeed in the bleak environment of industrial Yorkshire. Jean Simmons as always lifts the film to a very interesting level, Laurence Harvey is an excellent match for her in acting, while all the others merely add details to the predicament of these two. If you have seen "Room at the Top", this will not be a disappointment to you.

I enjoyed this more than Room at the Top, there was more of a storyline and Laurence Harvey wasn't quite so wooden. Jean Simmonds was far stronger as Joes wife, Susan, than Heather Sears in the first film, and this gave a lot more bite to the relationship. A lot was made of the canal-side development, but this never reached a conclusion. It was just left hanging as the film concluded the other storylines.

The first film was set in 1947 and this was 10 years on, so Harry's 10th birthday would have been early 1958, but there were at least two references to be set in the 1960s. The first, in the background is the soundtrack album for Never on a Sunday, which was released in 1960. Also, Joe telling his father-in-law about his halitosis refers to a Christmas Party in '61 and by inference this was at least a couple of years previously.

I came to this film not having seen Room at the Top (1959) and not having read the novel. So my thoughts are based on it being a stand alone film - which might be a failing on my part, it is a sequel after all. I suspect this film was made (like so many sequels) on the back of the success of Room at the Top, rather than a stand alone piece of work. Anyway, my view of this film must be taken in this context.

Notwithstanding it's production in 1965 it somehow felt dated, perhaps exacerbated by being in black and white. The themes and the characters all seemed so stereotypical, outmoded and emotionally shallow. The main character played by Laurence Harvey (Joe Lampton) was very hard to like, he didn't seem to have many redeeming facets to his personality at all, often I felt I didn't really care what happened to him. There needs to be something in a main character to carry you through the story from beginning to end, not as in this case a man managing with a colossal chip on his shoulder. This wasn't the fault of Mr Harvey - more the way his character was written. This pretty much goes for all concerned. A superb cast do the best with what they have, hamstrung by what is often wooden dialogue.

My interest was only sustained by seeing the film as a document to mid-sixties England, the gorgeous Jean Simmons and glimpses of some fabulous cars - especially a Maserati Quattroporte.

By Allah, this movie depressed me. Not many people are like a brain this movie because they all have their flaws and of course that is like real life still at remains and moving you want to be entertained where is the entertainment offered in this film flick are not really the kind you want to write home to your parents about and because of this once again the movie ends up to be pretty boring especially if you haven't read your original book on which this movie by the way even is a sequel on so you wonder what it is all about and then when you watch the movie you cannot help but feeling disappointed in the depressing life choices some of the characters are making. Personally I did not dislike the acting performances and by Allah Jean Simmons is always a wonderful marvel to look it. Mashallah!!

Not bad, sequel wise. If it's a long way from "Godfather, Part Two" it is an even farther distance from "Godfather, Part Three". The first half is definitely the lesser part. Canadian director Ted Kotcheff and scenarist, Mordechai Richler (the "Duddy Kravitz" team) examine British snobbery, adultery, and Tory politics amusingly and with a lively pace but do not really give us anything that the 1958 film did not present in much more dramatic fashion. And while the entire cast gives solid performances, as expected from Brit actors, there is no character in the sequel as compelling as Simone Signoret was in the original playing a literal and figurative outsider who must be sacrificed on the altar of Joe Lampton's desire for wealth and status.

However, in the second half a most interesting change occurs. Joe decides to leave his wife and cushy, if humiliating, job in the provinces and journey to London to be with a woman he's convinced will rejuvenate him. The opposite happens as she rises in her profession while he is stuck in occupational limbo and suddenly Joe is faced, as are most of us sometime in our existences, with the question, How will I live my life? I, for one, found that Kotcheff and Richler posed this question interestingly and answered it most intelligently (if heavy handedly, at times, as in the ending where Joe is literally "locked in" to his job). And since interest and intelligence are in short supply in the cinema I'm glad I didn't pull the plug on this movie halfway through. Give it a B.

PS...Is it just me or did Jean Simmons get hotter with age?