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The Best of Everything
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Directed by Jean Negulesco.
A star-studded cast enlivens this glossy soap opera, based on a novel by Rona Jaffe. Caroline Bender (Hope Lange) is a recent graduate of a prestigious women's college who wants to make her mark in the publishing industry. She gets a job in the secretarial pool of Fabian Publishing, hoping to rise through the ranks and become an editor, and soon takes an apartment with three of her co-workers. Caroline quickly realizes that she has a catbird seat to witness the romantic entanglements and office politics of Fabian's many female employees. Top editor Amanda Farrow (Joan Crawford) is having an affair with a mysterious married man, and Caroline's three roommates have tales of their own to tell: Barbara (Martha Hyer) is also involved with a married man, (Donald Harron); April (Diane Baker) has become pregnant by the unscrupulous Dexter (Robert Evans), who suggests she have an abortion; and Gregg (Suzy Parker) has become involved with smooth-talking David (Louis Jordan), who callously drops her for another woman. Robert Evans's career as an actor came to an end after this film, and he later enjoyed success as a studio head at Paramount Pictures in the 1970s, supervising The Godfather, and serving as producer of such films as Chinatown and Marathon Man. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
lost interest.
Although there are a number of problems with The Best of Everything, the biggest is that the creators emphasized the "everything" over the "best." Even at 135 minutes, there simply is too much going on in this overblown, over-the-top soap opera look at career gals in 1950s Manhattan. No one expects an exploitive melodrama to really delve into its themes and characters the way a serious drama would, but the viewer does have the right to expect some realistic detail. This doesn't matter so much at first, as the high-gloss sheen of the production (director Jean Negulesco certainly knew the way this kind of movie should look) and the oh-so-1950s corporate atmosphere are a lot of fun -- and it doesn't hurt that the younger members of the cast are so incredibly attractive. But pretty soon the unrelenting unreality and the sappy dialogue start to wear on the viewer. Even Joan Crawford, in high-camp dudgeon and with some choice bitchy asides ("rabbit-faced wife," indeed!), can't keep the film from dragging as it nears the finish line. Contemporary audiences will find some of the goings-on so ridiculous as to be entertaining, which is probably the film's saving grace -- that and its oh-so-chic glamour outfits for these typical working girls. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
 



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