The Best of Everything (1959)

Synopsis
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