The Best of Everything
by Jean Negulesco
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Diane Baker, Hope Lange, Martha Hyer, Stephen Boyd, Suzy ParkerDirector: Jean Negulesco
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: William C. Mellor
Editor: Robert L. Simpson
Producer: Jerry Wald
Writer: Edith R. Sommer
Writer: Mann Rubin
Writer: Rona Jaffe
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Best of Everything
Movie Review: Compelling Look At Sexual Mores And Practices In Big Business, Circa 1959
Summary: 5 Stars
The old saying "My how times have changed!" could easily have been coined after a viewing of 20th Century Fox's plush melodrama "The Best of Everything". It is a fascinating time capsule showing workplaces as perhaps they once were in the late 1950's inhabited by the "working girls" waiting for marriage, dressed to the nines and gossiping about their latest dates, and their male bosses who saw it as their absolute God given right to indulge in a bit of sexual hanky panky between board meetings with those girls working for them. As I said how times have changed! I found a recent viewing of this terrific film a fascinating and highly enjoyable experience. It was especially interesting that while the women were almost all portrayed as victims every male in the story, with the exception of Stephen Boyd's character, was depicted as a leering sexual predator who was incapable of commitment. "The Best of Everything" depicts the intermingled personal and professional stories of three young working girls (Hope Lange, Diane Baker and Suzy Parker) at the Fabian Publishing Company in New York. While dealing with the various destructive relationships each is involved in they must also contend at work with aggressive and demanding editor Amanda Farrow played by Hollywood legend Joan Crawford who is involved in her own one sided love affair with a married man. Tragedy mixes with happiness in equal portions in the girl's lives as they steer their way through the sexual jungle of big business circa 1959 in their search for the "best of everything".
The great strength of "The Best of Everything" apart from great location photography and sumptuous colour is its superb cast. Rising Hollywood actresses Lange, Baker and Parker all deliver excellent performances showing "working girls" from very diverse backgrounds coping with the same issues of love vs career. However the real standout is of course the incomparable Joan Crawford in the smallish part of Amanda Farrow. Despite her limited screen time Joan really shows what star quality is all about and I found myself missing her during her frequent absences from the action on screen. Joan reportedly had a number of difficult situations while on the set and argued with Jerry Wald about the size of her part saying that the character of Amanda needed to be explained more to make her more sympathetic and also needed to be more involved in the lives of the younger women in the story. I totally agree with her as it would have provided an even more dramatic element to the finished product. While Joan developed a lifelong friendship with Diane Baker working twice more with her in "Straitjacket" and TV's "Della" she apparently had conflicts with Hope Lange over positioning, camera angles etc, and was often not granted her requests which sadly signified a sort of "changing of the guard" in Hollywood's pecking order of who was currently "hot" and who was not in 1959. However despite Joan's small role the film really comes alive during her scenes and she makes the most of them. The film is memorable today solely because of her participation in it. She is both commanding and yet vulnerable as Amanda and despite her characters harsh exterior she certainly made me care about and have sympathy for her characters situation. It's also nice to see Joan reunited with her leading man from 1935's "I Live My Life" Brian Aherne who despite being depicted as a frightful old sexual harrasser in the film has great chemistry still with Joan making their scenes together have the feel of two comfortable old comrades interacting well with each other. For all his characters faults Aherne also helps in bringing out the softer elements to Joan's character in their brief time together on screen helping make Amanda a more multi dimensional individual.
For their Studio Classics DVD release of "The Best of Everything" 20th Century Fox have really made a great effort in showing the film in all its restored beauty. The Fox colour has never been more brilliant with both New York and all the beautiful clothes (Oscar nominated) displayed in the film shown to their best advantage. Visually this film is a treat in every way. Originally released in cinemascope what we have here is a very fine widescreen edition of the film. The sound is clear and crisp with Johnny Mathis' memorable theme song "The Best of Everything" (Oscar nominated) never sounding better than it is here playing over the opening credits. Extras wise this DVD release is a bit of a mixed bag. We have the Movietone News footage of the premiere of "The Best of Everything" which is interesting but lacks the presence of many of the stars of the film . There is also an excellent audio commentary on the film from author Rona Jaffe and film historian Sylvia Stoddard and also some very battered trailers from such Fox classics as "Laura" and "All About Eve". All in all a good package for a film that deserves to be better remembered as a memorable statement of how life once possibly was for both women and men in big business. All fans of Joan Crawford and indeed even those interested in the history of American business are sure to get lots of entertainment value from this Fox "Studio Classics" release.
Summary of The Best of Everything
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