The Best of Everything

1959 "The Female Jungle EXPOSED!"
6.6| 2h1m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 09 October 1959 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

An exposé of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher-ups.

Genre

Drama, Romance

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Director

Jean Negulesco

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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The Best of Everything Audience Reviews

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
JohnHowardReid Copyright 1959 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Paramount: 8 October 1959 (simultaneously at the Normandie from 9 October 1959). U.S. release: October 1959. U.K. release: November 1959. Australian release: 3 March 1960. 121 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The affairs and aspirations of some of the female staff in a New York publishing house.NOTES: Location scenes filmed in New York City. The title song was nominated for an Academy Award, losing out to "High Hopes" from "A Hole in the Head" (which was no loss for Sammy Cahn as he wrote the lyrics for that one too. The music was by James Van Heusen).VIEWER'S GUIDE: Definitely unsuitable for children.COMMENT: The direction is dull, Brian Aherne is wet, but the rest of the cast is interesting - especially Joan Crawford (even though some of her best scenes allegedly ended up on the cutting-room floor because Wald thought that the finished film was too long). Of course, the story is pure soap opera, but it cleaned up at the domestic box-office, coming in third for Fox behind "Can Can" and "From the Terrace" in 1959-60. Despite this success (which was certainly not repeated overseas, where the movie was lucky to retrieve its print and advertising costs), CinemaScope was losing its special allure. As in "How To Marry a Millionaire", the story concerns three girls on the make. But this time they don't want millionaire husbands so much as Success — with sex on the side. Gone is not only the charm and simplicity of the characters, the clear-cut, attractively defined direction of the story, but the style, the flair, the imaginativeness of the storytelling. And so far as CinemaScope is concerned, the film might just as well have been made in standard widescreen.
DKosty123 If your a fan of drama, this movie is for you. Hope Lange stars as Miss Bender, a young woman on the way up out of college after the editor job held by Joan Crawford. The setting is New York Ctity.The project is romance. The industry is office, publishing office. There are several women in this cast who are not well known but who hold their own quite nicely. This 1959 era is sort of out of date with what was coming in the 1960's.This is the rare film that features Stephen Boyd the same year he was doing Ben Hur which won a lot of Oscars this year and Louis Jourdan as powerful men who are after the women in the cast. The best of everything which is the songs title tune, seems to be that these women, within limits, can get everything they want.Being the 1950's, they seem to want love and marriage. Lange's character, Miss Bender, wants a career too. That is a little different for a 1959 setting. That might be the main difference in this film from most films of this period.If you like drama, New York City in the 1950's, or are a fan of Boyd, Jourdan or Hope Lang, this movie is for you. If you like romantic drama, this is your film too. While not a big classic, at least it is a film that tells a story, though a bit outdated today. Its sets look at lot like AMC's Mad Men done years later. In fact, it is story wise.
sunznc Women and gay men pull up a chair! Here's a glossy soap/drama/romance film that has moments that seem it is on the way to becoming something great and then it pulls back. There are scenes with odd, dull dialogue that seems dated and then moments of fascinating discussions between women & men. Mostly women telling men what scum they are because they don't really love their women. Women are treated terribly. There are scenes that seem stilted and restrained and then we have scenes that start to become fun with the anticipation of something madcap but no.....they hold back again. The production is good, the costumes great even on the extras, the sets are good and the photography good. So, in the production sense they did get the 'best of everything.' Even Johnny Mathis singing the theme song! Too bad about the rest though.
MartinHafer This is a film that is far more enjoyable than its rating of 7 would suggest. In many ways, it's like a 50s version of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS--with much of the excesses and sleaziness of VALLEY polished up a bit for the audiences of 1959. Like this later film, both are about three young ladies who are on the fast-track to success--though this time it's in the publishing world instead of the entertainment industry (though one of the ladies in THE BEST OF EVERYTHING does have aspirations of Broadway).The film begins with Hope Lange coming into the company for her first day of work. She's assigned to tough-as-nails boss, Joan Crawford, who is appearing in her first supporting role in decades. Despite how nasty Crawford seems, Lange is determined not to give in--to make it in this job. And, over time, she quickly moves up the ranks from secretary to editor. At the same time, her two new roommates also try to move up the ranks--one through the stage and one through a relationship with a rich playboy. Like VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, all of them have their ups and downs (mostly downs) but by the end of the film there is some hope that at least some of them will make it--battered and bruised, nevertheless.In this film, men are mostly pigs. The only guy who seems decent is played by Stephen Boyd, so naturally Hope Lange neglects him for a ne'er do well ex-boyfriend. As for the guys played by veteran character actor Brian Ahern and the rest, they are sexist scum and eventually you understand how Crawford became so bitter and nasty.This film has it all--adultery, premarital sex, abortion, etc. and is certainly NOT an artistic triumph. However, thanks to excellent production values and a juicy script, this one is a joy to watch. Just don't expect Shakespeare!!