The Best of Everything

A hugely enjoyable screen version of Rona Jaffe's best-selling pot-boiler about the trials and tribulations, (and, naturally, the loves), of a group of women involved in one way or another in the New York publishing business. Directed by Jean Negulesco, fairly fresh from the success of "Three Coins in a Fountain", and the prototype for the likes of "Sex and the City", except that here the sex all takes place off-screen.

The bright young female talents of the day, (Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Martha Hyer), are all nicely cast while Joan Crawford pops up as a Queen Bitch of an editor who could probably eat Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly and spit her out; with absolutely no effort at all she steals the movie. The men include Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, (if it wasn't Rossano Brazzi it had to be Louis Jourdan), Robert Evans, (before he decided, wisely, to go behind the camera) and Brian Aherne. There are more suds on display than you will find in your average launderette but if, like me, you enjoy "Desperate Housewives", not to mention Carrie Bradshaw and company then you will probably love this. A very guilty pleasure.

I am still trying to figure out why I like this film (and so many like it), when in truth, the submissiveness of females and their dependence on the love of a man really sickens me. The depiction of women in this film is perhaps a bit more progressive than that in other films of this genre, as the women are, at least, career women, and much of the story is set in the office. However, among the three key friends (Hope Lange, Suzy Parker, and Diane Baker), Lange's character Caroline Bender is the only one determined to be an editor. However, at the same time, when her colleague Mike Rice (Stephen Boyd) asks her if she has any ambitions beyond working a year or so, she quite adamantly says "no..none at all"...so, it's a bit contradictory, and frustrating. And he, of course, says it's "wonderful" when she agrees with him that it would be quite satisfying for her to "get her feet wet in publishing for a year or two to prove what she has "to prove", marry a doctor or lawyer, and have babies".

Some of the dialog is beyond hope, but I inexplicably continue to watch this film, every so often. Maybe it's the women's clothing...I love suits, and I miss dressing up for work. (Business casual has been one of several downfalls of today's workplace, as far as I'm concerned. Even though I'm a die-hard liberal, I definitely appreciate and enjoy conservative dress). No, but really...perhaps it is because I want to see if at least one of these women wakes up and takes stock in her own life, and throws back all of the crap that her "sweetheart" dishes out at her. Hope Lange does so to a degree when she rhetorically asks her slime-bucket hometown beau Eddie "what is it about men that they think they deserve the most refined, cultured, "respectable" women from the "best schools and the best families" only "part-time", for only fun, but ignore all of the attendant responsibilities that would turn frolic into long-term, serious relationships. She then goes on to say that a number of women will play the same game as men, for a while, but eventually, they'll have to pick up a few extra men of their own, to fill in the time when they're not with the one they really want. I guess she's talking about today's "casual dating" and "hooking up". Having spent some time lately with various dating services, I've run into more slime-buckets during the past year than I have in my entire life. Again, even though politically I'm quite liberal, my own social mores lean far more to those of a "Rules Girl". So, this piece of dialog resonated with me at this time in my life.

The opening credits are very nice...Manhattan in the spring/summertime is always glorious. Though I need to laugh that it's Johnny Mathis singing the title song, "The Best of Everything" (I've always thought that he was a very funny singer...he often breaks what should be long-held notes with silence...perhaps he's breathing, but we don't hear him inhale), it's also perfect....who else would be singing this song for a 1950's movie about finding your way in life and in love.

Joan Crawford's boss is in many ways no different from some of the tyrannical maniacs I've worked for today, no joke. Joan Crawford's Amanda Farrow was more or less a direct, no holds barred, right-in-your face bitch, telling Hope Lange that she does not have what it takes to become a Reader, much less an Editor. And, she did it in front of the rest of the typing pool (how unprofessional is that?). In the 80's, people stabbed you in the back. In the 90's, and to a degree, now, people smile at you directly, and let you believe all is well, until you're laid off in one surprising second.

I found it inconsistent how the Suzy Parker character started out as an independent, career-minded, aspiring actress, who prided herself on never having needed a man ("to love, and to let go...that's me"), but ended up becoming the most debilitated by the rejection of a man with whom she had fallen in love. And of course, it's also amazing how Diane Baker, fresh from being thrown out of a speeding car and losing a baby (out of wedlock, no less, in the 1950's!) manages to attract the attention and heart of a young, studly doctor when she's still wearing bandages and no make-up in her hospital bed. Wonders never cease in a 1950's melodrama!

If you hedonistically enjoy "Valley of the Dolls", or "Written on the Wind", you'll love "The Best of Everything".

Although dated, this film is definitely worth a watch. I saw it about eight times as a teenager when it opened and it changed my life...I just HAD to live in New York. It has great opening shots of the Manhattan skyline with Johnny Mathis crooning "Romance is still...the best of everything..." that rival those of West Side Story. There is a rather stilted performance by the world's REAL first Supermodel, Suzy Parker (sorry about that, Janice D.), but it's great eye-candy! It also offers a bit of insight into late 1950's American mores--our obsession with (and repression of) sex (in the workplace, no less!), romance, and marriage before women's lib. It represents an era in which New York was at it's finest and a super-bitchy performance by Joan Crawford is just the icing on the cake.

If there's one thing this film does well, its capturing the appeal and allure of New York City. This is a fun time-capsule of a film from this period and it beautifully captures some truly iconic images of midtown Manhattan, and a couple other shots of the city. The beautifully stylized representation of office life, the cloths and apartments of NYC explains why these girls along with millions of others like them dreamed of coming to New York City to achieve their dreams - be it a dream job as a successful executive or a rich husband. As for the story itself, it is a bit cliched and is filled with some stereotypes. Despite some issues I think this film is great fun and worth checking out.

Meant to be a glossy romance and cautionary tale for girls who dare to think of working Outside The Home, "The Best of Everything" instead is a virtual primer of the root causes of the modern Women's movement: Women (really, girls) can have jobs, but only until they find a man and leave to begin their real lives as homemakers; women are sexual toys, provided to men at work for their amusement; all men are predators and all women are fools; pregnancy is entirely the woman's fault; women who take their jobs seriously are damaged people; women merely exist for the use of men. Sounds like an unremitting screed, and it is -- yet, such is Hollywood's power, the pageant is very watchable (the clothes, the sentimental views of 1959 NYC) and beautiful. A wonderful snapshot of America just a couple of years before "The Feminine Mystique" was published. Must-see for women.