The Best of Everything

US (1959): Drama/Romance

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: Gregg (Suzy Parker) 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 Barbara (Martha Hyer) 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 (1972), and serving as producer of such films as Chinatown (1974) and Marathon Man (1976). Jean Negulesco directs for Fox. (Mark Deming, All Movie Guide)

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2 nominations