Room at the Top

Director: Jack Clayton Jack Clayton

Overview

Ruthless young working-class Englishman Laurence Harvey takes a job in a North Country village controlled by millionaire Donald Wolfit. Harvey resents Wolfit's class consciousness and vows to rise to the top by wooing the millionaire's daughter, Heather Sears. Meanwhile he has an affair with Frenchwoman Simone Signoret. Though he regards Signoret as a mere self-gratifying conquest, she takes their romance seriously enough to kill herself when Harvey impregnates Field. Only as he leaves the chapel after marrying the millionaire's daughter does Harvey that his "smart" marriage, coupled with the guarantee of a fabulous business career, has been attained at the cost of his soul. Based on the novel by John Braine, Room at the Top was one of the most successful films of the British angry-young-man school; it later spawned two sequels, as well as a weekly TV series.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/14/2020
UPC:	0738329233792
Original Release:	1959
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:57:00
Sales rank:	39,415

Special Features

Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Laurence Harvey	Joe Lampton
Simone Signoret	Alice Aisgill
Heather Sears	Susan Brown
Donald Wolfit	Mr. Brown
Donald Houston	Charles Soames
Hermione Baddeley	Elspeth
Beatrice Varley	Aunt
Allan Cuthbertson	George Aisgill
Raymond Huntley	Mr. Hoylake
John Westbrook	Jack Wales
Ambrosine Phillpotts	Mrs. Brown
Richard Pasco	Teddy
Delena Kidd	Eva
Ian Hendry	Cyril
April Olrich	Mavis
Mary Peach	June Samson
Anthony Newlands	Bernard
Avril Elgar	Miss Gilchrist
Thelma Ruby	Miss Breith
Paul Whitsun-Jones	Laughing Man at Bar
Derren Nesbitt	Thug in Fight On Tow Path
Wendy Craig	Joan
Prunella Scales	Council Office Worker
Derek Benfield	Man in Bar
Wallace Bosco	Pub Customer
Miriam Karlin	Gertrude
Michael Atkinson	Grant
Hyma Beckley	Civic Ball Attendee
Allan Bracewell	Middle Aged Man
Bonita Bridgeman	Bridesmaid
Yvonne Buckingham	Girl at Window
Honora Burke	Plump Woman
Richard Caldicott	Taxi Driver
Isla Cameron	Thespians Member
Angela Culbert	Bridesmaid
Doreen Dawn	High Stepping Girl
Basil Dignam	Priest
Jane Eccles	Mrs Thompson
Gilda Emmanuelli	Ethel
Janina Faye	Young Girl
Kathleen Fox	Bridesmaid
Alex Graham	Barman at Ball
Everley Gregg	Mayoress
Robert Gregory	Diner at Conservative Club
Ann Gunning	Girl in Sports Car
May Hallatt	Miss Tanfield
Jack Hedley	Architect
Stephen Jack	Darnley
Ruth Kettlewell	Thespians Member
Pat Lanski	Girl Guide Leader
Wilfred Lawson	Uncle Nat
Anne Leon	Janet
Denis Linford	Harry
Pamela Manson	Thespians Member
Harry Moore	Thespians Member
John Moulder-Brown	Urchin
Katharine Page	Mary
Edward Palmer	Porter
Sheila Raynor	Vera
Julian Somers	St Clair
Hazel Sutton	Blonde
Reg Thomason	Man Backstage
Kenneth Waller	Reggie
John Welsh	Mayor
Brian Worth	Man in Sports Car
Richard Caldicot	Actor
Mario Nascimbene	Composer

Technical Credits

Neil Paterson

Jack Clayton	Director
Neil Paterson	Screenwriter
John Woolf	Producer,Producer
Peter Handford	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Room at the Top is somewhat tame by current standards, but in 1959 it caused the British Board of Film Censors to loosen their standards and allow the film's unusually frank dialogue. The British public was unaccustomed to films in which characters might admit that they enjoyed sex, and, as such, Room at the Top represented a breakthrough, even though it's a minor part of the film. Newfound frankness notwithstanding, the story is conventionally moralistic in its disapproval of its protagonist, who opts for the comfort of money over the ideals of love, honor, and compassion. The lead performances are first-rate. Simone Signoret won a Best Actress Oscar, though the film lost Best Picture to Ben-Hur. Also receiving an Oscar was screenwriter Neil Paterson, who adapted the John Braine source novel.