Movie Review: Room at the Top

Room at the Top is about a young man named Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey). He is a World War II UK veteran who spent much of the war in a prison camp. The movie opens with him arriving at his new job in Warnley (I believe this is a fictional city in the UK). He is working at the Treasurer's Department for the city. Moving to Warnley is an upgrade for the young man as he previously grew up in the city of Dufton, which is a factory town while Warnley is a more vibrant city. He is an attractive young man and all the women in the office look at him with keen interest. They may have an interest in him, but he has no interest in them. Instead, his eyes turn to Susan Brown (Heather Sears). Why? Because her father is one of the wealthiest men in the city. She is involved in the theater and so he joins that theater group in order to gain her attention. The problem is that she is dating someone named Jack Wales (John Westbrook). Jack Wales is of the same social class as the Brown family and if the two marry there will be a combination of these two wealthy families. 

As Joe begins to gain Susan's attention, the Brown family goes about trying to figure out a subtle way to break up the potential couple. First, what appears to be a random job opportunity pops up for Joe, which would provide him opportunity for a solid career in accounting. The job so happens to be back in his hometown of Dufton. He learns by accident that the Brown family set him up for the job and so he turns it down. As that move failed, the Brown family sends Susan off to France. 

With Susan out of the picture for a period of time, Joe turns his attention to Alice Aisgill (Simone Signoret). He also knows Alice from the theater group. This brings its own complications. Alice is married -- though the husband isn't all that faithful to his wife. Also, she is about 10 years older then he is. That may not be such an issue in this day and age, but it is a topic of conversation in the movie. Joe and Alice have an affair on the side.  

Complications soon arise when Susan comes back from France. Distance has caused Susan to fall in love with Joe. The two end up having sex. Joe breaks things off with Alice. After having sex with Susan, he loses some interest in her. It just seems that she is too naïve for Joe after he's spent time with the more mature Alice. He goes back to Alice and they head off on a short trip out of town. They decide that Alice will divorce her husband and the two of them will get married.

Unfortunately, things don't work out as planned. Susan ends up pregnant. Alice's husband refuses to allow the divorce. The Brown family demand that Joe marry Susan and that in exchange they'll provide him with a good job. Due to the circumstances, Joe once again breaks things off with Alice. Devastated, Alice ends up committing suicide by driving her car off a cliff.  

Joe ends up hearing about the accident while coming in to work at his old job (basically doing what one does during the last two weeks of work after giving notice, making sure everything is as settled as possible). He ends up going to a bar where he gets into an argument with another young man over a woman at the bar and later in the night he gets beaten up by that same individual. Yet, somehow he is still able to look stunningly good for his wedding.

As the newlyweds drive off from the church, Joe has a tear in his eye. Susan believes it is due to the fact that they're in love and married. Unknown to her, it is because Joe has lost his lover Alice.

The movie brings about the social dynamics of wealth and how even the best and brightest (Joe) can't make it up the ladder due to the fact they don't come from a specific background. There is a moment in the movie, where Joe runs into Susan after she returns from her French trip. Her family and boyfriend, Jack, are with her. The mayor is also with them. Joe is made to look like a low class individual as the individuals at the table name off various wealthy individuals who they know in Dufton. This isn't exactly some new topic, but it is done very well. 

I do see a major issue with the movie; however.

That issue: Susan vs Alice. Susan is far more attractive then Alice. Susan has a much brighter personality while Alice has a more dark personality. Perhaps it is this dark personality that is what draws Joe to her, but it really just seems like Susan would be a much more fun person to be around. And yeah, sorry, but marrying into a wealthy family would have certain perks. Yes, the movie is suppose to put a light on how Joe initially just wants to move up the wealth ladder no matter how he does it, but then has some growth and decides to go with a person he truly loves. The problem is, I just thought that Susan had so much more to offer than did Alice -- more attractive, better personality, social status. I really couldn't see any pluses associated with Alice. I wish the movie had shifted things a little bit more to the side of Alice. Maybe have Alice have a far better personality than Susan. Just something that would have me think that Joe made the correct decision -- though that decision had some roadblocks put up that made it impossible.

The movie is well-scripted, but there are a couple moments that make little sense to me. When Joe returns to the office to wrap things up and learns about Alice's death, many of his co-workers don't realize why this news would cause Joe to get very emotionally upset. By this point, it seemed to me that most everyone close to Joe knew that he was having an affair with a married woman. Also, he gets beaten up and then he looks perfectly fine for the wedding? Now one might say that time passed, but the wedding was being rushed due to the pregnancy so how much time could really have passed in order for his face to heal up?