Room at the Top (1959) - film review

An ambitious young man Joe Lampton arrives in a bleak industrial Yorkshire town, taking a job as a low paid accountant.  He sets his sights on a young heiress, Susan Brown, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, and sees her as the means to realise his ambition.  Along the way, he meets and falls in love with Alice Aisgill, a French married woman who is ten years his senior.  In the end, Lampton is tantalisingly close to getting everything he dreamed of, but he must make the devastating choice between wealth and true love…

One of the earliest and best of the realistic English "kitchen sink" dramas which reflected changing social attitudes in the late 1950s/early 1960s, Room as the Top is a powerful indictment of the class system in post-war England, yet it is also a heart-rending tale of romance and self-fulfilment.   On its first release, the film made an indelible impression on British cinema, attracting a new generation of cinema-goers and setting a clear trend from the polished, stuffy films which characterised the British film industry at the time.

With its dry cynicism, impassioned performances and abrupt assault on the class system, to say nothing of its sexual explicitness (which earned the film an X certificate), Room at the Top was a much needed break of fresh air, a shocking film, but also one that is profoundly moving.  The destructive nature and double-standards of a morally bereft class system are exposed with passion and perspicacity, reflected as much in the stirring conscience of Joe Lampton as in the sickening behaviour of the elite whose ranks he aspires to join.

The film’s appeal rests on an excellent script and some remarkable acting performances, particularly from the lead actors Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret.  Already an established actress in France (and the wife of the popular actor-singer Yves Montand), Signoret won an Oscar and the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her role in this film.  Hers is a truly memorable performance, one which captures the hopeless fragility of an impossible romantic liaison and leaves the viewer devastated and feeling a palpable sense of regret.  Laurence Harvey’s dour northerner carries the mood of the piece brilliantly and you cannot help sympathising with him, mostly for the frustrated working class generation he represents than as an individual character, who is more anti-hero than hero.

© James Travers 2001

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Great movie! Can’t believe Simone Signoret was considered old (in the film) at 35 years old. Also that it was rated X. By today’s standards it seems somewhat tame. I saw this movie years ago and looked forward to seeing it again. So often movies disappoint when seen years later, but not this one – I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.
Theresa Summer (Philadelphia, USA)  

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