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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 436440" data-attributes="member: 8">Room At The Top (1958)[ATTACH=full]58431[/ATTACH]Ah, those salacious, attention-grabbing movie posters.The idea of male ambition on film is not quite as novel as the poster suggests, but things have changed after the war, and rebuilding Europe created aspirations for go-getters like Joe Lampton. Since the war is mentioned only once, and also because Joe runs away from the bombed-out ruins rather than rebuilding it, I think it hardly qualifies as a social commentary.There&#039;s also a lot of class envy, but seeing how easy it is for Joe to enter the room at the top it never becomes a challenge or a motivated narrative.Joe&#039;s lover Alice mentions that &quot;there&#039;s always been somebody to take care of our Joe&quot;.&nbsp; There is an interesting concept about a man who&#039;s being loved too much, resulting in a life without conflict which then becomes the conflict itself.Unfortunately, this film is not a great character study at all. It looks like Hollywood meets Kitchen Sink, and it&#039;s a train wreck I couldn&#039;t look away from.Joe Lampton is so transparent that it kinda looks as if the characters explain their respective story arcs to each other.It&#039;s a lazy and overwrought melodrama, and while the actors are making the most of it - and sometimes succeed when they&#039;re not burdened with the stiffly written dialogue - none of it is Academy Awards material.Even with the late 1940s sensibilities in mind, the fact that Alice once posed nude for a painter should not escalate in such an extreme way.Actually, I assumed that the break-up was planned and that Joe used Alice&#039;s &quot;past&quot; as an excuse to fake an hysterical reaction.But, no, apparently it&#039;s the real deal.Joe&#039;s psychotic behaviour ends right where it begins so they&#039;re also nothing doing with that. If the film is meant to be intentional caricature then the joke is on me, of course.Bizarrely, the film explodes magnificently in the last 10 or 15 minutes, it really looks as if it&#039;s made by different people. Or an alternative <s>DVD</s> 4K UHD bonus ending.The supporting actors are entertaining unless they get too much screen time, and I think this is the first time I heard &quot;the family way&quot; used in dialogue (so I guess it wasn&#039;t all bad). I have The Family Way&nbsp;&nbsp; in my watchlist, perhaps it was a cosmic hint?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 436440, member: 8"] Room At The Top (1958) [ATTACH type="full"]58431[/ATTACH] Ah, those salacious, attention-grabbing movie posters. The idea of male ambition on film is not quite as novel as the poster suggests, but things have changed after the war, and rebuilding Europe created aspirations for go-getters like Joe Lampton. Since the war is mentioned only once, and also because Joe runs away from the bombed-out ruins rather than rebuilding it, I think it hardly qualifies as a social commentary. There's also a lot of class envy, but seeing how easy it is for Joe to enter the room at the top it never becomes a challenge or a motivated narrative. Joe's lover Alice mentions that "there's always been somebody to take care of our Joe". There is an interesting concept about a man who's being loved too much, resulting in a life without conflict which then becomes the conflict itself. Unfortunately, this film is not a great character study at all. It looks like Hollywood meets Kitchen Sink, and it's a train wreck I couldn't look away from. Joe Lampton is so transparent that it kinda looks as if the characters explain their respective story arcs to each other. It's a lazy and overwrought melodrama, and while the actors are making the most of it - and sometimes succeed when they're not burdened with the stiffly written dialogue - none of it is Academy Awards material. Even with the late 1940s sensibilities in mind, the fact that Alice once posed nude for a painter should not escalate in such an extreme way. Actually, I assumed that the break-up was planned and that Joe used Alice's "past" as an excuse to fake an hysterical reaction. But, no, apparently it's the real deal. Joe's psychotic behaviour ends right where it begins so they're also nothing doing with [I]that[/I]. If the film is meant to be intentional caricature then the joke is on me, of course. Bizarrely, the film explodes magnificently in the last 10 or 15 minutes, it really looks as if it's made by different people. Or an alternative [S]DVD[/S] 4K UHD bonus ending. The supporting actors are entertaining unless they get too much screen time, and I think this is the first time I heard "the family way" used in dialogue (so I guess it wasn't all bad). I have [I]The Family Way[/I] in my watchlist, perhaps it was a cosmic hint? [/QUOTE]

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