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A rare look into the business of running a business - a corporation - this is surprisingly entertaining, for adults, I would gather. In the first few minutes, we observe the death of the President of this company, from his p.o.v.-an artful beginning from director Wise. There are 5 Vice Presidents, all of equal rank. One of them will be the new Prez. The selection procedure is pretty simple. The Board, comprised of 7 members (2 other stockholders besides the 5 V.P.'s) votes yes or no on whomever is nominated. 4 'yes' votes or more gets the job.

The cast is superb, really first rate, but the one to watch, for me, was Fredric March as Shaw, the V.P./Controller, whose sole criteria for success is the bottom line. He's smooth, too smooth, and sweats a bit too much. You'll note that nothing is ever seen of his private life, unlike the others. All his energy is geared around the company, but ultimately for his own benefit, even if he doesn't see it that way. All the actors are very articulate, delivering their lines with impressive precision. The maneuvering done by each of the 5 V.P.'s is something to see; one front-runner (Pidgeon) for the top job seems a shoo-in, but just as quickly this sense evaporates. Any of the 5 appears to be the man for the job at one point or another - the decision and vote needs to be reached quickly, before the company starts to suffer, so we add tension to the plot.

This picture has not really dated 50 years later, as much of the sensibilities and office politics remain unchanged today. There may be more sleaziness and unscrupulous behavior nowadays, but even this is presented in the form of one of the board members (Calhern), a sneak who sees the death of the President as just another way to make some money in stocks. After checking this out, you may want to catch the documentary "The Corporation" to get a little more insight into such an entity.

Herbert Lehman, the adapter of the novel that serves as the basis for this corporate drama makes a tremendous contribution with his screen play. Little seems to have changed in the way corporate America did business then, which it still holds true today. The film, as directed by Robert Wise, keeps us involved in the maneuvers the executives of the company do behind the scenes when the head of the company dies suddenly.

We are given a gripping drama as to what goes on among all the possible candidates to take the helm of the business. There will only be a winner, but who can be the most qualified person to take the company to do better than it had performed under the dead man? Would it be the ambitious Loren Shaw, a man with facts and figures at the tip of his fingers? Would it be Frederich Alderan, the man who has dedicated almost 30 years of his life to the business? Or would it be McDonald Walling, the younger man who knows what's wrong with the way the company has been turning inferior products to its customers?

The all star cast assembled for the film do an outstanding job guided by Mr. Wise, the director. William Holden plays Walling, the youngest of all the executives. Mr. Holden gave an inspired performance as the man who knows where the focus of the company should be, and he is decent enough not to want to be seen as pushing to get the CEO's job.

Fredric March, one of the best actors of his generation, is one of the best things in the film. His ambitious Loren Shaw, clearly, the man who makes no bones about his aspirations, is one of the best roles he played for the screen. Mr. March's portrayal of the ruthless Shaw gives us an idea of how driven some people in those high places will react knowing the power they'll yield, not caring how they will affect the lives of those under them.

The rest of the players are good. Barbara Stanwyck has a small part as the daughter of the man that created Treadway. Walter Pigeon is Fred, the man who has given his life to this company. Paul Douglas is Walter, the straying man having an illicit relation with his secretary. Louis Calhern is the reptilian Casswell, who stands to make a lot of money out of his gamble to back up Shaw. Nina Foch, the executive secretary Erica, does a fine job in projecting the sadness of a lonely woman who has probably loved the dead man Bullard. Shelley Winters only has a couple of scenes as Eva, the secretary that suddenly sees the light in her situation with Walter.

The film offers a good look at the financial district of New York as it looked in those years. It's sad to realize what the recent events have done to that part of Manhattan and how different it looks today!

When the president of a major furniture conglomerate drops dead, all of the company's executives (William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, Dean Jagger) converge in the executive suite for a vote on who will take over. But before this climactic meeting takes place, we learn about each executive's motives and desires. Make way for the clash of egos and ambitions!

Helping to define the human element of these ruthless, driven businesspeople, we gain a revealing look into the simplicity of their domestic lives. And helping to add to the intensity of this over-wrought boardroom melodrama, director Robert Wise smartly (or not so smartly, perhaps) forgoes any musical soundtrack. Instead the background is filled with the real life sounds of a major company such as this.

The all-star cast provides perhaps the biggest punch in all of "Executive Suite". Standouts particularly are Holden, Stanwyck, March, and Foch. Despite her devastating lack of screentime, Stanwyck is able to give one of the best performances of her mutifaceted career as a woman on the verge -the high-strung lover of the deceased president. In an exemplary showcase of scene-stealing, Holden has a final showdown with Stanwyck - this dynamite sequence tops them all. This smart coporate drama is given the glossed-over MGM treatment, but is nonetheless gripping and realisitic, thanks in part to outstanding performances and direction (watch for the amazing opening scene where we watch from the ailing president's point-of-view). "Executive Suite" is intelligent, mature storytelling, Hollywood style.

From the very moment I started watching Executive Suite until the very end, I was amazed at how accurate the producer and director and the stars of this film portrayed big business as it has always been and unfortunately as it always will be! Big business films are never dated! The same backstabbing political games were there then and are still there now! Sure, this film was made in 1954 and it is now almost 50 years later and the way in which business is transacted has changed but big business itself hasn't changed a bit. Watch the movie and you will see. Everyone was superb in this film and even though Paul Douglas didn't get very good reviews, I personally thought that he was one of the best actors in this great film. Barbara Stanwyck whose screen time was very short, turned in a grand performance as a family stockholder. Nina Foch was never better in the role of the secretary of the big boss and more than deserved her academy award nomination for best supporting actress even though she did not win. I also liked the casting of William Holden and June Allyson together; at first I thought an odd combination but they worked well together! You gotta see this one! Lots of suspense!

Robert Wise is perhaps better known as a director of musicals - West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Star!,etc. However, he was also adept at grabbing our attention and holding it, as with The Day The Earth Stood Still (classic sci-fi) and Somebody Up There Likes Me (launching Paul Newman as a prize fighter). Here, he takes an incredible cast, gives them each something to chew on and let's us in on the fun. It also won Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, costumes and Cinematography. It won a special jury price at the Venice Film Festival and Golden Lion and WGA nominators for director and writer, so there's some laurels attached. There are many standout scenes and performances -- June Allyson proving she can make more out of the generic housewife and a negligee, Frederic March as a scheming, palm sweating numbers man, Shelley Winters in her bombshell mode, but remarkably restrained(and no one wants to kill her in this movie!), and then there are the standouts of Walter Pidgeon (& that voice)behind leaded glass spectacles and a wild mop of hair, Barbara Stanwyck stealing the thunder away from the major roles just by listening in her chair, with William Holden blustering his way into a couple of decent monologues(his angry white man bit isn't always as compelling from movie to movie)but Nina Foch won a best supporting actress nod for her caring and steadfast senior admin. Only Paul Douglas doesn't seem to be completely connected with his head salesman caught in a scandalous jam. Never one for a subtle role, he doesn't quite have the hang of pretending to talk to someone on a phone, but he does bring a gravitas to his situation once it's a Sword of Damocles over his head. Despite all of this mincing about characters, EXECUTIVE SUITE is a remarkably fascinating power struggle that holds up nearly fifty years later. The few quirks of the film that ground it in the the 50s are easily overpowered by a brilliant ensemble. Wise allows that none of these characters is perfect, but that makes them all the more watchable as they try to wend their way thru the maze put before them. Who needs a Max Steiner soundtrack when there's so much more to the silences between great actors. Four stars out of five - MDMPHD

Robert Wise has taken Cameron Hawley's expose of big business shenanigans and turned it into a smart, well-paced melodrama with some superb performances from a highly polished cast--William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Pidgeon, Fredric March, June Allyson, Paul Douglas, Shelley Winters and Nina Foch.

Fredric March comes on strong as the most ambitious candidate while Dean Jagger underplays as the weakest. Another who is remarkable in showing restraint for a change is Shelley Winters as Douglas' girlfriend who wishes he had more backbone. Barbara Stanwyck does some fireworks in a strong scene with William Holden but does a restrained piece of acting at the final board scene where she sits and listens as Holden takes command of the situation. Here she reveals without saying a word what a fine actress she is.

While most of it is given the glossy MGM treatment, the settings look realistic and there are some real shots of busy Manhattan streets and buildings. One MGM factor is missing--there is no background music, not even under the credits--remarkable for a film of this period. Somehow, it doesn't matter--and the film hasn't dated much at all. What it has to say about big business still holds true.

Nina Foch is excellent as an executive secretary and fully deserved her Academy Award nomination.

On the contrary, the film has dated...but it's not the film's fault. It's that the Loren Shaws won. The bottom line became everything...and the factories closed and reopened overseas. Small towns died all over the country, and the world that this movie shows us was perfectly real...and gone.

Watching the scenes with factory workers meeting their families outside the gates, listening to Holden's splendid speech at the end, brought tears to my eyes. There was a time when "Made in America" was a guarantee of quality. We wore clothes, for example, that had been made in the US - and often sewn by union workers. No more.

The contest has always been between those who valued the company and those who valued the stockholders...Executive Suite gives you a great picture of a victory of the man who valued the whole company, so take a look and see what's missing.

In a Friday afternoon in Wall Street, the president of the Tredway Corporation Avery Bullard has just had a meeting with investment bankers and sends a telegram scheduling a meeting at the furniture factory in Millburgh, Pennsylvania, at six PM with his executives. Bullard has never appointed an executive vice-president for the corporation after the death of the previous one but when he is getting a taxi, he has a stroke and dies on the street. A thief steals his wallet to get his money and his body goes to the morgue without identification. The investment banker George Nyle Caswell (Louis Calhern) sees Bullard's body from his window and decides to use the information to make money, asking a broker to sell as much Tredway stocks as possible until the end of the day, with the intention of buying them back Monday morning by a lower price making profit. Meanwhile the executives unsuccessfully wait for Bullard in the meeting room. When they learn that Bullard is dead, the ambitions accountant VP and Controller Loren Phineas Shaw (Fredric March) releases to the press the balance of Tredway showing profit and assumes temporarily the leadership of the company, expecting to be elected the next president by the seven-member board. However, the VP for Design and Development McDonald "Don" Walling (William Holden) and the VP and Treasurer Frederick Y. Alderson (Walter Pidgeon) oppose to Shaw. There is a struggle in the corporation for the position of president and Shaw blackmails the VP for Sales Josiah Walter Dudley (Paul Douglas) that is married and has a mistress, his secretary Eva Bardeman (Shelley Winters), to get his vote. Caswell needs to cover the 3,700 stocks he sold and Shaw promises to give to him the stocks for the price he sold if he is elected president. The VP for Manufacturing Jesse Q. Grimm (Dean Jagger) is near to retire but is a close friend of Frederick and supports him. Therefore the heir of Tredway and Bullard's mistress Julia O. Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck) will be responsible to give the casting vote. But she is disenchanted with the corporation. Who will be elected the next president?

"Executive Suite" is a realistic film about struggle for power in a corporation. Serious films about the Machiavellian competition in a company, such as "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Le couperet" or "El método", are usually engaging and "Executive Suite" is surprisingly great since it is not dated. The film is directed by Robert Wise, who is one of the best directors in Hollywood ever. The cast is top-notch and Fredric March has one of his best performances. The final speech of Don is a lesson for classes of motivation. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Homem e Dez Destinos" ("A Man and Ten Destinies")

Robert Wise's Executive Suite was a thinking person's film in 1954, with an important theme, very relevant then and still relevant today: the financialization of everything. We are all very lucky to benefit from companies which can produce both quality and profits, and to the great credit of the director and writers, they state clearly that both are possible, that Tredway Corporation just went a bit too far one way, and needed correcting. Lots of nuance and context in the overall message; an adult film, indeed !

This serious story is told very effectively as a melodrama, and it's brought to life by an outstanding ensemble cast, ten actors who could each carry a film by themselves if needed. Here there is only one soliloquy, and that's the story's resolution, but otherwise it's a team game for 104 dense, economical minutes, and a joy.

If you ask me, director Robert Wise could do no wrong. He hardly ever set a foot wrong, and 'Executive Suite' is vintage Wise.

Mr. Bullard, bullying president of a huge furnishing corporation, dies, leaving everyone in doubt as to who should take over. The vultures are closing in, the major stockholder, a loose canon, is shamelessly wooed, dirty deals are struck, and there is even some insider trading taking place. It sure ain't pretty, but it's the name of the game and anything goes.

Robert Wise sets a steady pace, a brisk, business-like unfolding of a drama that deserves comparison with Shakespeare. It is done with quick cutting, drab, corporate sets, and filled to the brim with those covert glances that, in the end, decide the outcome. "Efficiency has become a dirty word, budget control has a bad odor", says prospective new manager Fredric March (another brilliant, Oscar-worthy performance) when he senses that he is losing the battle, and young gun William Holden rises to the occasion with an attention-grabbing speech that is not likely to be quickly forgotten: "We will never again ask a man to do something to poison his pride in himself or his work".

'Executive Suite' is an ensemble film, and one could go on praising every single member of the cast. And yet Robert Wise remains the engineer of this masterpiece of dynamic and still highly relevant cinema.

This good drama, (shot in my favorite color for dramas--b&w) is at essence, a drama about the meaning of work & quality versus profit & related issues.

Please, as I reread this, I make the movie sound dry. It's not! But anyone who has ever worked---and been in a company where the future direction of the company is up for grabs---well, you can relate to this movie's personal and corporate power struggles...

Why does the young engineer smash this furniture company's table all to bits in the infamous boardroom scene? What about the accountant's ideas to increase the corporate share? How can a company make a good product it is not ashamed of yet still make profits? Of course, the personal intrigues give Executive Suite color and depth. Will the major stockholder (Barbara Stanwyck) sell out?

What direction will she choose for the company?

(Issues that resonate today regarding workmanship,etc. No doubt companies like the furniture company mentioned here faced future import challenges. Whether or not some of them survived later generations may well have been partly determined by choices made, say, in the 1950's.) I will eventually buy this on DVD & it will also be a good way to teach business ethics to my teenage daughter.

Bill Holden was quoted as saying that Spencer Tracy and Fredric March were his acting ideals. Holden was fortunate enough to work with March in two films, one of them being this one. He never worked with Tracy however, but in this film comes close to emulating him.

Had MGM made this film 15 years earlier Spencer Tracy would have been cast in Holden's part, the young idealistic Vice President in charge of the experimental division. He has a vision as to where the company should go and his speech at the board meeting spells it out eloquently.

Most of the reviewers of this film single out Fredric March's performance as the best in this all star cast. But Holden is more than a match for March in the film and for acting kudos.

Spencer Tracy was always the actor who could deliver the long speeches the best for example, Boom Town and State of the Union. Holden goes into that category in this film.

You couldn't make Executive Suite today. Now the Board of Directors would have chosen a new president who would have shipped the factory to some third world country and left that town unemployed.

A minimum of action and a strong sense of realism help raise this corporate melodrama above the pile. When the Treadway Corporation's president dies in the streets of New York, a power scramble ensues which tests the integrity, morality, and manhood of everyone on the executive board (and yes, I think in this movie even Stanwyck has a manhood!!!). the really central issue, as Bill Holden makes clear in his rousing final speech, is pride -- what motivates a man to raise himself above the competition but also isolates him from his dreams and the ones he loves. Paul Douglas distinguishes himself as a sales executive who's being blackmailed (along with corporate playboy Calhern) by March into giving his vote over to him. Stanwych is the company founder's daughter, who has given up hope for living but finds it somewhere in Holden's speechifying. Touches on issues close to the post-war American heart -- how profit motives have replaced pride in workmanship, how an individual can live with his decision to make sacrifices that destroy his dreams. Worthy of notice.

Political infighting and backstabbing are the norm of the day when the top dog of a large company kicks the bucket. All the top execs either wanted to fill the slot or had motives for backing another. Lots of emotion and tense scenes as the time for the final vote slowly came around. Good acting by all in this well done program.

For all the MGM-ness of it -- the all-star roster of contract players and freelancers, the classy production values, Louis Calhern doing his reliable devilish-rogue act -- it has touches that one associates with neither the plush studio nor the time period. It's pretty frank about high-powered execs and their mistresses, for one, and the handheld camera of the opening sequence (through unfakeable Wall Street locations, yet) and lack of background music are more typical of independent movies of a few years later. Contrast it with "Woman's World" from the same year, which is also a corporate-power-struggle yarn (and also has June Allyson as a devoted, gauche corporate wifey), but is fake from the get-go. This one is dated in Holden's we're-all-in-this-together speechifying, not to mention the one-company factory town, and Stanwyck's histrionics are a bit over the top. (Hey, I love her too; her unchecked hysterics have to be Robert Wise's fault.) But the dialogue is terser than one generally associates with Ernest Lehman, the shady stock maneuvers are unfortunately as relevant as ever, and the juicy melodramatics still pack a punch. In fact, as corporate drama goes, it's as entertaining as all getout. Fredric March is a standout in a high-powered cast, and Shelley Winters, for once, underplays.

Competent acting by Holden, Stanwyck and the others combine with a principled script that rises above the rabble of screenplays that don't accurately portray the responsibilities of trying to steer huge organizations. Management and negotiation courses could benefit from a showing of this movie.

This is a story of a fictional corporation that makes furniture. It's apparently a huge one--with enormous sales. That's why when the president of the company dies that the board of directors is in a tizzy. Various men want to control the company and to do so, they need to create alliances and connive to get the majority of the board members to vote for them. However, despite the conniving and maneuvering, the film ends with a few surprises.

This is a highly unusual film. The biggest difference is that it's an "actor's film" with little of the adornment you'd find in other films--forcing the writers and actors to carry the entire film. The first way you realize it's this sort of film is that the film is missing a sound track! Yes, when the opening credits roll and there is no music whatsoever, you know this is NOT your typical film! And, when you see the wonderful cast of leading men and women as well as noted supporting actors, you also know it's a film built around people--not action. Imagine being a director who's given the likes of Fredric March, Barbara Stanwyck, William Holden, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, and the rest as a cast! The only film that immediately comes to mind with less adornment and an even better cast is "12 Angry Men"...and that's a truly great film.

Overall, I liked this film a lot but also think that some may not appreciate all the machinations and the cerebral plot. If you want explosions, romance or comedy, this film certainly is not for you!

This is the greatest movie I know of about executive-level office politics, but it could be seen as an great allegory on politics in general. There is a vacancy in the presidency and various candidates are put forth for the position. The candidates have their strengths and weaknesses, and those who will be doing the selecting have a variety of motives and agendas, and often nothing to do with the best interests of those they are supposed to be caring for. Some are corrupt, some are jealous, some are high-minded, but all are on display with great clarity. The most striking performance may be Frederick March, as the ruthless, manipulative "self-made man" who is the leading candidate. He is more like Richard Nixon than Nixon was. He even sweats nervousness through his upper lip like Nixon.

Avery Bullard is the president of furniture manufacturer Tredway Corporation in the small town of Millburgh, Pennsylvania. He runs it as an one-man show with several VPs under him. After talking to his New York bankers, he drops dead in the street. His wallet is stolen and presumed to be a John Doe. George Caswell notices the death from his window and sells short the company stock before others find out. When the news arrive back in Millburgh, various people vie for control of the company including VP Don Walling (William Holden) and Loren Shaw (Fredric March) with the founder's heir Julia Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck).

The most memorable characters are Holden and Stanwyck. Otherwise, they are mostly varying shades of old white guys in suits. Fredric March portrays the villain of the piece. It might be useful to concentrate more on his story. Instead, there are lots of character actors playing every one of the roles. Concentrating on Caswell early on may not set up the main conflict properly. There are some great actors galore receiving a few nominations. It is Holden who shines through with the climatic debate. This movie is swimming with greatness although it does lose me at certain times.

High class corporate intrigue/soap opera with an outstanding cast. Wise once again proves his dexterity with most any genre by steering this somewhat stagy drama smoothly over the hurdles.

He's aided by a great cast that could have only been pulled together by one of the top studios during its peak years. As the main couple William Holden and June Allyson are surprisingly simpatico as the idealistic young husband and wife whose happy home life and future are suddenly jeopardized by an unexpected turn of events. His intense, reactionary temperament and her sunny, somewhat quivery rectitude on the surface would seem an odd fit but instead they come across as a long married couple whose differences only strengthen their union.

As far as the other men go, Fredric March and Louis Calhern are interesting contrasts as two kinds of opportunist. March a resolute, basically principled bean counter who allows his ambition to compromise his integrity and Calhern a profligate heel who miscalculates at the wrong moment. Walter Pidgeon's character doesn't get to do much but be exasperated at different people and on the phone, he's more of a plot device to move the story forward. To a lesser extent the same is true of Paul Douglas' harassed salesman but he does get a couple of chances to flesh out his character in his interactions with Shelley Winters.

Considering this is a 50's boardroom narrative it's nice to see several decent women roles included besides June's. Barbara Stanwyck as befits her star status gets the juiciest role, even if it is limited in actual screen time. At first her big emotional outburst seems overdone until you realize it's decades of frustration and pain she's pouring out, the rest of the time she cool and classy. Shelley Winters' secretary has a vulnerability not common in her work but she plays it well. That leaves Nina Foch, an excellent actress and she's fine as the dutiful executive secretary but she was Oscar nominated for this and that's a puzzler. Of all the parts in the picture hers is the lest fleshed out. She's a steadying force but nothing else, we learn nothing of her and she doesn't make much of an impact on the flow of the film.

Similar in structure to Patterns, The Power and the Prize and the much glossier Women's World if you like films about power struggles and the backstage machinations involved with them you're sure to find this enjoyable.

This movie has an excellent cast who all put in strong efforts, but I just couldn't find anything to care about in this movie. There's a good message near the end about the importance of quality and serving the consumers over a financial bottom line, but it's a bit didactic and doesn't have a strong drama to back it up. The only tension is who of the executives is going to take over the company. They jockey for influence, plot, confide to their spouses, and that's basically it. Barbara Stanwyck is barely in this at all. I was hoping she would inherit the company at the beginning, as the plot premise indicated, and that we would get an interesting story of her making big changes at a company and dealing with the company consequences. No such luck, although she does get some pathos near the end. Instead it's a bunch of men who only care about a company or power engaging in a very slow and boring struggle for the presidency of the company. We know almost nothing about the what the company does or what it means, or what anyone wants to do with it, or why we should care. I tried to care but wasn't able to. The whole story seems like a missed opportunity. Too bad, such a good cast of actors without a story to tell.

Its been yrs. since Ive seen Executive Suite.. the cast always impressed me, multi Oscar Winners, Bill Holden, Shelley Winters , Fred. March, Dean Jagger,Stanwyck, * also June Allyson,Paul Douglas, Walter Pidgeon & in one her finest hrs., oscar nominated, Nina Foch (for Suite) Film has its moments, but is very slow, and quite dated.. doesnt hold up to the way most businesses are operated today!/ also the story was on the boring side... and directors pace (Robert Wise,) was at times for me tedious... Worth seeing because of performances, Stanwycks histrionics may be laughable to some today, but she could EMOTE with the best, Holden has a great speech in films final scenes,but classy elegant Ms. Foch, does a great job in a subdued scene stealing performance ! * Unbelievably, with all her body of work, Stanwyck never received an Oscar in competition, only a special given to her in the 1980's

The beginning of Executive Suite is very exciting. Filmed in the same first-person perspective as Robert Montgomery's Lady of the Lake, a faceless CEO has a heart attack outside his building and dies. At the next board meeting, the directors must choose a successor. Fredric March, a company man for decades, favors himself, but Walter Pidgeon, the deceased's friend, doesn't like what will happen to the company if Freddie takes over.

With an all-star cast and an intense premise, how could this movie possibly fall flat? Somehow, it does. The problem lies with both the screenplay and with William Holden. Bill is supposed to be seen as a savior, the only man who can prevent the company from a fate worse than bankruptcy, but he seems neither experienced, interested, or intelligent enough to live up to the mantel. Fredric March is extremely experienced, having been a company man all his life. He's obviously interested, since he resorts to blackmail to secure the necessary board votes. Paul Douglas is having an affair with his secretary, Shelley Winters, and Freddie confronts him while he's at her apartment. Louis Calhern has conducted illegal trading, and Freddie holds a police phone call over his head.

Where the screenplay errs is making William Holden's company ideas less feasible than Freddie's. Anyone who knows anything about business (presumably the film's target audience) would put their faith in Fredric March, when he's clearly portrayed as the villain. Where William Holden errs is in his lack of passionate delivery during his supposedly passionate monologues. Pidge puts his heart on the line when given the chance, but Bill just shouts the same way he did in The Country Girl and Sunset Blvd. There's nothing convincing about him, the way there is about Pidge and Freddie. Barbara Stanwyck's performance isn't very inspired, either, and her needlessly dramatic scenes with Bill seem to serve only one purpose: asking the audience, "Remember them in Golden Boy? Aren't they cute?" Shelley and Paul are good, but neither one has very much screen time.

For a far superior movie with a very similar theme, watch Woman's World instead. You'll still get to watch men vie for a vacant position in a huge company. You'll still get to see secrets uncovered, and you'll still get to see June Allyson as one of the wives.