✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom · 1959
1h 55m
Director Jack Clayton
Starring Simone Signoret, Laurence Harvey, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit
Genre Drama, Romance
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
In a dreary English factory town in the 1940s, Joe is an ambitious young accountant who plans to marry Susan, a local magnate’s daughter, solely for the sake of getting ahead. But after Susan’s father sends her abroad, Joe turns to Alice — an older woman in an unhappy marriage — for comfort.
In retrospect, this adaptation of John Braine's Bradford-set novel, with its moral melodramatics as Laurence Harvey cheats his way to success (a good marriage) via the death of his 'true love' and the bed of his mistress (Signoret), may not stand the test of time. But it remains intriguing as a sort of Brief Encounter, '50s-style.
Although time doesn't flatter the film much, it remains engaging and insightful.
The New York Times by J. Hoberman
Room at the Top is quite conservative in its morality — although its sledgehammer ending still packs an emotional wallop.
This French masterpiece centers around the theatrical life of a courtesan and the four men who love her.
A young chambermaid believes her colleague committed a horrible crime and uses her sexuality to try to coax a confession out of him.
A poor family lies and schemes their way into the employ of a wealthy household — successfully, but with great consequences.
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
This French masterpiece centers around the theatrical life of a courtesan and the four men who love her.
A young chambermaid believes her colleague committed a horrible crime and uses her sexuality to try to coax a confession out of him.
A poor family lies and schemes their way into the employ of a wealthy household — successfully, but with great consequences.