Must-See Movies: The Best of Everything

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (1959). This gloriously deluxe 50s melodrama chronicles the struggles of a spunky young career woman (Hope Lange), trying to make it in a big New York publishing firm. She and her two roommates have the kind of glossy romantic adventures that ONLY happen in 50s movies (Should I choose my fledgling career or handsome, perfect, not a brylcreemed-hair-out-of-place Steven Boyd?). Hope’s nemesis is the fading queen of the publishing house, played by fading movie queen Joan Crawford in one of her very last “A” picture appearances. (After this it was pretty much Trog and the descent into Mommie Dearest Insanity.)

In fact, this was the very first time Joan had ever accepted a supporting role in a film.  Did she know it was the beginning of the end?

Also, if you watch closely you can see, during a scene in which Diane Baker and Hope Lange are walking along Christopper Street in Greenwich Village, the neon sign for The Stonewall Inn.  The Stonewall Inn was the place, exactly ten years later, where the gay civil rights movement is credited to have begun.

Make some deviled eggs, turn off the hi-fi, and curl up with this yummy treat of a movie.