I wish at the outset it made it clear when this story was set. Being made in 1958 I assumed it was from this time, in fact it was set in the late 1940s.
Purportedly the first film to openly discuss sex and as a form of pleasure. Therefore, it was a film of notoriety and eventually given an X rating after initially not being deemed suitable for release at all. It is all pretty tame by today's standards, or lack of.
Ok, that said it has not stood the test of time in the same way as Taste of Honey or Saturday Night and Sunday Morning which followed along soon afterwards and tackled similar issues.
The main reason is Laurence Harvey who was simply appalling as Joe Lampton. Incredibaly he was nominated for an Oscar and when you think he was in the same company as Jack Lemmon for Some Like it Hot, it gives some perspective. Charlton Heston won it for Ben Hur.
As he is on screen for most of the time it is hard to get away from a performance that would have embarrassed Thunderbirds, and is illustrated every time he shares a scene with the exceptional Simone Signoret, who did win an Oscar for her performance.
Joe Lampton's dialogue and narrative does not convey his supposedly northern background. His accent kept changing and his use of English was basic in some instances (pronunciation of brazier) and articulate in others.
He always said "yes" not "aye". A fundamental flaw.
Why did the more well to do have clipped BBC accents rather than northern where they were supposed to have been established in business for more than a generation.
Susan Brown is just too wishy-washy and naïve to be credible.
The film also suffers an identity crisis. While breaking barriers and tackling mature issues on one hand there are still parts stuck in the more familiar characterisations of the time. The town hall personnel in particular were all just too good to be true, although interesting to see early outings for Ian Hendry, Jack Hedley, Prunella Scales, Wendy Craig and Miriam Karlin (only Hendry was credited although the rest had speaking parts).
Review of Room at the Top
