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Post by galacticgirrrl on Apr 30, 2023 20:33:23 GMT
Shaw's ROI speech so painfully accurate.
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Post by Fading Fast on Apr 30, 2023 20:35:06 GMT
In his speech, Holden is channeling his inner Ayn Rand. He's Dagny Taggart, Hank Reardon and John Galt.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 30, 2023 20:37:38 GMT
This film is much better than I remembered.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Apr 30, 2023 20:38:11 GMT
Whoa! Bye bye KF line table. Nice one Holden.
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Post by Fading Fast on Apr 30, 2023 20:40:12 GMT
Calhern's character is very similar to his "An Asphalt Jungle" character.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 30, 2023 20:40:31 GMT
Whoa! Bye bye KF line table. Nice one Holden. |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Apr 30, 2023 20:41:33 GMT
Whoa! Bye bye KF line table. Nice one Holden. |
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Post by topbilled on Apr 30, 2023 20:45:00 GMT
Great ending.
Great film. Thank you Fading Fast for selecting EXECUTIVE SUITE.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Apr 30, 2023 20:47:27 GMT
Great ending but really just a very sad fairy tale.
I would like to know the name of the first genius that launched the rallying cry for modern day built in obsolescence. All those first poor unsuspecting Grimms, out there thinking this idiotic notion will never fly, people aren't dumb enough to buy a fridge that won't last a lifetime.
If I wasn't so mad I'd be crying at this one.
The first film that director Robert Wise made for MGM - well done.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Apr 30, 2023 20:51:48 GMT
Great film! The big scenes reminded me of some of the best business scenes in Mad Men. I'll bet this inspired the writer in some ways. Joan was a lot like Nina Fochs's character.
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Post by topbilled on May 2, 2023 0:08:42 GMT
Andrea sent me a message with the list of films she plans to cover in June, which I have added to the pinned Overview thread on this forum.
She selected some great titles!
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Post by kims on May 2, 2023 2:28:42 GMT
Great ending but really just a very sad fairy tale.
I would like to know the name of the first genius that launched the rallying cry for modern day built in obsolescence. All those first poor unsuspecting Grimms, out there thinking this idiotic notion will never fly, people aren't dumb enough to buy a fridge that won't last a lifetime.
If I wasn't so mad I'd be crying at this one.
The first film that director Robert Wise made for MGM - well done.
I still use my Grandmother's MixMaster and her Presto pressure cooker. Ah for the days when you didn't have to constantly replace things-we'd all be much richer. Really weird: I have towels that lasted 40 years and though raveling, they are still functional for cleaning messes. |
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Post by Fading Fast on May 2, 2023 11:47:45 GMT
Executive Suite from 1954 with William Holden, June Allyson, Fredric March, Nina Foch, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Douglas and Shelley Winters
MGM spent lavishly adapting Cameron Hawley's best-selling novel Executive Suite to the screen. Its all-star cast, wonderful on-location shots, impressive sets and all-around first-class production made it a hit in its day and a movie that has held up over time.
The studio turned a boardroom battle over control of a manufacturing concern into a philosophical debate over the existential meaning and purpose of a company and how best to lead it for long-term success.
The movie asks whether executives of a business should manage the balance sheet with a ruthless focus on short-term profit or, instead, have a larger vision to create products of value and excellence that inspire employees and customers alike.
When the president of a large furniture manufacturer dies unexpectedly, the company's board of directors is forced to choose, before the end of one tense weekend, the next president from the company's five current vice presidents.
This sets up the main story arc of the movie as the executives and their wives, some of the wives are more ambitious than their husbands, jockey for advantage over the weekend before the pending Sunday night vote.
Frederic March plays the ruthless head of finance who sees a company as a balance sheet to be manipulated for maximum profit today. Oleaginous and nervous, March is smart, prepared and always scheming for an advantage; he is a formidable adversary.
Opposing him is William Holden playing the young golden-boy engineer and Randian visionary who believes building quality products - products employees are proud to make and customers are proud to own - is the path to long-term business success.
Over the weekend, the plans, plots and alliances shift with the other vice presidents alternately promoting themselves or getting behind either Holden or March. Director Robert Wise turned a "boring" board vote into an intense battle of good versus evil.
The cast is impressive with Walter Pidgeon playing the older executive realizing his day has passed. Paul Douglas plays the head of sales and a board member whose extra-marital affair with his secretary, played by Shelley Winters, could compromise his vote.
Amidst all this infighting, a board member, played with smarmy charm by Louis Calhern, is selfishly trying to manipulate the vote so that he can advantageously cover shares of stock he shorted when he learned of the president's death ahead of the market.
Quietly centering the story is Nina Foch in an Oscar-nominated performance as the poised, smart and loyal executive secretary who knows the company's secrets, but also knows how to keep them. She is the quiet gem in this movie.
Rounding out the cast is Barbara Stanwyck as a large shareholder and the neurotic daughter of the company's founder and June Allyson as Holden's wife who shows plenty of grit and fight in a very 1950s corporate-wife way.
Executive Suite's Wall Street location shots capture a time when Wall Street was the physical center of the business world, while its well-designed and stuffy executive-floor set reflects the near-religious solemnity that can develop at the top of the house.
Director Robert Wise steered his large cast and tension-filled story to a climax worthy of its buildup. When Holden and March go mano-a-mano like Roman gladiators in Brooks Brothers suits at the fateful board meeting, you're on the edge of your seat till the final vote.
Executive Suite is one of Hollywood's best business movies, not only because of its stars and MGM gloss, but because its story transcends business and becomes a morality tale of good versus evil, of honor versus deceit, of integrity versus greed. |
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Post by topbilled on May 2, 2023 14:20:30 GMT
Good review Fading Fast.
I especially like this paragraph: "Director Robert Wise steered his large cast and tension-filled story to a climax worthy of its buildup. When Holden and March go mano-a-mano like Roman gladiators in Brooks Brothers suits at the fateful board meeting, you're on the edge of your seat till the final vote."
One thing I think I have to disagree on is Nina Foch's performance. I know this puts me at odds with the general public and the Academy voters, but this time around, I carefully watched what she was doing in her scenes. And to be honest, I don't see her skill as an actress being any better than June Allyson or Barbara Stanwyck. I think it was a case of them having to pick one to nominate and she was the selectee. What worked against Allyson and Stanwyck is that they are both top tier actresses who are essentially playing supporting roles. Whereas Foch is a supporting actress in a clearly defined supporting role.
Allyson seemed to come across better to me, because she had to use her skill as an actress to show that yes she and her husband have a bit of ambition and would like to "win," but also they are more down-to-earth and practical so she knows there could be any number of opportunities for her husband at other companies. For them, it's about what is right, in the moment. And on top of playing the corporate wife aspect, Allyson had an advantage that Foch and Stanwyck did not have in that she could also provide an extra dimension as a mother.
Stanwyck's performance has gusto and is somewhat filled with over-the-top campiness...but she still gives a very satisfying performance...and she had some good scenes, like railing at Holden and the bit where she contemplated jumping off the ledge. However, Julia Tredway remained rather undeveloped as a character and there was only so much Stanwyck could do with it.
Getting back to Foch, I suspect the reason she became a favorite with viewers is because she conveys the long-suffering aspect of the woman who sacrifices everything for the boss, out of her love for company and the greater good. Viewers and Academy voters were often "saps" for martyr characters, and Foch is playing a martyr. But I do not think, after this recent viewing and reassessment of her technique, that she played her role any better than Allyson or Stanwyck played theirs.
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Post by topbilled on May 2, 2023 14:53:02 GMT
Just some more thoughts I had...
If EXECUTIVE SUITE were remade today, I think Foch's character would be overtly defined as a lesbian. She's the only one in the story who is not in a heterosexual relationship.
I also think that a modern day remake would probably make one of the vice presidents gay, though maybe closeted, as that would explain how his vote could be compromised. I'd say that Walter Pidgeon's character would be the most logical choice as a guy who's married to a woman but is really gay.
Probably Holden's character would have to be black, as a sign of the times, a well-heeled black man who has the best interests of the company and its employees at heart, landing the top spot. Though his wife could still be white, or at least mixed race. But probably if the wife was also black, we'd have more of an us/them scenario with the wife encouraging him to leave and find a company that is more diverse, but part of the reason he wants to succeed here is to bring about much-needed changes in not only the product they manufacture, but in the greater corporate culture.
If one of the main characters "had to be" hispanic, I think Dean Jagger's character would be the logical pick as he would be closer to the working class factory laborers, having probably worked his way up in that area of the business.
Fredric March's character would still have to be a dominant white heterosexual male and those facts would actually contribute to his villainy in a version from the 2020s. He would be much more ruthless blackmailing his gay colleague and trying to make sure that a black man doesn't take over the company.
Next, I think one of the vice presidents would have to be a female. So either Calhern's part or Douglas' part would be a woman. If Calhern's character was a woman, she could be just as ruthless as March's character. But gradually as the story unfolds, she mellows out and maybe finds out she's become pregnant midway through the story from a one-night stand, which forces her to re-evaluate her priorities in life.
Finally, the Julia Tredway character. She could still be white and over 40. But I'd make her Jewish, and I give her a stronger reason not to kill herself. I would reveal that she actually had a child out of wedlock years ago, after Avery Bullard refused to marry her. The child, a son, is Bullock's only heir...but the boy was born severely mentally handicapped, which would make the audience be more sympathetic towards Julia...how she had some lousy cards dealt her in life, but somehow she's a survivor.
The existence of Julia's child, which is a deeply held secret, is something that March's character learns about and tries to use against her. But ultimately she will not be intimidated or bullied, and the stock that Bullard left behind, in their son's name, would be better served by Holden's character being put in charge.
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