Lawrence Harvey continues his portrayal of the character Joe Lampton, at a time which is meant to be ten years later. For some reason Heather Sears does not appear again as his wife, and a harsher and older Jean Simmons takes her place, which is not entirely satisfactory casting, though she does her best. Jack Clayton did not direct this sequel, instead it was directed by Ted Kotcheff. He also is very good, but not as brilliant as Clayton. The other characters continue to be played by the same actors, although of course Simone Signoret does not appear, because her character is dead. In her place, to fill the carnal void left by Jean Simmons in Harvey's life appears a femme fatale played excellently by Honor Blackman. The Honor Blackman character is very subtly conceived and written, and she is the type who challenges a man to leave his wife and start a new life with her, and then when he unexpectedly does so (as Harvey does), she dumps him, leaving him high and dry and desolate. Prior to this experience, Harvey has discovered that life at the top is not at all the bed of roses he had imagined in his dreams. 'Marrying a million' does not mean he has a million, and even his car is a company car and he is not even a joint owner of his own house, and in fact he is a prisoner in a gilded cage. As his father in law, played as waspishly as ever by Donald Wolfit, says: 'I bought him for my daughter.' This film is excellent, and if it is not quite on the same level as its illustrious predecessor film, it is still a worthy sequel well worth seeing.
Review of Life at the Top
Life at the Top
(1965)
The sequel to ROOM AT THE TOP carries the story forward
5 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers