Room at the Top: for some reason I thought this was going to be a comedy but actually it's a well-done soap opera/class conflict movie in which angry young man Laurence Harvey is determined to get out of his working-class background, and to do this sets his eye on the beautiful daughter of the richest man in town. To get close to her, he joins a theater troupe to which she and Simone Signoret belong. Harvey has an eye for the ladies, and the older Signoret offers him sympathy, then tea, then herself. Harvey has already seen how her husband mistreats her, and Harvey and Signoret fall in love, while Harvey keeping an eye on the rich man's daughter. After a quarrel with Signoret, he begins an affair with the rich girl, and things get emotionally complicated.

Harvey is effective as the young man with a chip on his shoulder (actually the whole tree), but Signoret is outstanding in what is considered the best role by this great actress. I thought she was excellent in Army of Darkness, too, but this is her as a lead and dominating the movie. The supporting cast is fine, too. Heather Sears has the unfortunate role as the pretty young rich girl; she's nice, but bland compared with Signoret. Hermione Badderley, who plays a friend of Signoret's who lends her apartment to Harvey and Signoret, holds the distinction of being the actress with the shortest role ever to be nominated for an Academy Award. She's on screen for two minutes and twenty seconds, and makes them count.

The film suffers a little bit by having an ending telegraphed far in advance and an antihero who's really pretty unlikeable.

This film also holds the distinction of being the only film to defeat Ben-Hur at the Oscars. It took the award for Adapted Screenplay, because, well, its screenplay's better.

ROOM AT THE TOP is not available on DVD.

It should be available at any good video store in Houston, or don't they have good video stores?

One other reason to dislike Netflix....

There is virtually no reason to dislike Netflix. They revolutionized the ritual of DVD rental with their no-late-fee policy and their public relations have been impeccable. When you contact Netflix on the telephone you always get a real person. How many companies can say the same in this era of voice-mail hell?

Syd--You have been catching my favorite-ever roles by actresses in the last week. Caron and Signoret, both coincidentally Frenchwomen, give IMO two of the very best performances in screen history. Signoret gives hands-down my favorite Oscarwinning performance of all time. Caron was nominated but unfortunately was up against Audrey Hepburn in 1953, when the gamine sweepstakes were all Hepburn's to lose all the time. (Caron gave the more memorable performance by far.)

So who should I check out next? The other actress in your top ten is Grace Kelly in Rear Window, which I've seen many times.