"Room at the Top", the story of a desperate to succeed working class Brit who's hoping his new civil service job in a town far superior to his depressed, bombed out home town was a brilliant mediation on what one may lose on the way to achieving what one may think one wants, with Lawrence Harvey terrific as Joe Lampton and Simone Signoret heartbreaking as his mistress Alice whom he realizes too late is the true love of his life. This one "Life at the Top" showing Joe in his new "Don Draper" life married to boss' daughter is entertaining and has some life in Jean Simmons' portrayal of an older, wiser, but still loving Susan, far less innocent and far more interesting than Heather Sears' version of the character in the first film. And Honor Blackman as the ambitious but loving journalist with whom Joe seeks to change a life that's become a trap and constant humiliation for him. However the movie lacks some of the spark of the first and while Joe remains an engaging character who is not simply a worthless cad trying to climb up...He did love Susan in film 1 till he realized he'd created an illusion about her and his grief for Alice is real; and he does care for and comes to respect and admire the stronger Susan in this one, one can't help feeling he should either admit his deficiencies to himself (He does lack training, experience, etc) or break out and prove himself, gaining his wife's respect in the process. His tame acceptance of Alice's widower's gross insults to her memory do lessen one's respect for him. But all-in-all not a bad sequel to the first.
Review of Life at the Top
