There are only two or three missing or added scenes that I am aware of, and none of them have much, if any, impact on the film. One character that is dropped is Joe's friend Charles Lufford, who stays behind in Dufton but whom he sees again on Boxing Day when he goes back there to stay with his Aunt Emily at Christmas.
British 60s cinema - Room at the Top
Charles' function is really to let Joe think his thoughts out loud; it is made clear that the two of them are like brothers, thinking alike they both refer to many of Dufton's good citizens as Zombies , but Charles Soames played by Donald Houston in the film, see clip above performs much of the same role, acting as Joe's friend at the office it is he, and his fiancee June, who find a badly beaten up Joe at the end of the film, whereas in the book it is two amdram friends, Eva and Bob, who help him.
Joe and Alice spend a few days in Dorset in both book and film but in the book he stays on for another week or so with two friends, whereas Alice has to return and on her return she falls ill and is in hospital for two months, during which time Joe doesn't see her. This is omitted from the film, but one scene is added which does not feature in the book; George Aisgill makes it clear to Joe that trying to get Alice to divorce him and marry Joe is a non-starter: The scenes where Brown, Susan's father, makes his offer to Joe, and where Joe is told about Alice's death, are pretty much intact, although there was little trouble with the censors over how to describe her death in the novel Teddy tells her that 'She was scalped and the steering column-' whereas in the film the bit about being scalped is omitted.
In the novel though, when he first hears of Alice's death, his first thought, as usual, is for himself:. O merciful God, I thought, she's committed suicide and left a note blaming me. That's finished me in every possible way. I went on crying, as if the tears would blur the image of Alice crawling round Corby Road on her hands and knees, as if they would drown her first shrill screams and her last delirious moans.
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I wasn't there, but I killed her. Eva drew my head on to her breast. You don't see it now, but it was all for the best. She'd have ruined your whole life. Nobody blames you, love. I pulled myself away from her abruptly. The film ends instead - very effectively, in my opinion - with the now-inevitable wedding of Joe and Susan, and the famous last line, where Susan sees a tear in Joe's eye: The good folks at Talking Pictures TV probably show it from time to time, and you might be able to watch it on youtube as full films come and go on there from time to time.
Saint Etienne samples TV Personalities. From the novel by John Braine published in John Braine on't Ilkley Moor baht 'at. Still, the ending is pretty disheartening, and dare I say it, maybe unbelievable? Visually the film is pretty strong. Clayton makes good use of deep focus photography to make certain shots stand out. The deep focus is definitely there to draw attention to itself, as the characters faces stand way out, far more than they would otherwise.
The ending is especially dark, almost to the point of being a noir, though without that specific tone. Clayton also uses the motif of the cigarette pretty well, that and the curtain blowing contributing to the more romantic moments in a classy s black and white sort of way. The film is stylish but without being terrible ostentatious about it, the deep focus photography and use of shadows keeps things very dramatic. I really responded to this, but when melodrama is done with such rich texture, it appeals to me.
So many directors misuse the medium and create something that feels cheap…but Room at the Top hits all the right marks and feels so guttural. Room at the Top does very well with that, for the most part. Other than the weird stuff Joe does, which comes off as inconsistent to me, the over the top decisions the characters make come mostly from a realistic place and I can get behind this film for that reason. Yeah reading that was a bit of a surprise to me! You are commenting using your WordPress.
Alice is overjoyed by Joe's decision to end his quest for wealth and social status in favour of simply being happy with himself and with her. The two of them decide that she should ask for a divorce from her brutal husband George Aisgill. But George refuses and declares that he will ruin Joe and Alice, both socially and financially, if their relationship continues. Meanwhile, Susan's father delivers the news that Susan is pregnant; he expects Joe immediately to stop seeing Alice, marry Susan and come to work for him as an executive.
After Joe delivers the news that he will marry Susan, the heartbroken Alice gets drunk and crashes her car. She is mutilated but not immediately found and dies slowly over the ensuing hours.
Room at the Top
Distraught over the loss of Alice and blaming himself for her fate, Joe disappears. After being beaten unconscious by a gang of thugs for making a drunken pass at one of their women, Joe is recovered by Soames in time to marry Susan.
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With that, Joe has at last accomplished all of the goals that he had so long sought, but that he no longer desires. There are some differences from Braine's novel. His friend Charlie Soames, whom he meets at Warnley in the film, is a friend from his hometown Dufton in the novel. Also, Warnley is called Warley in the book. More emphasis is paid to his lodging at Mrs Thompson's, which in the novel he has arranged beforehand in the film, his friend Charlie arranges it soon after they meet.
In the book, the room is itself significant, and is strongly emphasised early in the story; Mrs Thompson's room is noted as being at "the top" of Warley geographically, and higher up socially than he has previously experienced.
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It also serves as a metaphor for Lampton's ambition to rise in the world. Producer James Woolf bought the film rights to the novel, originally intending to cast Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons. Vivien Leigh was originally offered the part of Alice, in which Simone Signoret was eventually cast.