This good drama, (shot in my favorite color for dramas--b&w) is at essence, a drama about the meaning of work & quality versus profit & related issues.
Please, as I reread this, I make the movie sound dry. It's not! But anyone who has ever worked---and been in a company where the future direction of the company is up for grabs---well, you can relate to this movie's personal and corporate power struggles...
Why does the young engineer smash this furniture company's table all to bits in the infamous boardroom scene? What about the accountant's ideas to increase the corporate share? How can a company make a good product it is not ashamed of yet still make profits? Of course, the personal intrigues give Executive Suite color and depth. Will the major stockholder (Barbara Stanwyck) sell out?
What direction will she choose for the company?
(Issues that resonate today regarding workmanship,etc. No doubt companies like the furniture company mentioned here faced future import challenges. Whether or not some of them survived later generations may well have been partly determined by choices made, say, in the 1950's.) I will eventually buy this on DVD & it will also be a good way to teach business ethics to my teenage daughter.
Please, as I reread this, I make the movie sound dry. It's not! But anyone who has ever worked---and been in a company where the future direction of the company is up for grabs---well, you can relate to this movie's personal and corporate power struggles...
Why does the young engineer smash this furniture company's table all to bits in the infamous boardroom scene? What about the accountant's ideas to increase the corporate share? How can a company make a good product it is not ashamed of yet still make profits? Of course, the personal intrigues give Executive Suite color and depth. Will the major stockholder (Barbara Stanwyck) sell out?
What direction will she choose for the company?
(Issues that resonate today regarding workmanship,etc. No doubt companies like the furniture company mentioned here faced future import challenges. Whether or not some of them survived later generations may well have been partly determined by choices made, say, in the 1950's.) I will eventually buy this on DVD & it will also be a good way to teach business ethics to my teenage daughter.