Room at the Top (1959 film)

Room at the Top
Original British 1959 quad size film poster
Directed by	Jack Clayton
Produced by	John and James Woolf
Screenplay by	Neil Paterson Mordecai Richler (uncredited)
Based on	Room at the Top by John Braine
Starring	Laurence Harvey Simone Signoret Heather Sears Donald Wolfit Hermione Baddeley
Music by	Mario Nascimbene
Cinematography	Freddie Francis
Edited by	Ralph Kemplen
Production company	Romulus Films
Distributed by	British Lion Films (UK) Continental Distributing (US)
Release date	22 January 1959 (1959-01-22) (UK)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£280,000
Box office	$2,400,000 (US)

Room at the Top is a 1959 British film based on the novel of the same name by John Braine. The novel was adapted by Neil Paterson with uncredited work by Mordecai Richler. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by John and James Woolf. The film stars Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit, Donald Houston and Hermione Baddeley.

Room at the Top was widely lauded, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning Best Actress for Signoret and Best Adapted Screenplay for Paterson. Its other nominations included Best Picture, Best Director for Clayton, Best Actor for Harvey, and Best Supporting Actress for Baddeley. Baddeley's performance, consisting of 2 minutes and 32 seconds of screen time, became the shortest ever to be nominated for an acting Oscar.

In late 1940s Yorkshire, England, Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey), an ambitious young man who has just moved from the dreary factory town of Dufton, arrives in Warnley to assume a secure, but poorly paid, post in the Borough Treasurer's Department. Determined to succeed, and ignoring the warnings of a colleague, Soames (Donald Houston), he pursues Susan Brown (Heather Sears), daughter of the local industrial magnate, Mr Brown (Donald Wolfit). Mr and Mrs Brown (Ambrosine Phillpotts) deal with Joe's social climbing by sending Susan abroad.