The lives of three girls working in a publishing house in New York overlap here with varying degrees of interest, but the scenery is stolen by the veteran actress who makes good even though she has less screen time. Hope Lange, Suzy Parker and Diane Baker are joined by Joan Crawford who has the supporting but showy role of publishing executive Amanda Farrow, barking orders, offering unsolicited advice and basically trying to tear them down. Her motive? A combination of envy, annoyance and anger towards something missing in her own life which is revealed in a mid film telephone conversation with her unseen married lover whom she tells off in the most hysterical typical Crawford manner. "I do that in all my films" she once said in a cameo as herself in one of her movies, and indeed, somehow she always did have a dramatic tell off seen that either resulted in a slap or a vicious put down. But, for all the insults and nasty demands she makes, she doesn't seem to have a response to the glares of contempt they give her, simply sauntering off rather than making threats like Miranda Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada" may have. In a sense, that makes her dangerous, because subject of her wrath is then unaware of what her intentions are.
Of the three women, only Hope Lange's story really is interesting, showing her rise in the firm as Farrow falls. Suzy Parker, as a hopeful actress, becomes involved with Broadway producer Louis Jourdan, and Diane Baker finds herself involved with a married man and pregnant withaout the benefits of marriage. the soap opera style story actually did make it to daytime TV a decade later, memorable for casting Hollywood vets Geraldine Fitzgerald and Gale Sondergaard in major parts.
As for the men, they are presented as charming but lecherous, with veteran movie actor Brian aherne the head of the firm and constantly pinching the backsides of the various girls with a seemingly harmless wink. The younger men treat their women like convenient commodities, and Jourdan in particular is quite cold when he runs out of a reason to keep Parker around. This basically is an early less scandalous version of Valley of the Dolls without the excessive drugs and alcohol, and certainly no suicide. Crawford has a great final scene with Lange, giving her a warning that makes you realize that she will make the same mistakes that Crawford did.
Of the three women, only Hope Lange's story really is interesting, showing her rise in the firm as Farrow falls. Suzy Parker, as a hopeful actress, becomes involved with Broadway producer Louis Jourdan, and Diane Baker finds herself involved with a married man and pregnant withaout the benefits of marriage. the soap opera style story actually did make it to daytime TV a decade later, memorable for casting Hollywood vets Geraldine Fitzgerald and Gale Sondergaard in major parts.
As for the men, they are presented as charming but lecherous, with veteran movie actor Brian aherne the head of the firm and constantly pinching the backsides of the various girls with a seemingly harmless wink. The younger men treat their women like convenient commodities, and Jourdan in particular is quite cold when he runs out of a reason to keep Parker around. This basically is an early less scandalous version of Valley of the Dolls without the excessive drugs and alcohol, and certainly no suicide. Crawford has a great final scene with Lange, giving her a warning that makes you realize that she will make the same mistakes that Crawford did.