If your a fan of drama, this movie is for you. Hope Lange stars as Miss Bender, a young woman on the way up out of college after the editor job held by Joan Crawford. The setting is New York Ctity.

The project is romance. The industry is office, publishing office. There are several women in this cast who are not well known but who hold their own quite nicely. This 1959 era is sort of out of date with what was coming in the 1960's.

This is the rare film that features Stephen Boyd the same year he was doing Ben Hur which won a lot of Oscars this year and Louis Jourdan as powerful men who are after the women in the cast. The best of everything which is the songs title tune, seems to be that these women, within limits, can get everything they want.

Being the 1950's, they seem to want love and marriage. Lange's character, Miss Bender, wants a career too. That is a little different for a 1959 setting. That might be the main difference in this film from most films of this period.

If you like drama, New York City in the 1950's, or are a fan of Boyd, Jourdan or Hope Lang, this movie is for you. If you like romantic drama, this is your film too. While not a big classic, at least it is a film that tells a story, though a bit outdated today. Its sets look at lot like AMC's Mad Men done years later. In fact, it is story wise.

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.

This is a film that is far more enjoyable than its rating of 7 would suggest. In many ways, it's like a 50s version of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS--with much of the excesses and sleaziness of VALLEY polished up a bit for the audiences of 1959. Like this later film, both are about three young ladies who are on the fast-track to success--though this time it's in the publishing world instead of the entertainment industry (though one of the ladies in THE BEST OF EVERYTHING does have aspirations of Broadway).

The film begins with Hope Lange coming into the company for her first day of work. She's assigned to tough-as-nails boss, Joan Crawford, who is appearing in her first supporting role in decades. Despite how nasty Crawford seems, Lange is determined not to give in--to make it in this job. And, over time, she quickly moves up the ranks from secretary to editor. At the same time, her two new roommates also try to move up the ranks--one through the stage and one through a relationship with a rich playboy. Like VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, all of them have their ups and downs (mostly downs) but by the end of the film there is some hope that at least some of them will make it--battered and bruised, nevertheless.

In this film, men are mostly pigs. The only guy who seems decent is played by Stephen Boyd, so naturally Hope Lange neglects him for a ne'er do well ex-boyfriend. As for the guys played by veteran character actor Brian Ahern and the rest, they are sexist scum and eventually you understand how Crawford became so bitter and nasty.

This film has it all--adultery, premarital sex, abortion, etc. and is certainly NOT an artistic triumph. However, thanks to excellent production values and a juicy script, this one is a joy to watch. Just don't expect Shakespeare!!