Kurt at 21:34, 8 September 2024

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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Nothing but the Best		\| name = Nothing but the Best
	\| image = Nothing but the best.~~jpg~~		\| image = Nothing but the best.webp
	\| caption =		\| caption =
	\| director = [[Clive Donner]]		\| director = [[Clive Donner]]

Kurt at 03:24, 8 September 2024

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	~~{{Short description\|1964 British film by Clive Donner}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Nothing but the Best		\| name = Nothing but the Best
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	* {{AllMovie title\|104333}}		* {{AllMovie title\|104333}}
	* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/nothing-but-the-best/ ''Nothing but the Best''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]		* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/nothing-but-the-best/ ''Nothing but the Best''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]

	~~{{Clive Donner}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Nothing But The Best}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Nothing But The Best}}
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	[[Category:Films about landlords]]		[[Category:Films about landlords]]
	[[Category:English-language black comedy films]]		[[Category:English-language black comedy films]]


	~~{{1960s-UK-comedy-film-stub}}~~

Kurt: 1 revision imported

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en>Sc2353: removed Category:British thriller films; added Category:British comedy thriller films using HotCat

2024-09-07T06:05:34Z

removed Category:British thriller films; added Category:British comedy thriller films using HotCat

New page

{{Short description|1964 British film by Clive Donner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Nothing but the Best
| image = Nothing but the best.jpg
| caption =
| director = [[Clive Donner]]
| producer = [[David Deutsch (producer)|David Deutsch]]
| writer = {{ubl|[[Stanley Ellin]]|[[Frederic Raphael]]}}
| narrator =
| starring = [[Alan Bates]]<br />[[Denholm Elliott]]<br />[[Harry Andrews]]<br />[[Millicent Martin]]
| music = [[Ron Grainer]]
| cinematography = [[Nicolas Roeg]]
| editing = [[Fergus McDonell]]
| distributor = [[Anglo-Amalgamated|Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd.]] (UK)
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1964|3|10|London, England}}
| runtime = 99 minutes
| country = England
| language = English
| budget = £175,594<ref name="money">Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360</ref>
| gross =
}}
'''''Nothing but the Best''''' is a 1964 British [[black comedy film]] directed by [[Clive Donner]] and starring [[Alan Bates]], [[Denholm Elliott]], [[Harry Andrews]] and [[Millicent Martin]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Nothing but the Best |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150035554 |access-date=26 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay by [[Frederic Raphael]] is based on the 1952 short story "The Best of Everything" by [[Stanley Ellin]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=nothing+but+the+best+1964+literary+sources+in+film&pg=PA889|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|first=Alan|last=Goble|date=8 September 2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110951943|via=Google Books}}</ref>

A young and ambitious businessman hires an unemployed [[upper class|upper-class]] man to tutor him in a number of [[life skills]].

==Plot==
James Brewster, a young man starting with a large London firm of estate agents and auctioneers, is ambitious to get to the top. In a cheap café, he meets Charles Prince, a drunken layabout who has everything James wants: effortless [[upper class|upper-class]] arrogance and impeccable tailoring. In return for a room to live in and loans for drink and betting, Charles agrees to tutor James in the life skills which he thinks are necessary to succeed. By bluff and sabotage, James rises in his firm, catching the eye of the owner and of his only daughter Ann.

Disaster threatens when Charles has a big win and wants to end the deal. James hastily strangles him and his landlady agrees to hide the corpse in her cellar in return for continuing their sexual liaison.

After a long [[courtship]], Ann agrees to marry James and her father makes him a partner in the business. Having conveniently sent his lower-middle-class parents to Australia, James anticipates his success being crowned by a grand society wedding. Ann's father confesses that he has a totally disreputable son who they never see called Charles and developers who have bought the house of James' former landlady find a corpse in the cellar.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Alan Bates]] as Jimmy Brewster
* [[Denholm Elliott]] as Charlie Prince
* [[Harry Andrews]] as Mr. Horton
* [[Millicent Martin]] as Ann Horton
* Pauline Delaney as Mrs. March
* [[Godfrey Quigley]] as Coates
* [[Alison Leggatt]] as Mrs. Brewster
* Lucinda Curtis as Nadine
* [[Nigel Stock (actor)|Nigel Stock]] as Ferris
* [[James Villiers]] as Hugh
* [[Drewe Henley]] as Denis
* [[Avice Landone]] as Mrs. Horton
* [[Ernest Clark]] as Roberts
* [[Willie Rushton]] as Gerry
* [[Peter Madden (actor)|Peter Madden]] as ex-politician
* [[Donald Pickering]] as Adrian Slater
* [[Howard Lang]] as Jutson
* [[Julian Holloway]] as bank teller (uncredited)
}}

== Critical reception ==
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "The theme is ''[[Room at the Top (1959 film)|Room at the Top]]'' [1959] reconstructed for laughs; the cast includes a leavening of people from ''[[That Was the Week That Was|TW3]]''; and the attitudes are in general nicely ambiguous, so that the film (like ''TW3'' itself) can put on quite a show of social ruthlessness and general audacity without committing itself very far in any particular direction. ... Denholm Elliott plays the 1960s remittance man in rich style, achieving precisely the right suggestion of a mannered insolence still intact, but beginning to fray badly at the edges. He also gets many of the best lines in a script which veers erratically between dialogue which is funny and accurate, and lines which dangerously undermine the film's pretensions to serious social satire. ... All the same, the script is often sharply funny, as well as being consistently inventive in the way it keeps things moving, allowing the director a range of settings and locations which are used up to the hilt. ...The director gets admirable performances from Alan Bates, as the blandly ruthless hero, Harry Andrews as his father-in-law and Pauline Delany as his cat-hugging landlady. Its main asset, however, is its sprucely cheerful good looks: for a supposedly black comedy, ''Nothing But the Best'' keeps its spirits up remarkably."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1964 |title=Nothing but the Best |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832387/B2BA11399733453CPQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=31 |issue=360 |pages=53 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

British film critic [[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Hard, skilful, rather unattractive comedy with interesting social comments on its time."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=742}}</ref>

''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "Scripted by Frederic Raphael, photographed by [[Nicolas Roeg]] and directed by Clive Donner, this has all the credentials to be one of the best British big-screen satires. There's no denying it's a very funny film, a sort of ''[[School for Scoundrels (1960 film)|School for Scoundrels]]'' [1960] in a ''Room at the Top'', but the brushstrokes are so broad that there is no room for the finer detail that would have made it a classic. Alan Bates is splendid as a working-class wannabe, but Denholm Elliott steals every scene as an indolent aristocrat who tutors him in the delicate art of being a cad."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=671}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0058415}}
* {{AllMovie title|104333}}
* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/nothing-but-the-best/ ''Nothing but the Best''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]

{{Clive Donner}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nothing But The Best}}
[[Category:1964 films]]
[[Category:1964 black comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s comedy thriller films]]
[[Category:1960s satirical films]]
[[Category:British black comedy films]]
[[Category:British satirical films]]
[[Category:British comedy thriller films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Clive Donner]]
[[Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios]]
[[Category:British independent films]]
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ron Grainer]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:Films about businesspeople]]
[[Category:Films about landlords]]
[[Category:English-language black comedy films]]

{{1960s-UK-comedy-film-stub}}

Nothing but the Best (film) - Revision history

Kurt at 21:34, 8 September 2024

Kurt at 03:24, 8 September 2024

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Sc2353: removed Category:British thriller films; added Category:British comedy thriller films using HotCat