Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Clive Donner
Starring: Alan Bates, Denholm Elliott, Millicent Martin, Harry Andrews
Clive Donner's 1964 class satire
Nothing but the Best arrived at a time when British cinema was
struggling to keep up with the social changes enveloping Britain. The
British New Wave had arrived just a few years earlier with movies focussed
on the lives of the sort of working class folk (usually Northerners) that
had been largely ignored in British films prior to that movement. It also
followed a series of comedies that mocked Britain's class system in a
more gently prodding fashion than the works of the "Angry Young Men."
Conversely, with a male protagonist who treats women as disposable, it's
ahead of the curve, something of a proto-Alfie. And yet despite arriving in the middle of the swinging '60s, it plays
more like a product of the '50s, only elevated above the middle of the road
Dirk Bogarde "Doctor" comedies by its acerbic wit.
Alan Bates plays James Brewster, a low-level employee of London real
estate firm Horton's who is desperate to leave his working class roots
behind and climb the social ladder. He's more than willing to break every
rung below him if it means he can achieve his ruthless ambitions. "He/she'll
have to go," is a repeated phrase we hear in his voiceover narration
regarding anyone he views as an obstacle. James has his sights set on
winning a promotion at work, which will require impressing his boss Mr.
Horton (Harry Andrews). Standing in his way is toff Hugh (James Villiers), who also happens to be the boyfriend of Horton's daughter Ann (Millicent Martin) on whom he has cast his beady eyes.
A chance encounter with Charlie Prince (Denholm Elliott) is viewed
by James as a shortcut to the big time. Charlie is of aristocratic stock but
has been disowned by his family for his caddish ways, which includes a line
in forgery that saw him fired from a job at Horton's. To James, Charlie has
"what I want," i.e. nobility, and so he moves the homeless Charlie into his
bedsit in return for lessons on how to infiltrate high society, and of
course, win the hand of Ann.
Nothing but the Best is at its liveliest whenever Elliott is
on screen. His caddish Charlie gets all the best lines, and Elliott delivers
them with cynical conviction. Despite the large favour James is doing in
giving him a home and supplementing his allowance, Charlie can't hide his
contempt for what he views as a social climbing parasite, which is a
bitingly caustic view of upper/working class relations. The manner in which
Donner presents Charlie's tutoring of James through interactions in a
variety of locations suggests his film may have been an influence on Woody
Allen's Annie Hall, right down to a sweaty interaction on a squash court.
The trouble with Nothing but the Best is that James is such a
loathsome individual that we find it impossible to root for him. As a class
satire, Donner's film unintentionally makes us feel sympathy for the upper
class figures James is out to depose, as they're portrayed as a rather
harmless bunch of twits, save for Ann, who it turns out is as ruthlessly
ambitious as James. If there was a cleverness to James's tactics we might
begrudgingly get behind him, but there's nothing especially smart about he
goes about his plans. The character's misogyny (at one point he describes
the switchboard operator he's a dating as "strictly division three")
certainly won't win him any female fans in 2024.
Nothing but the Best is based on a mystery story by
Stanley Ellin, which seems odd until the movie takes a late turn into
macabre territory with James's ambitions taking a murderous turn (the same
story would later be adapted for an episode of the mystery anthology
Tales of the Unexpected). It's a jarring development and one that the film never really pulls off.
Donner is no Hitchcock, and he fails to generate any suspense from this
scenario. Everything just goes too well for James, who never encounters the
sort of setbacks that make for good drama. The result is a film that
passively documents a horrible little man on his way to becoming a horrible
big man with very little to stop him along the way. Donner just doesn't seem
to realise how dark and depressing this material really is.
Nothing but the Best is on UK
bluray, DVD and VOD from August 26th.