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Executive Suite is a 1954 American drama film directed by Robert Wise and written by Ernest Lehman, and starring William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, Dean Jagger, and Nina Foch. Based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley, it depicts the internal struggle for control of a furniture manufacturing company after the unexpected death of the company's president. Executive Suite was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including for Foch's performance, which earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.
This was Lehman's first produced screenplay, and its plot deviates substantially from the novel. He went on to write Sabrina, North by Northwest, West Side Story, and other films. The film is one of few in Hollywood history without a musical score.
George Caswell, a member of the Tredway board of directors and one of the financiers Bullard has just left, sees a body he is sure is Bullard's in the street below. Seeing an opportunity for easy money, he phones his broker to short sell as much Tredway stock as he can before the market closes for the weekend, which he will buy back after news of Bullard's death drops its price. But the body, without identification, gets listed as a John Doe, making Caswell very nervous, as he cannot cover the trades without the stock price falling.
Bullard never named a second-in-command after the previous executive vice-president had died. When he fails to arrive at company headquarters, the meeting is canceled. The public announcement of his death later that evening – thanks to a tip from Caswell – sets off a scramble among the Tredway executives for the top job.
Company comptroller Loren Shaw immediately seizes power, making unilateral business decisions. He releases a favorable upcoming quarterly report to shore up stock prices. He is fixated on generating short-term accounting gains and using them to reward stockholders at the expense of the quality of the company's products and long-term viability. Shaw buys Caswell's vote by promising to sell him unissued company stock Caswell had begged for to cover his short sell. Shaw blackmails sales vice president Walter Dudley for his support after stalking him to a tryst with his secretary Eva that very evening.
Longtime treasurer Frederick Alderson seeks out Dudley for his vote, but is rebuffed. Young, idealistic research vice president Don Walling throws his hat in the ring, convincing Alderson he is not too green. Alderson rushes to find vice president of manufacturing Jesse Grimm to secure his vote. A venerable 30-year Tredway veteran, Grimm had already decided to retire. While no fan of Shaw, he is envious and resentful of "boy wonder" Walling and refuses to support his candidacy.
Shaw gains the Proxy voting of board member Julia Tredway, daughter of the company founder, major shareholder, and jilted longtime Bullard lover. Both grief-stricken and heartbroken, Julia wants the company out of her life after another traumatic abandonment by its leader: first by her father's suicide, then Bullard's rejection and death.
At an emergency board meeting, Shaw falls one vote short of victory, Caswell holding out to gain leverage. Walling makes an impassioned speech, laying out his vision of a revitalized company driven by new construction methods and a return to quality products everyone can be proud of. Grimm, Dudley, and Julia Tredway are won over, and Walling is elected unanimously when Shaw concedes.
Executive Suite was the first film written by journalist Ernest Lehman, and made for MGM by director Robert Wise.
The all-star cast created problems in scheduling, since only a handful of the lead actors had any commitment to MGM. The logistics of scheduling were so complex that the studio had to set an "inflexible" starting date two months in advance of shooting, the first time that MGM had ever done so.
The film was planned to have 145 speaking parts, a record for MGM, but ended with just 66 actors listed in the credits, far fewer having speaking roles. The film's budget was $1,383,000.
Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times called the film's tension "well-sustained" and praised the performances of Stanwyck, Foch, Calhern, and Pidgeon. In January 1955 Fortune magazine published a four-page article, "The Executive as Hero", which praised the film, commenting that it "has set in motion the conflicts and collisions that give business its true drama."
The film has received critical acclaim from modern day critics.
Scheduling opposite Monday Night Football on ABC, and then The Rockford Files on NBC, doomed the show to poor ratings, and it was canceled after one season.
Locations
Release
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer premiered Executive Suite in Hollywood on April 15, 1954. Its U.S. release expanded on April 30, 1954.
Home media
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released Executive Suite on DVD on October 30, 2007, as part of the multi-film set Barbara Stanwyck: The Signature Collection. The Warner Archive Collection later issued a standalone DVD on May 29, 2013. On June 24, 2025, the Warner Archive Collection released the film for the first time on Blu-ray.
Reception
Box office
The film was number one at the U.S. box office for four consecutive weeks during May 1954, grossing $1,845,000. According to MGM records, the film eventually earned theatrical rentals of $2,682,000 in the U.S. and Canada, and $903,000 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $3,585,000 and a profit of $772,000.
Critical response
Variety noted the overall enthusiastic reviews: “In nearly all keys key the pic has drawn enthusiastic crix critics’ approval. This has helped considerably in smaller cities where reviews are followed faithfully.”. The Variety staff praised the film for its ensemble cast, and also wrote favorably of screenwriter Ernest Lehman's adaptation of the source novel. However, Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times called it "A pretty chilly succession of echoing rooms", and commented that "for all of Mr. Holden's fine oration the ideal of stouter furniture and a happier furniture corporation doesn't cause the blood to run hot." Crowther does praise the "quality production and general quality acting of the film", and calls it "a fair endeavor" but notes that "dramatically, it doesn't add up."
Accolades
Best Art Direction – Black-and-White Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno;
Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri Best Cinematography – Black-and-White George Folsey Best Costume Design – Black-and-White Helen Rose Best Foreign Actor Fredric March Best Supporting Actress Nina Foch Grand Jury Prize The Acting Ensemble
TV series
More than two decades after their release, the film and novel were adapted into a weekly television series with the same title. Airing on CBS in 1976–1977, the TV version changed the fictional corporate setting to the Cardway Corporation in Los Angeles. Mitchell Ryan starred as company chairman Dan Walling, with Sharon Acker as his wife Helen and Leigh McCloskey and Wendy Phillips as his children, Brian and Stacey. Other series regulars included Stephen Elliott, Byron Morrow, Madlyn Rhue, William Smithers, Paul Lambert, Richard Cox, Trisha Noble, Carl Weintraub, Maxine Stuart, and Ricardo Montalbán.
External links
Categories: 1954 Films, 1954 Romantic Drama Films, 1950s American Films, 1950s English-language Films, American Business Films, American Romantic Drama Films, American Black-and-white Films, English-language Romantic Drama Films, Films About Businesspeople, Films Adapted Into Television Shows, Films Based On American Novels, Films Based On Romance Novels, Films Directed By Robert Wise, Films With Screenplays By Ernest Lehman, Films Set In New York City, Films Shot In Allentown, Pennsylvania, Metro-goldwyn-mayer Films, Venice Grand Jury Prize Winners, American Novels Adapted Into Films
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