Thursday Aug 21, 2008 (2:30 & 7pm)
Critics are gushing over Mad Men and its nuanced portrayal of mid-century Madison Avenue's working gals, but Jean Negulesco's office drama The Best of Everything beats the Emmy-nominated series to the punch by more than 40 years. Focusing on the intertwined professional lives and loves of the female workers at a paperback publishing house, The Best of Everything is an unflattering portrait of a time when sexism was as ubiquitous in the workplace as smoking. Joan Crawford rules the roost as an exacting editor in a performance that makes Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly look positively saintly. Negulesco's far lighter, secretaries-on-holiday fairy tale Three Coins in the Fountain kicks off tonight's double bill.
– Matt Sussman