Executive Suite

Executive Suite. 1954 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters
Director: Robert Wise
Buy Executive Suite at Amazon.
Also available as part of the Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection.

Tredway Corporation head Avery Bullard dies at a critical time. His company, which manufactures furniture, has lost ground to competitors, and Bullard never groomed a successor, so the board of directors need to vote for his replacement.

The favorite is Loren Shaw (March), an executive more concerned with profitability and satisfying stockholders than rejuvenating the firm with new ideas. He has the support of the main shareholder, Julia Tredway (Stanwyck), as well as another board member, George Caswell (Louis Calhern).

The other choice is the creative young engineer Don Walling (Holden), who would rather develop new products and more efficient manufacturing methods than become head of the whole company. His wife Mary (June Allyson) is against him taking a new position, unlike company vice president Frederick Alderson (Pidgeon), who is Walling's best friend, and who sees him as the best home for saving the firm, even if Don is five years "too young" for the position.

Interesting film, I felt. Recommended.