Executive Suite

Slick MGM account of intrigues that take place among five viciously opportunistic company executives, jostling for position when their president dies. Taut and gripping, its chief strengths are a finely structured script by Ernest Lehman, and top-notch acting by the starry ensemble. March is particularly memorable, cast against the grain as a devious, maliciously selfish company controller. For all its sheerly entertaining wallowing in spiritual corruption, however, it never approaches the acerbic pungency of Lehman's collaboration with Clifford Odets on Sweet Smell of Success.