Nothing but the Best – 1963 | 99 mins | Comedy, Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Frederick Raphael based his screenplay for the underrated dark satire ‘Nothing but the Best’ on Stanley Elkins’ black-humour masterpiece. Nothing but the Best takes a penetrating glance at the social climbing upper classes that use the Old School tie and is so delightfully cynical and morally ambiguous that it will have you guessing whether Bates will get his comeuppance at the end. Alan Bates displays a previously unexplored vein of comedy mannerisms as an amoral working-class wannabe, but as excellent as he is its Denholm Elliot as his aristocratic mentor that manages to steal the show. Nic Roeg’s lush photography and Clive Donner‘s slick direction superbly capture a grubbily materialist world at the heart of ‘Swinging London’ where image is everything.

London real estate agent Jimmy Brewster (Alan Bates) is a ruthless social climber who doesn’t doesn’t sell his working class soul, but merely adopts one with a better pedigree. He will stop at nothing to achieve social status and hires the assistance of aristocratic mentor Charlie Prince (Denholm Elliott) to teach him the manners and demeanour suitable for the upper-crust society that he intends to gain access to. Accordingly he invites Prince to move into his flat at a run of the mill London B&B. Meanwhile, Brewster moves in on his boss’s daughter, Ann Horton (Millicent Martin). Her father (Harry Andrews) watches on carefully as Brewster makes his calculated approach and Ann sees right through his facade, but Brewster is handsome, suave and lots more fun than her current beau Hugh (James Villiers).

Just as Brewster is on the brink of becoming one of the “beautiful people,” his mentor Prince wins a bundle at the horse races and disdainfully threatens to call time on their charade. Without a moment’s hesitation, Brewster strangles Prince with his own ‘old school tie,’ and with the help of smitten landlady Mrs March (Pauline Delany), stows the body in a huge trunk and hides it in the basement of her B&B. From this point onward, Brewster continues to woo Ann and soon marries her. He also ties up a few loose ends by packing his parents off to Australia, and after discovering the dead Charlie Prince was Ann’s brother, comes to an agreement with Mrs March for her silence. While the newlywed couple is honeymooning, Mrs March sells her B&B property and takes a trip to South Africa. Brewster returns from his honeymoon confident that he has achieved everything he set out to do, but the smile soon dissolves when he sees that his old lodgings are about to be demolished – leaving our anti-hero waiting in wry, bemused anticipation for the incriminating trunk to be uncovered.