And yet more Elia Kazan completism. Kazan career-fatally produced and directed this adaptation of his own novel. There's a dash of Office Space (a bloke waking up to the vacuity of his job and domestic arrangements) mixed in with some of the Dr. Strangelove of the day. Kirk Douglas leads as an advertising genius (for Zephyr cigarettes) married to Deborah Kerr's accommodating empty vessel who all the ambient professional men are in love with. Faye Dunaway shines as the office tramp. There's a Greek father/son thread that feels like a bit of a dry run for the more successful Pacino/Brando relationship in The Godfather.
IMDB trivia. The rating on IMDB is dire (6.4) but really it's a lot better than that; I'd like to think it'd win an Oscar if it was made in 2022. Roger Ebert: two-and-a-half stars. Vincent Canby: in the same genre as Written on the Wind. I think both reviewers took it too seriously, or perhaps expected more of Kazan. It is fun damnit.