Another comedy/musical with a really long title is on the agenda for tonight’s entry in the Genre-ary DailyView. It is a 1967 movie that was based on a play from 1961 and a book from 1952. I have seen the play itself back on a Fathom movie several years ago when Stephen Colbert had a guest role in the musical. That was shot like a stage play though and, to be fair, I did not remember much about that film.

So I came into this 1967 film with the most basic of knowledge, which was, I guess, the title. None of the film that I watched reminded me of the musical version I saw so it works fine for the DailyView.

According to IMDB, “Twenty-seven year old New York window washer, J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse), believes he can be a success in the corporate world after he impulsively picks up the book “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying“. The book promises its reader that he can climb the corporate ladder simply and quickly. The Worldwide Wicket Corporation, the business in the office building whose windows he washes is, according to the book, the perfect type of business. There he meets secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Michele Lee), who sees in Ponty (as she calls him) an unassuming man who she believes the corporate world will eat alive. But Ponty, memorizing what the book tells him, does quickly climb the corporate ladder but not by doing any real work.”

I have to say that I was much more interested in the Fathom Events version of this than the 1967 movie, especially at the start. As the film moved on, I was a little more engaged in the film because it was kind of fun to see how Finch was going to get himself out of the obvious trouble that he was in. 

The film certainly portrayed the people involved in business as incompetent boobs. Even the very top of the field were taken in by a little flattery and some machinations. 

I did like the fact that the actual book purchased by Finch would narrate the story, as Finch would read each entry. This was a neat feature.

The songs themselves were not as memorable as I would have liked. 

If I remember correctly, I enjoyed the Fathom Events one much more than this, although this did improve as it moved along.