The Power And The Prize (1956)

Engaged to the niece (Niki Dantine) of his ruthless mentor and boss (Burl Ives), a vice chairman (Robert Taylor) is sent to London on business with the intention to trick a firm into a merger. But when he meets an Austrian refugee (Elisabeth Mueller) and falls in love, he begins questioning the moral integrity of the hard lined methods he's been taught. Based on the novel by Howard Swiggett and directed by Henry Koster (THE ROBE). I rather enjoyed the film when it concentrated on the ruthless and backhanded corporate world, less so when it dwelled on the romance between Taylor and Mueller. Since both storylines are integral to the narrative, I suppose you could say I half liked the movie. Handsomely shot in CinemaScope (it was the first B&W film to be shot in the CinemaScope format) by George J. Folsey (THE HARVEY GIRLS), it's given the lush MGM treatment so Mueller's struggling refugee is given a closet of Helen Rose gowns (which earned Rose an Oscar nomination for her costume design). An uneven but not without interest melodrama. With Mary Astor, Charles Coburn, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Richard Erdman.