Patterns

Some of the best original scripts of the 1950s were written for live television and many were later adapted for the big screen. Rod Serling won his first Emmy Award for Patterns, a 1955 TV production about the cutthroat corporate world, and he wrote the screenplay for the 1956 feature film version, which also brings in original director Fielder Cook and actors Everett Sloane and Ed Begley, who reprise their roles as the ruthless company president and the second-in-command he's preparing to replace, along with Elizabeth Wilson and Joanna Roos as their savvy, veteran secretaries. Van Heflin takes the lead as Fred Staples, the new man on the board—an engineer learning how to be an executive and (unbeknownst to him) being groomed to replace Bill Briggs (Begley). The narrative puts business and personal ethics under the microscope by dramatizing it in personal terms, with Staples struggling to defend Briggs—an honest, earnest veteran who cares for workers affected by business decisions—while he himself is being demeaned and humiliated by the big boss. The film offers a more lavish but otherwise faithful adaptation, and Heflin shines as a man struggling to keep his soul in a business culture that devours those who won't compromise their principles. Bowing on Blu-ray, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)