A sparkling ensemble cast illuminates the drama of boardroom politics in Executive Suite, one of Wise's most intelligent and formally daring films. When the chairman of the board of a manufacturing company dies before appointing a successor, the ensuing scramble for power triggers a series of events which reveal the darkest chambers of the gray flannel heart. While the outcome of this clash among corporate Asgardians is never much in doubt-in cinema the artist/visionary always vanquishes the scheming opportunist-the brilliant performances by William Holden and Frederic March, the use of disarmingly effective subjective camera shots, and the sheer force of the drama (played out with no enhancements from a music score), launch Executive Suite to a spot near the top of film history's Fortune 500.-Albert Kilchesty