Youthful industrial engineer Fred Staples (Van Heflin) is hired by ruthless CEO Walter Ramsey (Everett Sloane) to replace the aging Bill Briggs (Ed Begley). Heflin (48) was just seven years younger than Begley (55), and both were older than Sloane (47), the ages of the men listed when the film was released.
Based on a teleplay by Rod Serling, Patterns (1955). It featured several of the same actors who would appear in the movie, including Everett Sloane and Ed Begley. However, the part of Fred Staples, the lead, was originated by Richard Kiley. Begley's character, Bill Briggs, was called Andy Sloane in the original version. Serling's teleplay won him the first of his six Emmy Awards.
A rare film for the era in that it does not have a musical score.
This film was not successful at the box office. According to TCM's Ben Mankiewicz, audiences were reluctant to pay to see a story that had been shown twice on television for free just the year before. Also, many critics had pointed out the similarities to another recent and very popular film, Executive Suite (1954).