'Patterns' (1956) – Fielder Cook.

Fielder Cook's highly-regarded, executive eviscerating, boardroom-set psychodrama 'Patterns' (1956) is demonstratively one of the most intense, psychologically perceptive dramas surgically exposing the mercenary practices of office politics I can ever recall seeing. Maestro Rod Serling's steely, razor-sharp script is brought to such blazingly vivid life by some truly outstanding 'across-the-boardroom' performances, the uncommonly satisfying, rivet-tight, thematically complex 'Patterns' forcefully culminates in a raw, satisfyingly combative climax! Absolutely flawless adult entertainment! 

Both Van Helflin and Ed Bagley have terrific on-screen chemistry, with the glacially reptilian Everett Sloane is exquisitely ruthless as their almost inhumanly 'efficient' game-playing boss Walter Ramsey. The stark, emotionally bruising impact of 'Patterns' remains wholly undiminished, Van Helflin's earnest performance surpasses 'Shane' in dramatic intensity, and the conspicuously talented Serling's vital, starkly insightful screenplay still feels uncomfortably relevant. There's a palpably insidious quality to the coldly manipulative Walter Ramsey's internecine corporate machinations that is unpalatable, but, somewhat perversely, remains utterly mesmerising to behold. Again, without belabouring the point, Rod Serling's deep and rigorously impactful text is arguably one of his finest works, which is no faint praise indeed!