The screenplay was adapted by Rod Serling from his 1955 teleplay of the same name, which was originally broadcast January 12, 1955, on the Kraft Television Theatre with several of the same actors (including Sloane, Begley, and Wilson), though Richard Kiley was replaced by Heflin for the film.

He brings Fred Staples, a youthful industrial engineer whose performance at an Ohio factory that Ramsey recently acquired has impressed him, in for a top executive job at the headquarters.

Though Staples is initially unaware, Ramsey is grooming him to replace the aging Bill Briggs as the second-in-command at the company.

He cares greatly about his work, regularly prioritizing it above spending time with his teenage son, but his concern for people clashes repeatedly with Ramsey's heartless "modern" approach to business.

In a 2002 review on Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film an "A" grade and highly praised it, writing: Added Schwartz: In the April 27, 2008, edition of TVWeek, the television critic Tom Shales compared the movie unfavorably to the live TV production: