Bel Ami the London College of Music. The music and lyrics were written by Alex Loveless. John Braine, the English novelist, stated that his favourite author was Guy de Maupassant and that his first novel, "Room at the Top" (1957), was based on "Bel Ami", but 'the critics didn't pick it up'. Bel Ami Bel Ami is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled "Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel" first appeared in 1903. The story chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor former cavalry
Room at the Top (1959 film) which in the novel he has arranged beforehand (in the film, his friend Charlie arranges it soon after they meet). In the book, the room is itself significant, and is strongly emphasised early in the story; Mrs Thompson's room is noted as being at "the top" of Warley geographically, and higher up socially than he has previously experienced. It also serves as a metaphor for Lampton's ambition to rise in the world. Producer James Woolf bought the film rights to the novel, originally intending to cast Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons. Vivien Leigh was originally offered the part of Alice,