The Man in the White Suit (1951)

Director:

Alexander Mackendrick

Writers:

Roger MacDougall (play)
Roger MacDougall (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

April 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Drama

Tagline:

Should they let him play...or should they put him away?

Plot:

An altruistic chemist invents a fabric that resists wear and stain as boon to humanity but both capital and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.

Plot Keywords:

Inventor | Factory | Invention | Clothing Industry | Ealing

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Alec Guinness	...	Sidney Stratton
Joan Greenwood	...	Daphne Birnley
Cecil Parker	...	Alan Birnley
Michael Gough	...	Michael Corland
Ernest Thesiger	...	Sir John Kierlaw
Howard Marion-Crawford	...	Cranford (as Howard Marion Crawford)
Henry Mollison	...	Hoskins
Vida Hope	...	Bertha
Patric Doonan	...	Frank
Duncan Lamont	...	Harry
Harold Goodwin	...	Wilkins
Colin Gordon	...	Hill
Joan Harben	...	Miss Johnson
Arthur Howard	...	Roberts
Roddy Hughes	...	Green

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U | Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:S (video rating) (1991) | USA:Approved | Finland:K-8 (1959) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Brimsdown Station, Enfield, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

The sounds of Stratton's experiment were later set to music and released as "The White Suit Samba".

Goofs:

Plot holes: Stratton asks for a set of paper patterns to cut out the suit pieces. However as he needs to use a blowtorch to cut the fabric, these pieces would go up in flames as he did so.

Quotes:

Daphne Birnley, Alan Birnley's daughter: Thank you Sidney. If you would've said "yes" I could've strangled you!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Witty, Satisfying Satirical Comedy

Alec Guinness, an interesting story, and some effective dry humor make this a witty and satisfying satirical comedy. Like a number of the Ealing comedies, the initial plot premise is interesting, yet it is really only a pretext for presenting material that affords some opportunities for subtly caustic commentary. In this case, the far-fetched invention by Guinness's character is used cleverly to point out the ways that various persons feel about science, change, and technology.

Guinness plays an innocent, even naive, character here, which is rather different from most of those he played in other Ealing features. There is a good assortment of supporting characters this time, and some of the minor roles feature some effective performances. Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, and Ernest Thesiger make a good trio of heavies, and Joan Greenwood works well as a character in the middle of things.

The ironic, understated tone of most of the humor keeps things low-key but effective. It's the kind of approach that is far more challenging than direct ridicule, and it takes disciplined film-makers to make something like this work. Not least among the movie's strengths is Guinness's own skill in making his character believable in addition to sympathetic.

While in some ways the comparison may be a stretch, there are some rather interesting parallels between "The Man in the White Suit" and the much more recent "Jurassic Park". The style and characters are much different (though "Jurassic Park" is not entirely without its own moments of dry humor), but in both cases an amazing - and entirely fictional - invention is shown to provoke all kinds of differing reactions, as others seek to exploit it, to close it down, or to control it. In both cases, the point is not whether the invention is valid, but rather the ways that everyone responds while barely understanding or appreciating the actual development itself.

While "The Man in the White Suit" is not one of the best-known Ealing features, it is another good one, with wit, solid characters and story, and an approach that combines style and substance.