Delightful, droll Ealing Studios social commentary, The Man in the White Suit looks to the ongoing debate between the value of technology and its consequences.
Mild-mannered Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness – Kind Hearts and Coronets, Star Wars) is a self-proclaimed scientist and wannabe inventor struggling in dead-end manual jobs in the garment factories of northern England. Managing to worm himself into the labs with tacit support from the factory owner’s rebellious daughter, Daphne (Joan Greenwood – Kind Hearts and Coronets, Whisky Galore!), he invents a fabric that resists wear and repels dirt. But instead of being welcomed, the factory owners see a fall in profits and the unions loss of jobs.
It’s funny and touching as both sides of the social divide close ranks against a confused Stratton in director Alexander Mackendrick’s (Whisky Galore!, Sweet Smell of Success) satire on the various separate political attitudes that were seen as stifling progress in a post-war Britain. One of Ealing Studios’ finest!
Nominated for the 1953 best screenplay Oscar.
Rating: 82%
An Opinion or Two 