Review of Gentleman's Agreement (1947) by The-Lords A — 07 May 2013

Best picture winner film + Gregory Peck = yay!

Plot: Philip Green is a widowed journalist who has just moved to New York with his son and mother. During the beginning of his stay, he meets a magazine publisher who want Philip - a gentile - to write an article about Antisemitism. Philip has trouble trying to find a way to approach the topic, but then he comes with the idea of claiming to everyone that he is Jewish under the identity of Phil Greenberg and writes about his first-hand experience. Meanwhile he falls in love with the publisher's niece, Kathy and begins dating her.

Okay maybe it's cheating to give this film a positive review mostly because of Gregory Peck...but can you really blame me? It's still Gregory Peck who in some ways is still being a very caring father and otherwise a man who wants to fight for those who are not being treated as equals in a manner somewhat similar to his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird...though EASILY not as heroic or film historically memorable. Despite the big differences there is to both performances, he still comes out that way to me and also is on a subject that is a little new to me when it comes to film. I can't say I've seen a lot of movies that have to do with Antisemitism here in America - not too long after WWII on top of that. So while a story on racism as a whole wasn't new, the particular kind of racism and how they where explaining it was a little new for me as a story. Looking back though, I would say that while they do talk about it a lot, they don't necessarily show it a lot aside from two or three particular scenes. And while I wouldn't completely find it an issue, I can see where some people would be going when they would say that this film is preachy. But does that make this film bad? No. Because it still has a fairly different story, good performances for other actors besides Pack such as Dorothy McGuire and is just enjoyable all around.

And that's my review for Gentleman's Agreement, It may fall a little short in really showing the subject rather then just talking about it and it could appear as peachy for some people, but otherwise it has a good story that was new enough for me, and good performances from the majority of the cast...but mostly Gregory Peck.