Review of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) by Allan C — 14 Oct 2017

Written and directed by Nunnally Johnson, this tale of a man, Gregory Peck, fighting battles on Madison Avenue and flashing back to battles fought during the war, all in the name of protecting those back at home, is a terrifically compelling one.

However, at the same time, "The Man in the Gay Flannel Suit" is an extremely chauvinistic and sexist one when watched with modern eyes. Peck is an up and coming ad man who is looking to move to a larger firm for a larger salary in order to support his growing family.

At the same time he's also haunted by his experiences during WWII and the film frequently flashes back to those experiences. Part of the film's focus is how his wife, Jennifer Jones, and family never understand or appreciate the battles he's fought in his work-life or his time as a soldier.

There's certainly some truth to that, but it's also rather condescending and lacks appreciation for his wife's perspective and experiences, which are presented as trivial and not all that important, but this is a film of it's time.

Melodrama does set in on this film, to it's detriment, when an old war buddy of Peck's, the excellent Keenan Wynn, and tells him that Peck fathered a child out of wedlock during the war, who Wynn has been supporting.

Peck then must decide whether he should bring his wife and family into the ugliness of what he faced during the war and if he should continue that battle on Madison Avenue taking a higher paying job that will better support his family, but leave him little time with and more disconnected them (that potential future is represented in CEO Frederick March, a successful businessman but failed family man).

That part of the film starts to feel trite and more conventional of a story, but I did quite enjoy the parallels that were drawn between the war and the workplace, which was an astute allegory by Johnson from Sloan Wilson's novel.

Also of note is the filmscore by composer Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann is my all-time favorite film composer and this is one of my favorite of his scores. Herrmann's music is at times incredibly rich and lush, particularly the love themes and the main title music, while at others is surprisingly subdued, especially about the suspenseful percussion for the the stealth wartime hand-to-hand fighting sequence.

Overall, "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" is a flawed story about a flawed everyman, but it's none-the-less one that I found identifiable and compelling to watch, even after repeated viewings.