Review of The Man in the White Suit (1951) by Nich R — 14 Nov 2005

[u][font=Verdana][color=#000000]The Man in the White Suit[/color][/font][/u].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Often re-watching highly regarded movies can be a very enlightening experience; premises that seem basic on first viewing can appear much more complex, richer or and rewarding. This, however, was not the case when I viewed the Man in the White Suit for the second time. The idea behind this 50?s Ealing comedy is that university gradute Sidney Stratton has been using the anonymity behind labourers jobs at various cloth mills to secretly access their research facilities, in an endeavour to invent a new type of material; one that will never again need to be washed (it repels dirt) and is practically indestructible. After some quaint parodies of chemical experiments, he succeeds, only to find that the workers are appalled by the idea as it will put them out of a job and after consideration, the factory owners want to suppress it as it will limit future markets.[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]The simplicity of this film is both its greatest strength and its largest fault. There is no hidden depth beyond the overt metaphor of the white suit, making it easy to read and enjoy as a modern political fable. The wearing of a brightly glowing white suit shows Stratton seemingly invincible (like the fibre its made from), as well as being an individual, apart from his peers intellectually and (having sold his discoveries) financially. However at the end of the film we learn that the material is unstable and his fellow workers literally rip the suit from him leaving him practically naked. Whilst a progressive himself, his ideas cause distrust and hatred in others; the film ultimately demonstrates both the anti-radical attitudes of society as a whole and its mistrust towards anyone who doesn?t fit either the worker or bourgeois categories of the time.[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]On second viewing though, the film doesn?t seem to offer anything up afresh beyond this. The performances are a little stale and it?s not actually particularly funny either(although the weird noises and explosions that the chemical experiments make are good). The trouble is that Mackendrick wants to offer us a political critique whilst maintaining a cosy, feel-good atmosphere; exactly the same problem that recent British comedies like Brassed Off and The Full Monty have succumbed to. The Man in the White Suit is well worth at least one viewing then, but don?t expect its pleasures to be everlasting. Mackendrick went on to better things.[/color][/font].