Review of The Man in the White Suit (1951) by Alex G — 23 Apr 2012
No sooner than Ealing Studios had finished production on this charming, satirical production. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick and based upon a play by playwright Roger MacDougall, who wrote the screenplay with Mackendrick and John Dighton, it's a well made comedy with the usual flourishes of Ealing about it.
Set in the north of England, Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is a brilliant young chemist who is working on an artificial fabric, but he's sacked from one factory for using factory funds to develop this fabric.
But he gets a job at a factory ran by Alan Birnley (Cecil Parker), and Stratton is able to get in on the ground level as a hauler and then an unpaid scientific researcher, he gets in thanks to Birnley's daughter Daphne (Joan Greenwood).
Using radioactive elements, and a lot of destructive trial and error, Stratton is able to finally perfect a fibre which repels dirt and never wears out. Stratton makes a brilliant white suit from the fibre, but it's not long before Birnley and his cronies want a piece of Stratton's invention, but it's all too much for Stratton, who ends up on the run.
It's a good comedy with Guinness giving it his all as the meek but determined Stratton, and it's a good social comment on people's greed as well for something that could put other people out of business.
Oh, and the sounds that the laboratory apparatus is unforgetable.
This review of The Man in the White Suit (1951) was written by Alex G on 23 Apr 2012.
The Man in the White Suit has generally received positive reviews.
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