Stars: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, George Benson

Director: Alexander MacKendrick

Summary: A classic Ealing comedy about a scientist in a textile mill who invents a wonder fabric that won't stain, tear or wear out. The scientist becomes a target when a worried clothes company feel threatened. It nearly causes an industry-wide panic.

Based on the play by Roger MacDougall, Alexander Mackendrick's THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT is the director's second film, a winning comedy about the battles between labour, capitalists, and scientific dreamers. Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) works quietly at the textile mill of Michael Corland (Michael Gough) amid the wonderful gurgle, fizz and plop of his equipment, until his mysterious, costly lab experiments are discovered. Fired by Corland, Stratton takes a menial job at Alan Birnley's (Cecil Parker) mill in order to continue his work on the sly. When Daphne (Joan Greenwood), Corland's fiancee and Birnley's daughter, discovers his secret, she threatens to expose Stratton. The desperate scientist reveals to Daphne that he has invented an indestructible cloth that never gets dirty and never wears out! Close to realising his vision, Stratton celebrates by having a suit made of the fabric, and because it repels dye it is a brilliant gleaming white. When the unions and management find out, fearing for the future of their industry, the chase is on to keep Stratton quiet, one way or another. But there's flaw in his fabric formula...

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Ealing Comedy--cosy, gentle and whimsical, right? In this case, think again. Alexander Mackendrick was always the most politically aware of the Ealing directors, and in The Man in the White Suithe takes the studio's favourite theme of the little man up against the system and gives it a sharp satirical twist. Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness at his most unworldly), a maverick scientist working in a Northern textile mill, invents a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out. He's hailed as a genius--until management and unions alike realise what his brainwave implies.

Mackendrick's humour is exact and pointed, and the satire turns savage as a lynch mob of bosses and workers hunt Sidney down through dark narrow streets. Mackendrick's disenchanted view of hidebound, class-ridden British society still rings horribly true, and he draws note-perfect performances from the cream of British character actors: Cecil Parker as the liberal mill-owner (based it's said, on Ealing boss Michael Balcon); Ernest Thesiger as the evil old godfather of the industry; and, wittily sensual as Sidney's confidante, the ever-wonderful Joan Greenwood. Plus, listen out for the "voice" of Sidney's bizarre apparatus, the funniest and most unforgettable sound effect ever devised. --Philip Kemp

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1951
Release Date:	November 13, 2006
Runtime:	82 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	O P T D 0605
Keywords:	Man, White, Comedy, General, Suit
Genre:	Comedy