The Man in the White Suit |  | Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Actors: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $7.95
as of 11/24/2009 06:18 CST details
You Save: $2.03 (20%)
New (13) Used (11) from $7.49
Seller: Oldies
Rating:  25 reviews
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: ANBD11476D
UPC: 013131147698
EAN: 0013131147698
Theatrical Release Date: April 1952
Release Date: September 10, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 11/11/2008 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Ealing comedy--cozy, 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 Suit (1952) he takes the studio's favorite 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 textile mill, invents a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out. He's hailed as a genius--until management and unions alike realize what his brainwave implies. Mackendrick's humor 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 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
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 before there was flubber there was "The man in the white suit" September 10, 2009
R. Bagula (Lakeside, Ca United States)
This movie is classic comedy sci-fi: the perfect product
can't be let loose on a capitalist economy?
Right now when we need a technological break through
so that global warming doesn't cook us, we
are reminded to the reaction of people to cheap
abundant fusion power that was promised in the 60's.
but never saw the light of day.
An nearly indestructible artificial fiber is invented by a young chemist:
that is when the real trouble begins.
In the end they are hunting him like Dr. Frankenstein:
both union workers and capitalists.
His visions of a fabric utopia are dashed in the end,
but not before his society makes real trouble for him.
 Brilliant film -- sly, February 18, 2009
JNagarya (Boston, MA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
and mature satire. I second all the five-star reviews.
And the Anchor Bay print is excellent.
 A Satire on Industrial Production July 22, 2008
Acute Observer (North Jersey Shore)
The film opens on an English textile mill that is up for sale. It uses man-made fibers. A device attracts attention by management. Who authorized it? At what cost? A graduate from Cambridge was experimenting and discovered what the result was. The scenes show life in the 1940s. The monetary figures date this story. One firm bought an electronic microscope and needs Mr. Stratton's help. [No employee badges then.] There is a romance between Daphne Birnley, the millionaire mill owner's daughter, and the owner of that small mill. Stratton has an idea for the polymerization of molecules to develop a long chain that will revolutionize the textile industry. Will it have unintended consequences? Sidney Stratton goes to see Mr. Birnley. There is comedy in the interaction of people who don't understand each other. But the mill owner wants to beat the competition.
What if they could produce a fiber that lasted forever and repelled dirt? How would it benefit mankind? But would people get tired of the same old thing? Evil Sir John complains about this new cloth. The mill owners and the workers have their doubts. The mill owners will use force and violence to get what they want; science be damned. News of this everlasting thread causes stocks to fall. Will a rich man pimp his daughter to do business? Do they let morals stand in the way of profits? Does human nature upset the best-laid plans? Can labor and management unite to protect their interests? [What about the customer's needs and wants?] There is a comic chase that echoes the horror movies where the people chase the monster that threatened their well-being. Can scientists just leave things alone? There is a happy ending when things don't work as expected.
What if "saving the environment" meant losing your job? July 13, 2008
J. Arena (Williamsburg, VA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Civilization should thrive on progress! But when a scientist in a textile mill produces a white suit made from a fabric that will never wear out and never get dirty, society is suddenly not so sure that one particular progress is of benefit. Actually, it's more of a threat to both labor and management.
What is most interesting about The Man in the White Suit is that characters on both sides of this story are all "sympathetic" and make a good, understandable case for their situation. Who does suffer here is the class system that would deny a general benefit in order to maintain the system, itself. It's that selfishness that looks the most ridiculous here.
Despite the fact that this is a British film, skewering that well-defined class system, all this satire is equally applicable to any group. We claim to want to "save the environment," but what would happen if someone invented, today, a car that ran on tap water? The status quo would be challenged, jobs would be lost -- maybe even yours. How would you feel about saving the environment then?
Ultimately, we all have to come to decisions about such progress, as does the audience of The Man in the White Suit.
Highly recommended!
Another Brilliant Ealing Satire March 22, 2008
Richard M. Rollo Jr. (Montebello, CA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Man in the White Suit seems to me to be partially a satire on Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead. Alec Guinness plays Sidney Stratton deadpan in the role of the lone, mad scientist of the British clothing industry. Stratton is on a mission to create a new fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out. His bizarre quest gets him fired from one after another jobs as a scientist as he diverts (or as the British would say, cadges) equipment and supplies from companies to his projects. He then works as a janitor still cadging supplies and hiding his experiments until he is discovered and promoted by the daughter (Joan Greenwood) of one of the captains of industry.
After he is promoted, he is given full support for his bizarre idea. Then, another of the elements of satire is the mad scientist of the horror films of the late 40's, with suitable lights flashing, "boops....beeps" and water gurgling sound effects, and a few explosions of the works.
This leads to curiosity...what is he up to? Then, word leaks out that he is working on a cloth that never gets dirty and never wears out. At first it sounds like a good idea but soon the Schumpeterian creative destruction implications of this invention for jobs, businesses, and industries, becomes clear to the industry leaders, the unions, and the ordinary workers. Then, another object of satire in this movie proceeds as all the groups go to battle against each other and then eventually against this man and his invention.
Then the movie goes into a chase scene with Guinness wearing this incredibly luminous white suit..... but you'll have to watch the movie to find out how it ends.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
|
|
|
