THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT Movie Review

A humble laboratory assistant (Alec Guinness) in a textile mill invents a white cloth that won't stain, tear, or wear out, and it can't be dyed. The panicked garment industry sets out to destroy him and the fabric, resulting in sublimely comic passages. Guinness achieves (once again) perfection, this time as the prototypical, eccentric, absent-minded professor, Sydney Stratton. Daphne Bimley (Joan Greenwood) is not only enchanted by Sydney, but is also the one person who doesn't think he's bonkers. In addition to being already engaged to a stiff (Michael Gough, Alfred the butler of Tim Burton's Batman), Daphne's life is further complicated by being the daughter of a textile mogul for whom Sydney's discovery is his worst nightmare. The social criticism at the heart of director Alexander Mackendrick's The Man in the White Suit never undercuts its potent comic poignancy; like the fabric Guinness dreams of, this movie continues to look as good as new with each passing year. (A similar plot hook—this time about a gasoline substitute—was used witlessly in Steve Shagan's awful, reactionary 1980 The Formula.)

NEXT STOP … Tight Little Island (Whiskey Galore), The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets

1951 82m/B GB Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood; D: Alexander MacKendrick. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘52: Best Screenplay. VHS REP, HMV