Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger
When it comes to work, there are essentially three mindsets. Some people go out of their way to avoid it at all costs. Most will gladly, if not happily, toil away at a career simply for the sake of financial security. A few will insist upon only indulging in work they find emotionally satisfying and intellectually stimulating, even if it makes them broke. Alexander Mackendrick's 1951 Ealing satire The Man in the White Suit concerns a man who belongs to the third camp, one who finds his ambitions at odds with the majority in the second category.
Alec Guinness's Sidney Stratton is a Cambridge graduate chemist who has struggled to hold down a job in the textile mills of post-war Northern England. While his employers are happy to keep churning out the same fabrics as their grandparents, and the unionised employees are content to simply keep their jobs, Sidney is determined to advance the industry through his plans to develop a fabric that repels dirt. But every time his employers discover he's been experimenting on their dime, he loses another job.
It's in his eighth job that Sidney strikes gold when his employers mistake him for one of their top scientists and he is given the means to work on his pet project. Through a lot of scientific jargon and bubbling of test tubes, Sidney does indeed pull off this seemingly impossible feat. He creates a suit made from a material so clean it positively glows white, and practically indestructible to boot. But neither his employers nor the union members are impressed, figuring that if Joe Public will no longer need to replace their clothes they'll all be out of business within a year.
Thus begins a race to track down Sidney and convince him to shelve his revolutionary creation. But Sidney can't be bought, and even the attempts of a mill owner's glamorous daughter (Joan Greenwood) to seduce him prove futile (the dialogue cleverly alludes to prostitution without having to utter the word).
At the time of The Man in the White Suit's release, Britain found itself at a political crossroads. Would it carry on with the socialism that helped get the country back on its feet after the war, or was it now time to embrace capitalism? Sidney finds himself targeted by both sides, the socialist union members and the capitalist mill owners, both of whom wish to maintain the status quo. Sidney might be seen to represent the many boffins who were afforded a chance to shine by aiding the war effort with their innovative ingenuity but who later found themselves struggling to make an impact in peaceful times. One can't help but think of the likes of Alan Turing, who quickly went from war hero to post-war pariah.
While we sympathise with Sidney's scientific ambitions, we also understand the argument against his disruptive invention. Mackendrick's film lands differently in the 21st century, with so many technical innovations currently threatening the future of our job security. The arguments Sidney makes for progress are eerily similar to those proffered by proponents of Artificial Intelligence, "You can't halt progress" and all that.
The filmmakers were forward thinking enough not to make Sidney an entirely likeable figure, and Guinness plays him in such a deadpan manner that he's almost devoid of a personality beyond his work. This means the film continues to remain relevant today, and likely for a long time to come. It leaves us to answer the age old question (now newly relevant in the wake of COVID) of whether we should support the scientist who might find the cure for cancer, even if they're more likely to unleash a monster.
The Man in the White Suit is on UK 4K UHD/bluray from September 15th.