The Man in the White Suit

For the 2019 play, see The Man in the White Suit (play)

The Man in the White Suit
Original quad UK cinema poster.
Directed by	Alexander Mackendrick
Written by	John Dighton Roger MacDougall Alexander Mackendrick
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Alec Guinness Joan Greenwood Cecil Parker
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Bernard Gribble
Music by	Benjamin Frankel
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date	10 August 1951 (1951-08-10)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£90,000

The Man in the White Suit is a 1951 British satirical science fiction comedy film made by Ealing Studios. It stars Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood and Cecil Parker and was directed by Alexander Mackendrick. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing (Screenplay) for Roger MacDougall, John Dighton and Alexander Mackendrick.

It followed a common Ealing Studios theme of the "common man" against the Establishment. In this instance the hero falls foul of both trade unions and the wealthy mill owners who attempt to suppress his invention.

Mandy Miller (aged only 6) made her first film appearance in this film.

Plot

Sidney Stratton, a brilliant young research chemist and former Cambridge scholarship recipient, has been dismissed from jobs at several textile mills in the north of England because of his demands for expensive facilities and his obsession with inventing an everlasting fibre. While working as a labourer at the Birnley Mills, he accidentally becomes an unpaid researcher and invents an incredibly strong fibre which repels dirt and never wears out. From this fabric, a suit is made—which is brilliant white because it cannot absorb dye and slightly luminous because it includes radioactive elements.

Stratton is lauded as a genius until both management and the trade unions realise the consequence of his invention; once consumers have purchased enough cloth, demand will drop precipitously and put the textile industry out of business. The managers try to trick and bribe Stratton into signing away the rights to his invention but he refuses. Managers and workers each try to shut him away, but he escapes.

The bosses negotiate with Daphne, the daughter of the owner of Birnley Mills, that she will trick Stratton into giving it all up and she asks £5000 for this, but when she meets Stratton she has a change of heart and encourages him to announce his invention to the press. Going back to his rooms he is confronted by a woman who he thought was on his side, but suddenly realises that no-one wants his invention.

The climax sees Stratton running through the streets at night in his glowing white suit, pursued by both the managers and the employees. As the crowd advances, his suit begins to fall apart as the chemical structure of the fibre breaks down with time. The mob, realising the flaw in the process, rip pieces off his suit in triumph, until he is left standing in his shirt and underwear. Only Daphne Birnley, the mill-owner's daughter, and Bertha, a works labourer, have sympathy for his disappointment.

The next day, Stratton is dismissed from his job. Departing, he consults his chemistry notes. A realisation hits and he exclaims, "I see!" With that he strides off, perhaps to try again elsewhere.

Cast

• Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton
• Joan Greenwood as Daphne Birnley
• Cecil Parker as Alan Birnley
• Michael Gough as Michael Corland
• Ernest Thesiger as Sir John Kierlaw
• Howard Marion-Crawford as Cranford
• Henry Mollison as Hoskins
• Vida Hope as Bertha
• Patric Doonan as Frank
• Duncan Lamont as Harry
• Harold Goodwin as Wilkins
• Colin Gordon as Hill
• Joan Harben as Miss Johnson
• Arthur Howard as Roberts
• Roddy Hughes as Green
• Stuart Latham as Harrison
• Miles Malleson as the Tailor
• Edie Martin as Mrs. Watson
• Mandy Miller as Gladdie, little girl who sends a message for Stratton
• Charlotte Mitchell as Mill Girl
• Olaf Olsen as Knudsen
• Desmond Roberts as Mannering
• Ewan Roberts as Fotheringay
• John Rudling as Wilson
• Charles Saynor as Pete
• Russell Waters as Davidson
• Brian Worth as King
• George Benson as the Lodger
• Frank Atkinson as the Baker
• Charles Cullum as 1st Company Director
• F.B.J. Sharp as 2nd Company Director
• Scott Harold as Express Reporter
• Jack Howarth as Receptionist at Corland Mill
• Jack McNaughton as Taxi Driver
• Judith Furse as Nurse Gamage
• Billy Russell as Nightwatchman

Sound

The gurgling musical theme, "Guggle Glub Gurgle", that plays when Sidney Stratton's apparatus is bubbling was created by sampling laboratory equipment. Jack Parnell sampled the motif and incorporated it into his "White Suit Samba".

Reception

The film opened at the Odeon Marble Arch cinema in London on 10 August 1951, and was one of the most popular films of the year in Britain. It earned rentals of $460,000 in the United States and Canada. (This figure was also given as $500,000.)

Harve Bennett cited the film as helpful in writing Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The Genesis device crippled the storytelling ability of the franchise because it was too powerful. He remembered the lesson of The Man in the White Suit as "for every great advance, you pay a price", which enabled him to figure out a scenario for the film.

The British Film Institute named it the 58th greatest British film of all time. In 2014 The Guardian included it as one of the twenty best British science fiction films.

Stage adaptation

A stage play based on the film directed by Sean Foley and starring Stephen Mangan and Kara Tointon opened at the Theatre Royal, Bath in September 2019 before transferring to the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End.

Further reading

• The Great British Films, pp. 153–155, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 0-8065-0661-X

External links

• The Man in the White Suit is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• The Man in the White Suit at IMDb
• The Man in the White Suit at Rotten Tomatoes