The Man in the White Suit
Tags: psychedelic, humor, comedy

Plot synopsis:
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. Whilst working as a labourer at the Birnley Mill, 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 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 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.

Review: It is this distrust which drives the hysterical second half of the film.One of the mill owners makes a funny speech about capital and labor working together.....working together to suppress advancement.Perhaps given the state of British industry prior the mid 1980's, the author of the play on which the movie was based, was trying to warn British unions and management about the errors of their ways......
Hmmm.In The Man In The White Suit, Alec Guiness plays an idealistic young scientist who comes up with a cloth that never gets dirty and never wears out.
The complex interplay of vested (should that be suited?) interests plays out beautifully, as one by one all parties realize that 'progress' is a threat, and that disposability and waste are what keep the looms turning.But, yes, this is a comedy - albeit a pointed one - and amid the political ironies are delicious performances, and some good old-fashioned knock-about laughs.Nonetheless, it's the biting satire that endures - dazzling and white..
The movie is like a who's who of 50s British character stars: Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Miles Malleson, Duncan Lamont, and particularly Ernest Thesiger, great as the dessicated old giant of the textile mills.
The Man in the White Suit is a film about scientific advances, and the way that they don't always help; as the old woman says at one point in the movie, "Why cant you scientists just leave things alone?"Like a lot Ealing comedies, this one stars Sir Alec Guinness.
Along with Guinness, The Man in the White Suit also features Joan Greenwood, the deep voiced actress that co-starred with Guinness in the simply divine "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and Michael Gough, a man that would go on to get himself the role of Alfred in the Batman films.
This film is worthy to stand with "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and "The Lavender Hill Mob", all made by Ealing Studios and starring the subtle Alec Guinness..
Often tagged as a comedy, The Man In The White Suit is laying out far more than a chuckle here and there.Sidney Stratton is an eccentric inventor who isn't getting the chances to flourish his inventions on the world because nobody pays him notice, he merely is the odd ball odd job man about the place as it were.
Some of the scenes are just wonderful, one in particular tugs on the heart strings and brings one to think of a certain scene in David Lynch's Elephant Man some 29 years later, and yet after such a downturn of events the film still manages to take a wink as the genius that is Alec Guinness gets to close out the film to keep the viewers pondering not only the future of Stanley, but also the rest of us in this rapidly advancing world.A timeless masterpiece, thematically and as a piece of art.
While I suspect some modern viewers may initially find it obscure, I doubt many would fail to be charmed by the expert way the plot, the themes and characters are languidly relayed during the film's course.The genuinely great Alec Guinness gives another fine characterization in a film perhaps not as obviously virtuoso as Ealing's inspired "Kind Hearts and Coronets" from 1949.
management (with lots of talk of unions and rights) perhaps dates the film a bit now as it's no longer a subject discussed all that much but that doesn't stop "White Suit" from being a show stopping classic.The plot, about a man trying to create a revolutionary new fabric which ends up putting the textiles industry into turmoil, doesn't sound exciting when written down but the film retains that essential spark of fantasy mixed with reality that marks it out as a true Ealing comedy.
Such an insular character could quickly have become boring or irritating but Guinness effortlessly makes him likable, so much so that the closing stages of the film generate a real sense of urgency as Stratton tries to come out on top in a world that wants to bury everything he's ever worked for.
Not least among the movie's strengths is Guinness's own skill in making his character believable in addition to sympathetic.While in some ways the comparison may be a stretch, there are some rather interesting parallels between "The Man in the White Suit" and the much more recent "Jurassic Park".
In both cases, the point is not whether the invention is valid, but rather the ways that everyone responds while barely understanding or appreciating the actual development itself.While "The Man in the White Suit" is not one of the best-known Ealing features, it is another good one, with wit, solid characters and story, and an approach that combines style and substance..
This is Guinness's movie, though, and by the final scenes of him running through the dark streets in his glowing white suit, well, that's just terrific old-school comedy, warm and funny and fast..
"They thought actors got in the way of things." He went on to describe how he'd been given a wire rope to climb down and, assured it was safe, narrowly avoided serious injury when it suddenly snapped mid-descent."People get in the way of things" might be a maxim tailor-made for White Suit inventor Sidney Stratton (fittingly played blank slate-fashion by Alec Guinness) in Alexander Mackendrick's definitive Ealing film of 1951.
And similarly, with the exception of a couple of peripheral characters, there's almost nobody to root for in this chilly satire on capital and labour.Told in flashback, the film concerns Stratton's invention of a dirt-resistant, everlasting fibre (fashioned into the white suit of the title), and subsequent attempts by the clothing industry and its unions to suppress it.While the industry fears the bottom will drop out of the market, the shop floor stewards worry about finding themselves out of a job.
This Alec Guinness starrer is a very good fun political satire of corporate industry, and a light eccentric character study as well.The pacing is a bit slow for a comedy, and none of it is really rolling-on-the-floor type funny, except perhaps the sound effects for the experiments.
Guiness' performance (and a great supporting cast such as Greenwood, Thesiger, and Parker) and Mackendrick's direction make the film a delight, but the real hero is the story itself, a nice satire on business and industry with additional elements of drama, romance, and suspense.
This film concerns young inventor Sidney Stratton (another superb role from Alec Guinness) who is, without his factory bosses knowing, working on a new fabric which will never destruct, never need mending, never need cleaning.
The plethora of situations within 'The Man in the White Suit' gives a lot of scope for humour - the appearance of Ernest Thesiger is a real hoot - along with the sharp social comment.Of course, the twist at the end makes fools of everyone, from Sidney to the great and good of the UK's industry.
Directed by the man who steered Whiskey Galore to success; staring Alex Guinness and Joan Greenwood who both had made an impression in previous Ealing Comedies; and using as its theme the contemporary concerns of progress, capitalism and the unions, this one was sure to impress.
(1949),' 'Passport to Pimlico (1949),' 'Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949),' 'The Lavender Hill Mob (1951),' 'The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)' and 'The Ladykillers (1955).' One of Ealing Studio's most beloved films, 'The Man in the White Suit,' was released in 1951, and starred Alec Guiness as Sidney Stratton, a brilliant inventor who engineers a remarkable fabric, an invention that unexpectedly makes him more enemies than friends.Sidney Stratton is poor and unappreciated, but he has scientific talent in great abundance.
Throughout all his troubles to announce his invention to the media, only one person offers Sidney her complete sympathy and support, Birnley's daughter Daphne, who is engaged to be married to somebody else but falls in love with Sidney's plight anyway.'The Man in the White Suit' is a clever and hilarious comedy, made great by a witty script (written by John Dighton, Roger MacDougall and director Alexander Mackendrick) and a quirky and charismatic performance from an inimitable Alec Guinness.
In "The Man in the White Suit", inventor Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) creates a suit that never gets dirty.
That's a self-important way of saying I wanted to like "The Man In The White Suit" but found myself struggling to sit through its short run time.Textile worker Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) may be meek in manner, but he is doggedly committed to progress in the form of his attempts to invent a strand of fabric that can't be broken or made dirty.
He seems so bloodless, even more so than the wax-faced general he played in "Doctor Zhivago" He's the same cold fish whether he's ignoring the sad affections of the affecting mill girl who offers to give him her life savings when he loses his job (pan-faced Vida Hope as Bertha) or the more sultry charms of young Daphne Birnley (Joan Greenwood), his one real ally in his fight against "shabbiness and dirt", as she puts it, making those words sound as impossibly sexy as only Greenwood could.Supporting players make "White Suit" work as well as it does.
Sir Alec Guinness is "The Man in the White Suit," a 1951 from from Ealing Studios also starring Joan Greenwood, Michael Gough, Vida Hope, and Cecil Parker.Directed by Alexander Macendrick with a screenplay by Roger MacDougall, the story concerns a determined young chemist named Sidney Stratton who is working on an invention that he feels is world-changing and life-altering.
CECIL PARKER does his usual good job as a textile mill owner and other British character actors distinguish themselves in lesser roles, including ERNEST THESIGER.There are explosions as Guinness fails in his various attempts to come up with the fabric he's intent on inventing--and indeed there are several of them that provide chuckles while the experiments go awry, but in general the level of comedy is rarely evenly distributed.
What a wonderful movie, eligible for so many labels it never gets: Science fiction, film-noir, with a script and dialog of high intelligence which assumes an educated, cultured audience.....the kind of English language movie only done in pre-1960 England (and shown only in USA art movie houses when it first arrived), and never, ever done in the USA.Main characters in The Man In The White Suit(1951) starring Sir Alec Guiness and Joan Greenwood routinely use polysyllabic, science reference words like "polymer" and discuss and explain concepts of chemistry like "long chain molecules" and then communicate the importance of these to the average man and the benefits science provides him.The Man In The White Suit (1951) is the opposite of the video-game explosion movies which now (2009) dominate world cinema, and certainly dominate major USA cinema.......it's a carefully acted, intelligently told story delivered by gifted and believable educated English actors (who play educated, accomplished people), and it's all done with comedy, charm, pathos, and sense of irony which ancient Greek dramatists would have approved of.Everybody should see this movie, and someday, somehow, some worthy filmmaker and his supporters should make another like it.It's wonderful.------------------------------Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.
The story shows how his invention causes hostility to capitalist owners of textile factories worried they would lose their profits, and unions concerned that workers will lose their jobs.In a deft, satiric and somewhat cynical way, this movie makes fun of modern industry.
Billed as both a drama and a comedy, The Man in the White Suit has several funny moments while also taking a hard look at the economic system and who it holds captive, both those within the system and enslaved by it.Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) has a hard time keeping a job.
Alec Guinness's incredible characterization of Sidney Stratton is definitely what audiences will most remember about The Man in the White Suit.
Hailed as one of Ealing studio's finest comedies, 'The man in the white suit' chose an exceptional topic to depict the British textile industry's reluctance to embrace modernity.
It also features an excellent turn from Alec Guinness as the oddball lead, an inventor whose new-fangled creation - a fabric which can never be stained - leads to all manner of chaos in the manufacturing industry.This film works well because it's so unusual; there's nothing else quite like it, and yet it all hangs together very well.
This also happens to be a very funny film, albeit subtly so.Aside from Guinness, there's a fine supporting turn from the lovely Joan Greenwood, and appearances from a couple of horror stars old and new: Ernest Thesiger (from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) and Michael Gough (of HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM)..
Rating-7/10The Man in the White Suit is an Ealing studios comedy made in 1951, and what a little gem this could be.
Yes The Man in the White Suit is a funny old tale, and one that needs more explaining.The true star of this movie is Alec Guinness, an absolute fine actor and although maybe or maybe not performing at his best here, I think all who have seen this must be in agreement, he does very well.
The lines are well done and that is why they fit well into the pace of the film, I won't lie my attention faded at slight times but the script is what really brought me back into attention and it paid off too.The overtones of this movie are also very important, this really was about the workers fighting the owners but also that both want to ruin Stratton's (Guinness) idea of the material.
Also, blanche-2 ("Timely message from the wonderful Ealing Studios", blanche-2 from United States, 19 March 2013), while properly concerned not to come off as a "conspiracy theorist", draws good parallels between this film and other historical events.****"The Man in the White Suit" (1951, Alexander Mackendrick), an economic satire﻿, is comedic despite a dystopian plot.
This film's narrative could not be set in the modern era because today's corporate decision-making is always top down and formulated behind closed doors.Armed with cutting edge science (e.g., he is an expert on "long molecules"), Sidney pursues his dream of inventing a new cloth that is perpetually wear and stain resistant.
Sidney Stratton's (Alec Guinness') wonderful invention of a suit that never needs washing, and never wears out, threatens the entire future of the British cotton industry and needs to be suppressed.
Just two years after he took everyone's breath away playing eight characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Alec Guinness continued his successful relationship with Ealing Studios with another iconic performance as eccentric inventor Sidney Stratton in The Man in the White Suit.
Seeing the potential collapse of their industry, capital and workers alike join forces to bring Sidney down.While watching The Man in the White Suit, it would be easy to pose the question of what exactly is the point of this movie?
Yet with the invention of Sidney's white suit, the industry will implode, taking down thousands of the working class with it.
The fact that he is the film's protagonist and (anti?)hero does cause some confusion, but in Guinness's expert hands, Sidney is a delight to watch and even root for.The supporting cast are strong too, especially Joan Greenwood as Daphne Birnley, the daughter of the tycoon that runs the mill (played by the also excellent Cecil Parker).
Also the humour and premise is black comedy and subtle so look for something modern if you need laugh-out-loud movies.The Man in the White Suit: This is probably my favourite along with 'Kind Hearts and Coronets'; it's another geeky scientist (read autistic) character films for a real life geeky scientist to get that feel good response from seeing someone like myself portrayed in a sympathetic light and the little foibles of the condition are good to relate to and laugh at in a good natured way.
It's amazing how in times of crisis capital and labor can agree.Alec Guinness this meek little schnook of a man is obsessed with the idea that he can invent clothing that will never need cleaning, that in fact repels all kinds of foreign matter the minute it touches the garment.
In this Ealing comedy, Alec Guinness plays an eccentric even a naive chemist who develops surreptitiously a fabric that stays clean and does not wear out.The result, textile firms are hostile to his invention because the new product would put them out of business, so they want to buy his invention and suppress it.
But other fabric companies try to stop his invention at all costs.The film stars Alec Guinness.
The "little man" in this instance is Sidney Stratton, a brilliant young research chemist working in the textile industry who is obsessed with inventing a long-lasting artificial fibre.
"The Man in the White Suit" is a sharp, effective satire on industrial relations and social attitudes in the Britain of the early fifties, and Guinness is very good (as he normally was) but I have never really regarded it as one of the really great Ealing comedies.
Whilst clever in plot and entertaining, it never provides the jokes that most Ealing comedies contain.For what it is, "The Man in the White Suit" is a clever film with some interesting views on life.
One of Ealings handful of super-classics I saw it so often when younger that I got fed up of seeing it – but saw it last night for the first time in over five years and it's still as bright as a button.Idealist fabric technician Alec Guinness invents a new material that will never break, dirty or need replacing as much – much to the concern of the capitalist mill industry owners and the factory wage-slaves dependant on being paid to work for them.
After I so enjoyed Guinness in 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', where he played 8 different characters, someone recommended 'The Man in the White Suit', and it too is a fine little movie.