The Man in the White Suit

Released Mar 31, 1952

1h 25m

Comedy

List

100%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Chemist Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is at a crossroads in his career. He's been trying to invent a long-lasting clothing fiber, but his unreasonable demands for high-end equipment have gotten him fired from job after job. Finally, Sidney creates a white suit that is impervious to the elements -- it cannot stain or wrinkle. At first he is celebrated as a hero but, soon enough, the clothing manufacturers realize that the perfect suit is actually very bad for business.

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Luca D

A very simple and silly little film. Definitely easier to watch than most older films so I would recommend this to people with shorter attention spans.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/27/23

Full Review

Shioka O

British humour in here is all satire.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Blobbo X

Entertaining lesson in Capitalism.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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Martin B

Love Alec Guinness but not in this one. The reason mainly is unlike in many of his movies where he's a step ahead in this on he's a step behind. Never gets what he's doing wrong and never got why so many were against what he had invented. Then the chase scene which was a was of time and an ending that had to come that was very predictable. I don't get the high rating he's done so much better.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/11/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Its a great film although I thought Alec Guinness's acting was rather wooden. Whilst its a comedy the story could come true, if not textile, in another industry and the effect it would have on businesses and workers is reflected well here. Makes you think. Definitely worth a watch.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The movie is comparatively short and the premise is simple: a lonely, obsessed inventor comes up with a type of fabric that doesn't stain or wear out. And said fabric is quite suitable for clothing-the inventor even has a white suit made from his new miracle fabric, which he wears through much of a movie. Yet the fabric-producing industrialists get the idea that this fabric is no boon, at least not to them. They realize they can make enough of this fabric to supply the world's needs-only to for the industry to become obsolete once they have produced all the required fabric. Not only the rich industrialists, but the common workers get wind of this new fabric and reach the same conclusion-no more fabric industry, no more paychecks for them. The industrialists try to bribe the inventor with huge sums of money, a hot girl (the movie's costar), anything...but the inventor knows the industrialists intend only to suppress his invention, so he refuses everything and tries to run elsewhere with his idea. The workers find him and try to suppress his invention more crudely. Can the inventor and his secret escape? Yes, it is satire, not depending on goofiness but a clearly stated idea in which both the capitalists and the proletariat join forces to suppress an idea which endangers them both. But the story ends with relief for all involved...or does it?

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Alexander Mackendrick

Director

Alec Guinness

Sidney Stratton

Joan Greenwood

Daphne Birnley

Cecil Parker

Alan Birnley

Michael Gough

Michael Corland

Ernest Thesiger

Sir John Kierlaw

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Chris Bennion

Times (UK)

A typically rambunctious Ealing affair with a serious satirical edge, and features excellent turns from Joan Greenwood...

Dec 14, 2022

Full Review

Joseph Jon Lanthier

Slant Magazine

That Stratton proves so unable to resist his hubris surely provides the film with a cautionary subtext, but this is beautifully complicated by an ending that denies the possibility of rehabilitation.

Rated: 4/4

Nov 10, 2012

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Shows what the extraordinary Alec Guinness can bring to a role.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 14, 2019

Full Review

PJ Nabarro

Patrick Nabarro

The film is a paean to individualism, dreamers and pioneers, and seems to advocate that, fundamentally, society functions best on an equilibrium between capital and labour.

Oct 30, 2018

Full Review

MFB Critics

Monthly Film Bulletin

The picture is very enjoyable. Its observation of people, its carefully sustained tempo, its apt incidental thrusts. have real individuality and distinction.

Feb 6, 2018

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Clever and witty, this Oscar-nominated British comedy displays the talents of Alec Guinness long before he became an international star with Bridge on the River Kwai.

Rated: A-

Jul 16, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

Chemist Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is at a crossroads in his career. He's been trying to invent a long-lasting clothing fiber, but his unreasonable demands for high-end equipment have gotten him fired from job after job. Finally, Sidney creates a white suit that is impervious to the elements -- it cannot stain or wrinkle. At first he is celebrated as a hero but, soon enough, the clothing manufacturers realize that the perfect suit is actually very bad for business.

Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Screenwriter: Roger MacDougall, Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Ealing Studios
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 31, 1952, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Nov 16, 2012
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.3K
Runtime: 1h 25m

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