The Man in the White Suit

There are some actors I'll watch just about anything they're in on name recognition alone. One of the few is Alec Guinness, an acting chameleon if there ever was one. He makes a movie better just by being there, and that's why I dove into 1951's The Man in the White Suit, a British comedy I'd never heard of with a story that certainly didn't jump off the page at me.

Having worked in clothing and textile manufacturing for several years and moving from one job to another, quiet research assistant Sidney Stratton (Guinness) has his goals set as high as possible. He is currently working for the Birnley Mill, owned by gentlemanly Alan Birnley (Cecil Parker), and Sidney is getting close to a breakthrough. His ultimate goal? He wants to create a fabric that is indestructible, unable to be tarnished by dirt, grime and filth. Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it? When Birnley finds out what his young technician is up to, he gives him all the support he can, and finally Sidney is able to put all his experimentation and hard work into a final product, an immaculate white suit that will never fall apart. Both the technician and the mill owner are beyond pleased, but will the rest of the industry? Not so fast.

You know what's not interesting to watch? The making of clothes. That's it. Simple as that, my biggest problem with the movie. Juvenile? Maybe, but I struggled at times to get through this Ealing Studios comedy from director Alexander Mackendrick. Some of my struggles came from the pacing, something you wouldn't think to be an issue in a movie that runs just 85 minutes. Early on, I couldn't get into the movie, its story or its characters. Those issues early come from that focus on the textile aspect, taking a little too much time to get things going. The comedy is more satirical, leaning toward downright smart, but other than a few exceptions, I didn't laugh much. It's drama, it's comedy (rather dark), and I never felt truly connected to the developing story.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Guinness is the best thing going for 'White.' Still a rising star (he made The Lavender Hill Mob the same year), he again shows a knack for making a quirky character pretty likable. His intentions are pure in creating a perfect fabric that no damage can be done to. He doesn't want any money, riches or fame for his invention. His Sidney wants to do something pure. It's the little mannerisms that Guinness brings to the part that help make the character memorable. It's the twinkle in his eye when he's stumbled onto something. It's his quick walk-run when he's trying to get something done. It's his panicked cries when someone tries to stop him from doing something. The little things go a long way, a credit to Guinness' ability as an actor. In a weird way, his Sidney reminds me of his Bridge on the River Kwai character, blinded by what he does with really seeing the repercussions of his actions.

Beyond Alec Guinness though, I didn't find much of the rest of the cast leaving a lasting impression. Parker is decent as Birnley, the mill owner who backs Sidney....until he doesn't back him when the powers that be turn on him. Joan Greenwood plays Birnley's daughter, Daphne, who meets Sidney early on his experimenting and becomes his close friend as he draws closer to his final product. Michael Gough plays Michael Corland, a rival of Sidney's and superior within the textile industry who was also previously engaged to Daphne. Ernest Thesiger is creepy as Sir John Kierlaw, the powerful head and face of the textile industry who sees the danger that Sidney's new fabric presents. I don't recognize much of the rest of the cast, and I simply didn't hear any other character names as they back up Sidney.

There were parts of this movie I really liked. I loved Sidney and his assistant, Wilson (John Rudling), forting up in the laboratory -- sandbags, air raid helmets and all -- trying to perfect his formula. I loved the sound effect his expansive, elaborate apparatus makes (a combination of tuba and bassoon). Watching Sidney defend his invention is surprisingly funny too. His immaculate white suit doesn't take any dyes and featuring some radioactive elements stands out like a sore thumb just about anywhere he goes to the point it looks like a glow-in-the-dark suit. When anyone and everyone starts chasing him to get him -- and his rights -- under contract, it results in an oddly funny madcap series of chases. Sidney becomes obsessed with defending his invention, even though everyone around him tries to convince him otherwise.

In that sense, I thought 'White' becomes a little predictable. Is a company (any company for that matter) going to allow a suit to be made that is indestructible? How did Birnley not think this through? If people only need to buy one suit, that means the clothing companies will eventually go out of business. In the end, both the manufacturers and the factory workers turn on Sidney, both sides seeing their future wiped away in a second. It just seemed dumb and far too obvious, a necessary twist but not a well-written one. At least Sidney is blinded by it and refuses to even think about it. There is a surprisingly dark scene late with a twist as to the fabric, but I did appreciate the final scene throwing a bone and ending on a positive note. A mixed bag in the end, mostly worthwhile for Alec Guinness.

The Man in the White Suit (1951): ** 1/2 /****

Lady L

The more I see of Paul Newman, the more I come to respect him as an actor. I don't always enjoy his choice of movies or parts, but I can give credit where credit is due.  He branched out, playing an eclectic list of characters and individuals over a 50-plus year career.  Some efforts fall far short -- playing a Mexican bandit in The Outrage comes to mind -- but when it would have been easy to be typecast, Newman tried something else. In a hit or miss historic romantic comedy, 1965's Lady L, Newman adds another oddity to his listing, a French thief who joins a revolutionary group.

This is a movie that is also known for its director, taking a trip from around the camera where he was usually in front of it acting, Peter Ustinov. The actor from movies like Spartacus and Quo Vadis takes a crack at directing, one of just six films he did over his career. It is an odd movie overall with a story that doesn't sound like a comedy but ends up being just that, a love story with some weirdly funny (and others not so funny) moments.

An old woman nearing her 80th birthday, Lady Louise (Sophia Loren) sits down with a writer and old friend, Percy (Cecil Parker), to tell him the story of her life growing up. As a young woman, Louise worked in a Paris bordello as a laundry girl where she meets Armand (Newman), an anarchist bank robber who the French police would like nothing more than to arrest him. She joins him in his adventures and misadventures, quickly falling in love with him. Adventurous Armand eventually ends up with an extremist group looking to assassinate a Bavarian prince, causing Louise to question if she can put up with him. She meets Lord Lendale (David Niven), questioning even more now who she belongs with. Could it work somehow to be with both men?

Like most flawed movies, I'm going to slightly recommend this movie mostly because of the casting. How often are you going to see a grouping of Sophia Loren, Paul Newman and David Niven?  Even when the script and the story is too cutesy for its own good, these three keep it grounded at least a little bit.  Loren -- wearing heavy make-up as an old woman -- gets to show her comedic and dramatic sides, Newman plays the straight man in the ever-growing ridiculous story, and Niven gets to play a variation of himself, a prim and proper Englishman looking for a wife, possibly finding it in Loren's Louise. None of the parts are among any of the three's best, but it's still fun to see actors of their caliber working together.

Writing the plot description made me realize how off the wall this story is. Reading some background on it, 'Lady' sounded like a romantic period piece. Well, partially. The choices made are odd, especially Newman's Armand as an anarchist thief, eventually joining a revolutionary group trying to assassinate anyone and everyone. The assassination attempt is played for laughs -- Ustinov making a cameo as Prince Otto of Bavaria -- so it's hard to criticize too much, but it comes off in poor taste (to me at least). Niven's Lendale later welcomes the members of the group to stay at his villa, preparing their next attack in peace and quiet. It sounds so ridiculous that it almost works, but the story itself is too weird, too different to fully work.

Now in that craziness there are some funny moments, many coming from Claude Dauphin's part as Inspector Mercier, head of the French police trying to arrest Armand. His team of inspectors isn't quite the Keystone Cops, but their efforts to arrest Armand are surprisingly funny, alerting each other the presence of the thief through a series of gruffer and louder throat clearings. Newman's introduction is funny as well, a bank robbery where nothing is at it seems. I did laugh a few times throughout the movie, but the chuckles were lost in a sea of otherwise boring scenes.

Not a long review for this movie because I neither hated it or loved it. The movie has a great look to it, large sets and lavish costumes that reflect the setting of pre-World War I Europe in the first decades of the 1900s. It's funny, but too much and too little at different times. The cast is good but not overly impressive. Average movie that could have been better.

Lady L <---TCM trailer/clips (1965): **/****

I Was Monty's Double

World War II produced its fair share of personalities on all sides, both good and bad.  They were bigger than life people from the high-ranking generals like Patton to the more common soldier like Audie Murphy or JFK who rose to heroic levels through their actions.  The obvious charisma, machismo, whatever you want to call it, translates well to the movies so viewers get the chance to see the Pattons, the Kennedys in their war exploits.  But what about someone who impersonated one of those heroes?  That's 1958's I Was Monty's Double, AKA Hell, Heaven or Hoboken. 

Maybe one of the most famous British generals in history, Bernard Montgomery is also one of the more controversial figures from the war. For all his positives as a general, there's two or three things you could counter with in an equally negative light.  He was egotistical beyond all belief and often made decisions that would benefit him more than his army, his staff or even the war effort, in the process driving Supreme Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower absolutely crazy.  An interesting figure if there ever was, Monty's fame and influence play heavily into this 1958 British war picture.  Of course, it was the 1950s and Monty was still alive so this isn't exactly the most factual retelling of a true story.

Early in 1944, two British intelligence agents, Major Harvey (John Mills) and Colonel Logan (Cecil Parker) concoct a plan that could heavily influence the amount of lives saved during the coming invasion. One night at the theater, Harvey sees a General Montgomery impersonator and an idea is formed.  What if the Allies could use this impersonator and have him travel to Gibraltar and North Africa, hoping to trick the Germans into thinking the coming invasion will come from the south and not at the actual Normandy location.  Harvey and Logan work with the actor (M.E. Clifton James, playing himself) to get the mannerisms, the characteristics of the famous general down, and quickly enough, he's the spitting image of Monty.  But that's just for practice.  Can he pull off the ruse in public, even with people who've personally met the general?

Based on a true story -- James actually did impersonate Montgomery during the war in 1944 -- director John Guillermin's movie has a quasi-documentary feel to it.  For such a serious topic though, the tone is often surprisingly comical (and not in a good way).  Much of James' transformation is played for laughs with an oddly out of place musical score from composer John Addison. A story about an Aussie actor posing as one of the war's most recognizable faces leans toward a more serious subject matter if you ask me.  It's never straight slapstick or anything, and the humor is fairly subtle, but it felt grossly out of place for me in an otherwise quality movie.

Even 13 years since the end of the war, James still resembles General Montgomery and right off the bat the movie starts off on a positive note because of his casting.  The guy actually passed for this most famous of generals, convincing the German High Command to move over 60,000 and a Panzer division to the south because German agents saw James making appearances in Gibraltar and North Africa.  Playing himself, James is very natural, a man who questions if he can perform this most epic of performances.  As a viewer, you feel for him in this odd predicament.  He may not have carried a gun on the front lines like so many millions of soldiers, but his actions showed a different bravery.  He displayed a courage that saved the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers.

So when a movie's title describes your character, the movie basically sinks or swims with that person.  James is perfect playing himself, but Mills and Parker are extremely key characters to go along with the lead.  Neither part is especially flashy as the British duo tackle the more workmanlike roles that keep the story chugging along.  Mills gets more screen time as Major Harvey and doesn't disappoint.  Once James goes out as Montgomery, Mills' Harvey poses as an adjutant always by his side, always there to help him out in a pinch.  The more I see of John Mills, the more a fan I become, and this is another solid part.  Parker is given less to do but nails the part of the stiff upper lip, highly sophisticated, smooth British agent.  Barbara Hicks has a good part too as the secretary who helps arrange this ambitious spy game.

When at its best, 'Double' deals with the high-wire act James and his support team go through.  One slip-up and the whole thing goes down the drain with disastrous consequences.  The 2nd half of the movie when James steps up to the plate is the more exciting half obviously, including one fictionalized account of a possible German commando mission to kidnap "Monty."  Fictional maybe, but it's an exciting ending with a good build-up to a genuinely funny final line.  A true story and generally a forgotten one, but a good movie nonetheless.

I Was Monty's Double <---TCM clips (1958): ***/****