Gregory Peck stars as a Madison Avenue executive whose life reaches several crises at once. His wife, Jennifer Jones, is pushing him to make more money and to be more successful, but without losing his ideals or honesty in a business that values neither one of those. His experiences in World War II are coming back to haunt him, and his ownership of his grandmother's house is being challenged by her former servant. Fredric March co-stars as his new boss, a man who put his business before his family, a decision whose consequences he must now live with. There are a lot of lofty ideas being bounced around in this story, and they tend to center around the importance of family and being true to one's self and ideals. Peck is his usual solid self, probably the perfect choice for this kind of role. Jones gets the big emotional scene in the film, and she plays it to the hilt. March gives a very moving, sympathetic performance, while Ann Harding as his distant wife has a couple of good scenes. Although this is very much a film of the Fifties, the basic message of the movie still has its impact today. It's honestly presented, well acted and written, and well worth watching. The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit
Catch the anonymous face in the crowd and consider the bright lights and dark shadows of that fellow's existence. This is Peck's performance in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit and he is brilliant. Several reviewers have noted "the Look" of the film and its quintessential Fifties style. This is true, I felt I was gaining a peak at a long lost world: Post-war America, advancing economically, but struggling morally. The flashbacks make this half a War movie and give it a shared history with its adult intended audience. This was a time when adult movies did not mean pornography, but dealt with mature themes such as honesty in relationships and integrity in your profession.
Gregory Peck has some great scenes, many in which he doesn't seem to do much. The look on his face on the train when the man in the coat in front of him triggers a repulsive memory from the war is worth pages of dialogue. The uncomprehending shock from when he accidentally kills his best friend is a real tearjerker. I don't know what other American actor at this time could be so effective.
The plot was a surprise to me, I really had no idea this was such an engaging story. The title implies a dull, plodding story, and I have to admit little prior knowledge about this movie except its one of those I'd always heard about. This has got to be one of the best movies out of the Fifties and that is saying a lot. There is poignancy, humor (the kids always glued to the TV and oblivious to the real drama around them), and above all, a slice of life that is absorbing and realistic. This is definitely an overlooked gem needing full DVD glory. Have the popcorn ready, once you start it, you won't want to get off the couch.
This movie showcases great acting, great writing, and a serious, yet entertaining theme. It grapples with serious issues of family,business,ethics,past mistakes, and painful memories in a truly engaging manner. Though it is deeply rooted in the post-WWII fifties, the ideas are timeless. It is at once realistic and redemptive. Watch it with someone you love-it will be a movie you'll both enjoy.
One of the most interesting movies of the 50s, and one which accurately portrays the rarely-approached subject of ordinary men trying to fit in their contemporary workplace. Peck is a little miscast (too tall and striking to possess the "ordinary" quality necessary for the role) and Jennifer could be a little more varied in her characterization (she needs a "light" moment or two) but they are both as usual fun to watch.Peck's interview lunch is one of the best scenes, as is Ann Harding's plea to Frederich March. The other reviewers have not mentioned how the color and Cinemascope really add to the feel of the Fifties , and this cannot be stated enough - see it on a big-inch TV if possible. I think the wardrobe is one of the best in cinema history - it looks exactly as if it came off the racks of the department stores during the period. A great story, and one which anyone who has been employed in the business world as a white-collar worker, and who has aged thru their thirites, will identify with. Recommended.
THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956) is writer/director Nunnally Johnson's ambitious film version of the popular 1953 best-seller by Sloan Wilson. It is set in suburban Connecticut and Rockefeller Center, linked by trains full of commuters. One of those commuters is Gregory Peck, who does advertising for one of the big television networks run by his boss, Fredric March. Johnson is setting up contrasts here. Peck is married to Jennifer Jones and has three kids; March is married to 1930's actress Ann Harding and has a daughter named Susie. Both March and Jones seem unhappy at home, happier at work. But Peck is haunted by his past, in the Army in the Pacific in 1945 after World War Two is over in Europe. Peck has an affair with lovely Marisa Pavan, who gives birth to his child. What Peck will do with that Italian child covers the last half hour of the movie.
I like the film a lot because it gives us the clothes and cars and job world of my early childhood in the suburbia of 1950's San Francisco. And the cast is incredible, including Lee J. Cobb, Henry Daniell, Arthur O'Connell, Gene Lockhart, and Keenan Wynn. The brilliant use of CinemaScope, almost all in long shot with characters standing or sitting at opposite ends of the wide screen, is by Charles G. Clarke. A magnificently knowledgeable audio commentary has film scholar James Monaco comparing movie and book constantly, often talking about his own life during this early 1950's period, the cars his father owned and the hats worn, and the stunning use of CinemaScope for a movie that simply could not withstand pan and scan treatment. Maybe that is why it is not shown that often on TV, wonders Monaco; the only network that would always run it letterboxed, Turner Classics, does not own this Fox movie. Thank God for DVD.
THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT runs a long 153 minutes, but maintains interest throughout and was a pet project of producer Darryl F. Zanuck. This is from an era when a high-powered Production Chief could dictate that a movie run long to do justice to a long novel. Monaco keeps saying that Jones' wife character is much nicer in the book and does not harp all the time on the quality of life she and Peck have in Connecticut. She seems only a bit too unpleasant on screen for me, and the house they move out of is quite beautiful to me also. That is a director's choice-or maybe Zanuck's choice. Monaco also mentions the kids watching TV a lot in a darkened living room as not being in the book. This is contrasted against a television network office at Rockefeller Center that only has two TV monitors and not the logical three, something I never would have picked up on, like a man wearing the wrong hat or driving the wrong year model car. It is a very illuminating audio commentary by a movie lover and knowledgeable reader for a very good movie. (REVIEWED ON LETTERBOXED DVD.) - Ebook - Kindle Devices - Craptacular - E-reader'
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