The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Nunnally Johnson

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
Sloan Wilson (novel)

Release Date:

8 May 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The year's most dramatic book...the year's most distinguished picture!

Plot:

An ex-soldier faces ethical questions as he tries to earn enough to support his wife and children well.

Plot Keywords:

Work | Public Relations | Italian Woman | Responsibility | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Tom Rath
Jennifer Jones	...	Betsy Rath
Fredric March	...	Ralph Hopkins
Marisa Pavan	...	Maria Montagne
Lee J. Cobb	...	Judge Bernstein
Ann Harding	...	Helen Hopkins
Keenan Wynn	...	Sgt. Caesar Gardella
Gene Lockhart	...	Bill Hawthorne
Gigi Perreau	...	Susan Hopkins
Portland Mason	...	Janey Rath
Arthur O'Connell	...	Gordon Walker
Henry Daniell	...	Bill Ogden
Connie Gilchrist	...	Mrs. Manter
Joseph Sweeney	...	Edward M. Schultz
Sandy Descher	...	Barbara Rath

Runtime:

153 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #17865) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Westport, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 16 seconds

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The opening shot of a New Haven Railroad train supposedly shows Tom's train home, leaving New York in the evening. But then the sunlight should be on its left side (as it is in the interior shot following).

Quotes:

Tom Rath: I don't know anything about public relations.
Bill Hawthorne: Who does? You've got a clean shirt and you bathe everyday. That's all there is to it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood or Bust (1956)

Soundtrack:

Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech

Sprawling Story Doesn't Pull Well Together

Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones who ten years earlier lit up the screen in Duel from the Sun get together again for a film that's as far removed from that classic as George Washington to George Bush.

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit just doesn't translate well for the screen. A whole lot of plot elements, some in themselves could be film subjects, don't quite mesh together to make a whole film.

Gregory Peck is Mr. Fifties typical suburbanite with the wife, three kids and a mortgage and looking to do better for himself and his family. One of his commuter friends, Gene Lockhart tells him of a job opening at a TV network and he applies for it. The head man, Fredric March likes him enough, but Peck arouses the jealousy of others in the place like Henry Daniell and Arthur O'Connell.

He's also got an inheritance problem when he gets a sprawling estate from his grandmother and then her caretaker, Joseph Sweeney, looks to contest the will. And he's got something dropped on his doorstep from his World War II service as a result of a wartime romance.

Some parts of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit are nicely done. My favorite moment in it is when Lee J. Cobb playing a judge in an informal hearing in his chambers deals rather nicely with the issues Sweeney raises.

Fredric March as the communications tycoon is drawn from William S. Paley of CBS and does very well. I'm not sure why his family problems get put into the story. He's having problems with his rebellious teenage daughter Gigi Perreau. That could have been a film unto itself.

Even the wartime flashbacks could have been a film plot easily. Keenan Wynn as Captain Peck's sergeant and Marisa Pavan as his wartime inamorata do very well in their roles. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't inspired by Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby.

Jones and Peck still have a lot of good chemistry left over. I wish they had been given a more coherent story to act in.