The Man in the White Suit

One of the best-loved Ealing comedies, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT blends satirical comedy with a dash of Sci-fi. Alec Guinness gives one of his most memorable performances as a humble inventor on a mission to develop the mother of all fabrics. However, what seems to be a roaring success at first soon turns into controversy…

Guinness plays Sidney Stratton, a gifted yet unassuming former Cambridge scholar and chemist, always eager to come up with new and groundbreaking ideas. His latest idea, or obsession, rather, involves producing a formula for the perfect fabric. That is to say, a fabric which is dirt-resistant, waterproof and above all, never wears out. Truth be told, the idea isn’t that brand-new because Stratton has been working on the miracle formula for quite some time though it goes without saying that such stubborn determination demands expensive equipment and lab facilities… and our talented inventor has already been given the boot from various textile mills in the north of England, not just because of the expenses involved but because of, well, several accidents in the labs.

Now he’s working at a textile mill again, Birnley Mills to be precise, although initially he’s employed as a simple labourer. It doesn’t take long before he manages to get his eager hands on certain equipments and voila, before you can say ‘test tube’ Stratton is at it again, much to the ire of Alan Birnley (Cecile Parker), owner of said textile mill, as well as his right-hand man Michael Corland (Michael Gough) and other assorted office staff. Their initial reaction ranges from irritation (namely when an experiment goes wrong and things blow up) to sheer amusement over Stratton’s ‘hare-brained’ idea. Even Birnley’s daughter Daphne (Joan Greenwood, whose voice sounds as intimidating as Stratton’s experiments) doesn’t quite now what to make of the research chemist who annoys his fellow workers by not wishing to take his tea break (“We had to fight for it”), instead preferring to remain in his makeshift lab. Makeshift because after several explosions, he needs to move to a different section whilst his superiors have entire sections of their offices padded with protective sandbags, lest there is an explosion again.

Weeks pass when suddenly, the unthinkable happens: Stratton has succeeded in producing a man-made fibre which will revolutionize the world of textile as we know it, because the material he invented is indeed dirt-resistant and never wears out. However, because it’s waterproof it can’t absorb any dye and thus the new ‘wonder fabric’ is so far available in only one shade: a blinding white which even glows in the dark due to tiny radioactive compounds in the fabric’s structure. When Stratton turns up in a tailor-made suit showing off his fabric, his female friend Bertha (Vida Hope), a fellow employee at the mill, doesn’t know what to make of it while Daphne remarks that the (rather baggy) suit wears him and not the other way around. But mockery and scepticism soon make place for the importance of the discovery, and the money it will make everyone. A rags to riches story indeed! No one could be happier and prouder than Stratton, alas, reality kicks in soon enough when some of the workers at the textile mill point out that it can only be a matter of a few months before everyone will lose their jobs, after all, if clothes are made from a fabric that never wears out, consumers won’t need to buy new clothes and the entire textile industry will collapse… as will the need for launderettes and so forth.

Eventually, even Alan Birney and his team come to recognise the dire consequences should Stratton’s fabric ever be used. Whilst assorted head honchos, among them Sir John Kierlaw (Ernest Thesiger), try to make Stratton sign a certain paper which would give the rights to his invention away (actually, they just want him to remain quiet about his invention), union leaders and workers are equally unhappy about the new fabric as it would destroy the economy. When Stratton refuses to compromise, Daphne is drafted in as a last resort and is tasked with persuading the eccentric inventor to give up both his work and the fabric in return for a generous sum of cash. Naturally, Stratton won’t have any of such nonsense - a stance which Daphne admires. Against the wishes of her father, she feels that Stratton should inform the press and newspapers about his revolutionary invention, prompting an angry mob chasing after him through the narrow streets of a nightly Lancashire when suddenly, the unthinkable happens…
The ending is left deliberately vague, and we are left wondering what Stratton might come up with next…

Although quintessentially a comedy, it also juxtaposes tradition against progress: is it really beneficial to leave tradition behind in the name of progress or could it be that progress is not always better? Above all, and seeing how Stratton is a research chemist - today he might be working on a formula for an indestructible fabric but his next formula might be considerably more dangerous entirely (the film was made in 1951 and Cold War paranoia was already prevalent).
With top notch performances all ‘round (not to forget the curious ‘gurgling’ musical theme accompanying the lab scenes), this timeless Ealing classic has lost none of its bite and charm.

THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT is now available in 4K UHD Blu-ray format, complete with a 64-page booklet and A2 poster of the original artwork. Other Extras include: Extract from BEHP audio interview with Bernard Gribble / Revisiting The Man in The White Suit / Audio Commentary by Film Historian Dr. Dean Brandum / T is for Teacher (1947; a whimsical 5min animation about the golden rules of brewing the perfect cup of tea) / Behind the Scenes stills gallery / Original Trailer