The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) – Ten years after World War II, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) is still troubled by what he did there.  Meanwhile, at home, his wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) is hoping to move up in the world, at least a little.  So Tom takes a job as a PR exec for a major broadcasting firm.  There he will have to face his questions about who he is and who he was.

Directed by : Nunnally Johnson                                    Starring Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones,                                                                                                         Frederick March, Lee J. Cobb, Keenan Wynn

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, this phrase became synonymous with the faceless white-collar executives that altered the face of American business after the war.  Uniform, faceless, working in lockstep to the carefully defined “laws” of the new corporate America that rose up in the 1950’s.  I kept thinking of Chaplin’s classic “Modern Times”, made exactly twenty years before.  Both are about the dehumanizing process of the modern, industrialized world.

Gregory Peck does a wonderful job as the cautious Tom Rath.  Like so many who return from war, he bears pain and memories that he doesn’t know how to deal with and simply tries to ignore.  Today we recognize the condition as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  In the ’50’s, it was simply a burden that soldiers had to bear.  Jennifer Jones does nicely as his wife, who knows that her husband came back changed and is doing the best she can.  It is his caution to make any change, to take any risk that bothers her most.  She wants a better life, in the form of a newer, larger home, and that caution will keep it forever beyond her reach.  The rest of the cast is made up of some wonderful character actors who handle their roles well.

Having said all that, the movie just meanders for two and a half hours.  There are several minor story lines that slow it down, but director Nunnally Johnson seems content to let this one sit just this side of melodrama.  A tighter script could have turned this into something special.

I found it curious that the storyline about Rath’s war issues really dominated the movie, rather than the corporate issues.  That played mostly as a backdrop against which his family and military problems could play.

What I Liked About It – Interesting early look at the sacrifices demanded by modern society.

What You Will Like About It – Compelling characters faced with all too familiar choices.

Rating – *** Worth A Look