THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT

US, 1956, 154 minutes, Colour.
Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Marisa Pavan, Lee J. Cobb, Ann Harding, Keenan Wynn, Jean Lockhart, Gigi Perraut, Arthur O’Connell?, Henry Daniell, Connie Gilchrist, Joseph Sweeney.
Directed by Nunnally Johnson.

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit is based on a novel by Connecticut author Sloan Wilson. Wilson also wrote the novel, ‘A Summer Place’. The film is set in his native Connecticut with commuters from Connecticut to New York City for work. This is very much a 1950s story, the ordinary man, the commuter being the man in the grey flannel suit. Gregory Peck at this time ideally embodies this character. Jennifer Jones is his wife.

The film shows the detail of ordinary life for the middle class in the Eisenhower period. Fredric March portrays a television manager who interviews Peck for a job. March portrays a driven man in his profession (and had done so effectively in such films as Executive Suite and the film version of Death of a Salesman).

The film goes back to action in Italy during World War Two where the man in the grey flannel suit had an affair with a local Italian and she bore him a child. This, naturally, complicates matters in the United States – for the professional advancement of the central character’s career as well as the contesting of an inheritance will. Lee J. Cobb portrays a judge, Keenan Wynn a wartime buddy. Arthur O’Connell? and Henry Daniell are the veterans at the television station.

The film is long, a blockbuster of its time – but is very interesting in looking back at the ethos of the mid-1950s. The film won an award from the international Catholic film organisation, OCIC, in 1956 at Cannes.

1. The tone of the title and its indications? The overtones: Everyman in the middle America of the fifties? The everyman of now?

2. How seriously should the film be taken? Was it a film in depth about the man or was it simply popular entertainment, probing values but not deeply? What is the impact of such films? For what audiences are they made?

3. The importance of money in this film and audience response to this? How much talk about its governing people's lives and actions? Its importance for Tom in his work, for his family and his sense of responsibility in his career, for Maria? The Importance for Betsy, for her way of life and style? Her self-esteem and esteem for Tom? The money for the children and their growing up? The money for Maria during the war, for Maria and later? The importance of money for Hopkins? The rebellion of his daughter? The ordinary problems and those out of the ordinary? What attitude towards money and the acquiring of it did the film take?

4. What attitude did the film take towards work? The status of jobs? Salaries? Reputation? The effectiveness of work? Public relations and foundations? The various discussions of work? And the work situations? Tom changing work? Hopkins’ idea of work?

5. The picture of the family presented in the film? American home life, relationships between husbands and wives? Delay at the station etc.? Their discussions and crises? Their ordinariness? The contrast with Hopkins and his family? This bitter picture of an American family - and family as a reason for final decisions in this film?

6. What did the film have to say about love? between husband and wife, Tom’s family and the Hopkins? The love between children and parents? e specially in the Hopkins family? The importance of the love between Tom and Maria during the war? war situation and its own reality? How important were the flashbacks, their place in the film, their quality, the detail, their sensitivity? Were they convincing about the status of the relationship between Tom and Maria?

7. The question of responsibility for Maria’s child? The sequence where Tom found out about it? The information from Caesar? What affect on Betsy? was her hostility justified? Why did she calm down and accept this? Was this important for her life? The role of Judge Bernstein?

8. How interesting a character was Tom? Gregory Peck's performance? His words, the quality of his work, his ambitions, the discussions about life, work, his role in the war, his having a cause in life, not wanting to be a 'yes’ man, his clashes with business men? The discussions on the inheritance and its repercussions on his life?

9. How ordinary a housewife was Betsy? A typical housewife? As a woman, the challenges in life, her difficulties, her relationship with her husband? Did the film explore her character well?

10. How interesting was the character of Hopkins? As a self-made man, his achievements, his ideas on mental health and the way the film presented these? His enthusiasm? The reality of his depressions? Relations with his wife, with his daughter? The Importance of his confrontation sequences? especially with his daughter? How did the Hopkins family always contrast with Tom’s family and vice versa?

11. Was Maria a convincing character? Audience response to her and her plight? (Was this too sentimental?)

12. Audience response to the judge?

13 How important were the minor characters in this film? Are they merely conventional or did they add to the value of the film and its complexity?

14. What values did the film stand for as regards life, quality of life, relationships, work? Was the film settling for complacent, middleclass values or was it critical of these? What did the film imply was necessary for happiness in America – and for the ordinary man in the grey flannel suit?