THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT directed by Alexander Mackendrick (UK, 1951)
Joining forces for the common good – Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood.
Built-in obsolescence has become so much the norm these days that most of us take it for granted.
Part of this is due to the rapidity of technological advances but as devices get increasingly smaller, lighter and thinner, it often gets to the point when these ‘improvements’ become simply ways to induce the public to buy the same product over and over again.
It also seems self-evident that it is not in the manufacturer’s interest to produce a perfect product that will last a lifetime.
This is the premise for ‘The Man In The White Suit’ in which Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is a brilliant research chemist in a textiles factory who invents a material that never gets dirty and never wears out. Continue reading
John Le Carré’s celebrated novel was, by all accounts, confusing enough as a seven part BBC TV series (starring Alec Guinness) but is doubly so when condensed into a two-hour movie.
