"The man in the white suite" is not Alexander Mackendrick's best film ("The sweet smell of success", 1957). It is not even his best Ealings comedy ("The ladykillers", 1955). But it is an enjoyable film that is surprisingly actual.
The white suite in the film is a variant of the ever-burning light bulb, that is he does not wear out. That's of course a threat to the industry. Wastage is ecologically a threat but comercially a blessing. With durability it is the other way round. With global warming this tension is very relevant in today's world.
The film does highlight the tension that can exist between ecology and capitalism, but in this film (early 50s) there is no tension at all between employers and employees. Both embrace capitalism unequivocally, one due to the profits the other with respect to the employment opportunities. It is only the loner Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) who takes side of the ecology (and of his invention).
Sidney Stratton is not a tramp, but he is eccentric. He has integrity too, selling his innovation not for money nor for amorous favors. In this way he shares some characteristics with Charlie Chaplin's lttle tramp (without being an immitation of it). At the end of the film he walks out the street, heading for a new adventure, just like the little tramp at the end of "Modern times" (1936, Charlie Chaplin).
The white suite in the film is a variant of the ever-burning light bulb, that is he does not wear out. That's of course a threat to the industry. Wastage is ecologically a threat but comercially a blessing. With durability it is the other way round. With global warming this tension is very relevant in today's world.
The film does highlight the tension that can exist between ecology and capitalism, but in this film (early 50s) there is no tension at all between employers and employees. Both embrace capitalism unequivocally, one due to the profits the other with respect to the employment opportunities. It is only the loner Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) who takes side of the ecology (and of his invention).
Sidney Stratton is not a tramp, but he is eccentric. He has integrity too, selling his innovation not for money nor for amorous favors. In this way he shares some characteristics with Charlie Chaplin's lttle tramp (without being an immitation of it). At the end of the film he walks out the street, heading for a new adventure, just like the little tramp at the end of "Modern times" (1936, Charlie Chaplin).