Rating of
2.5/4
British film about industry, and a guy in a suit.
Gabe - wrote on 02/20/14
I gotta say, the actual plot of the film itself is interesting. But, the film as a whole seems to be lacking something. First of all, maybe it's that dry British wit, but, for a comedy, I only laughed a few times. I don't expect a laugh a minute, but give me something.
Spoiler alert, at the end, when Alec Guinness is cornered and his just before it cuts to inside the laboratory and we find out that the fabric that his suit is made of has failed. I expected him to use it as a weapon. I think there should be an American remake of this. But, instead of the fabric failing, it becomes a weapon for him to destroy his detractors and cause the fall of the textile industry.
Which is a great segue into what this film is really about, industry. At first glance, the fabric that can never get dirty and that will never wear out seems great, but for the textile industry, it's bad. After the first production, everyone from the owner of the mills to the lowest workers on the totem pole would be out of work. Now, I don't really have that point of view. I say, invent the material (or whatever "it" may be) and make your millions, hell you could pay your workers astronomical wages, because everyone would be getting rich on this, and in a few years when everyone has said product, you're done.
Yes a lot of folks would be out of work, but isn't better for the world as a whole if there was a limited amount of product out there. I know I am part of the mass consumerism culture, but if everyone had one or two suits to last a life time, then I would be fine with that.
Lastly, what the movie fails to mention is that had the fabric been a success in the end, only the competitors would be out of business immediately. It could be years, even decades before the specific mill that manufactures this indestructible fabric would have to shut down. They would have to manufacture women's clothing, children's, baby's. And there would constantly be new babies being born. Yes, eventually they would close, but not for years.
