Movie - Gentleman's agreement

Movie – Gentleman's agreement
Score : 8/10
Year : 1947
Director: Elia Kazan
Country : USA
Language : English
Duration: 1h58 (dvd : 1h54)
Writers: Laura Z. Hobson (novel) ; Moss Hart (screenplay) and Elia Kazan (screenplay revision)


Very daring, even bold for 1947, Gentleman's agreement stars Gregory Peck as Philip Green, a journalist who has to write a piece about anti-semitism and, working on this project, faces prejudice, disregard and people raise walls against him. 

This movie is based on an eponymous novel, published earlier that same year, written by Laura Z. Hobson ; a Jewish woman who off course knew what she was talking about : in this period right after WWII, Jews were avoided in a silent way, and after the director was refused access to a service because he was thought to be a Jew, he decided to make this movie which include several Jewish actors and actresses, adding to the truth-to-life aspect of it. 

I loved the generational dynamic relationships between Philip and his mother on one side, and his son on the other : his mother is a ''tough cookie'', yet supportive of her son and speaks to him genuinely. In his turn, he speaks to his son as an equal, never infantilizing him and telling him outright how the world around them can be. 

The music is almost absent : this is very unusual and a pleasant surprise, as many 1940's films had awful scores. Here, the silence is an ally, adding power to the dramatic acting which is superbe, especially by Gregory Peck who truly conveys the messages of his character : any form of prejudice has to be fought to the fullest, and one cannot accept to remain idle, as that is part of the problem.
In essence, one has to be part of the solution, and the movie depicts this very well, to its very end. 

When his article is finaly read aloud in the movie, it's chilling, and beautifully written : I found that to be the best part of the entire movie, very inspiring and imparts words of wisdom to all. 

Nowithstanding a few scenes with fur and wishes for a few differences which may or may not be part of the original novel, this movie is very well directed by Kazan, and the cinematography is beautiful, allbeit not as exquisit as other films of this period, it certainely stands out for that year for its audacity and for the almost total absence of music. 
In constrast, I suggest reading my review of Hitchcock's The Paradine case, released just a few weeks after Gentleman's agreement and which also stars Peck : there is a tremendous gap between these two films, the former garnering positive critical acclaim and actually making a substantial benefit, the latter being a commercial flop - which isn't always a good barometer, I'll grant that, but in this case is rather revealing. 


The dialogues were often quite intelligent, and I enjoyed the movie a lot, and talked about its qualities for long moments after it was finished.


Cast : 
Greogry Peck as Philip Green
Anne Reverse as Mrs Green (his mother)
Dean Stockwell as Tommy Green (his son)

For the rest : read the imdb page, or wait and watch - I didn't want to give away any information regarding other characters here, for a reason...