Gentleman's Agreement
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Movie Reviews of Gentleman's Agreement
Movie Review: It goes beyond entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
This 'old' black and white movie really gets to the core of anti-Semitism in western society thought and practice.Movie Review: Dated, but historically important film
Summary: 4 Stars
Gentlemen's Agreement, Oscar-winning film for 1947, based on a novel by Laura Hobson, is an examination of the subtle intolerances in business and public accomodations against Jews in the 1940's. Unspoken, but hovering in the background for the viewers are the recent atrocities of Nazi Germany. Although the full extent of what came to be known as the Holocaust ( not yet called such in 1947), was not completely available to the US public, the outlines and some details of German antisemitism and the extermination camps were known. The Nuremberg trials revealed much of this data as well. Thus, the Zeitgeist for a condemnation of the subtle forms of discrimination in the US was right.
From a perspective of 60 years and for younger individuals, the subtle pervasiveness of genteel antisemitism may be difficult to understand. However, many housing developments, neighborhoods, and businesses restricted their clientele. In my native city, Jews were restricted in housing to certain neighborhoods, were actively discouraged from shopping in some department stores, and of course, were excluded from many clubs. Some vestiges of this behavior still exist and the past prejudices still influence housing choices.
Many jews changed their names to gain employment ( this is depicted in the film, and I personally know of families who did this). Others born Jewish, changed religions or downplayed their Judaism to be more socially respectable. This group includes Robert Moses and Walter Lippman. This was not shown in Gentleman's Agreement, although the fear of discussing antisemitism openly was.
The movie is earnest, but stodgy. Gregory Peck's character is morally resolute and filled with righteous indignation. He is contemptuous of the moral compromises of others and his tone throughout the film is of high dudgeon. John Garfield is very good as Peck's Jewish friend, Dave. He has lived with such prejudices throughout his life, but can still become enraged when pushed hard enough.
Although much has changed since 1947, antisemitism has not been eradicated. I have heard it personally in a train in Florence, Italy, with a fellow passenger railing against "the Jewish liberal media". Jews, of course, are not the only group to be discriminated against ( this list is very long), and the message of the film can be applied universally to all such prejudice. Both as an historical document and the universal applicability of the message that such prejudice is unworthy of our shared national values and of human dignity, Gentleman's Agreement remains relevant.
Movie Review: Anti-Semitism in the 1940's
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very interesting, intense film that must have been really amazing in its time. From the perspective of this day and age, one can only imagine how it must have been taken. As such it is a valuable history lesson and one can, of course, draw parallels to today's versions of racial intolerance.
As far as film, I found it rather preachy, but again one has to forgive that because they were trying to make their point. I found it long, too, and wonder how they could have condensed the many many scenes in which the principles, Peck and Malone, argued about their points of view.
I also had to feel that there were some human issues that were sidetracked, such as the wisdom of subjecting the boy to the hatred of his schoolmates, just for the sake of the father's project. It seems that the "project" got ahold of him and had a life of its own and he felt morally justified in sacrificing everyone else's happiness for it. This side of the story was not told, so I did find it somewhat one-noted and tedious. It could have been a much more interesting story if the issue was not presented in such a black and white way and the characters were not all so one-sided, but that was not the intention of the movie makers, obviously.
Gregory Peck is a gorgeous man whom I could look at for hours, which is a good thing--otherwise I might have given up early on. I didn't find Dorothy Malone to be very beautiful so it was hard to see the instant attraction there. She did have a certain softness which was appealing, but mostly she came across as rather dowdy. As many others have noted, Celeste Holm brightens the screen in her every appearance and, for a while, I was hoping that Peck would leave poor Dorothy to her relatives up in Darien and get it on with the sparkling Celeste.
"Ma" was played by Anne Revere with the sort of salt-of-the-earth, down home sentimentality that was loved at the time, which sort of makes me cringe. Likewise the John Garfield character was another stock character---the good ol' war buddy who suffers but can do no wrong--that likewise makes me want to run out of the room, but again these types were obviously much beloved in their day.
This is a film that requires the modern day viewer to make quite a few allowances for the attitudes of the time. (Don't look for Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Indians or Arabs here!) Everyone may not want to bother, but for those who do, there is still something to enjoy.
Movie Review: Somewhat Dated, But Still Good
Summary: 4 Stars
The conventional wisdom is that "Gentleman's Agreement" was a good film about anti-Semitism but that "Crossfire," which came out the same year (1947), is better, more hard-hitting. But I still prefer "Gentleman's Agreement." It's a more "genteel" film than "Crossfire," but that's the point. It shows how anti-Semitism existed in America, not in the virulent form that it existed in Europe, but in more subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways. The title refers to the unspoken understanding among certain non-Jews that Jews would be excluded -- from certain neighborhoods, jobs, etc.
In a way, the film seems dated simply because we've made a lot of progress since then.
Gregory Peck is the heart of the movie. It's hard to imagine another actor in this role. His performance sort of foreshadows his Atticus Finch of fifteen years later in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Another outstanding performer is John Garfield, who, perhaps because he was Jewish in real life, brought a genuine authenticity to his role.
The romantic aspect was the weakest part of the movie. Like some of the writers on the International Movie Data Base board, I would've preferred if Phil (Peck) would've ended up with Anne (Celeste Holm), not Kathy (Dorothy McGuire). I guess they had to go for a conventional ending.
I found the Dorothy McGuire character insufferable, but I don't know how much of that is the performance and how much is the character. But McGuire does capture a certain "Wasp" sensibility, especially of that time.
It seems to me that the movie gets better as it progresses. The scene towards the end of the movie, the scene in the restaurant with Garfield and McGuire, is among the most interesting, because you see the very different sensibilities of these two people (both the actors and the characters!).
It's also interesting to get glimpses of the New York of sixty years ago.
Movie Review: "You're not any more Jewish than I am."
Summary: 4 Stars
Gregory Peck plays writer Philip S. Green in Elia Kazan's Best Picture Oscar winning film adaptation of Laura Z. Hobson's controversial novel, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. Daring for 1947, it seems rather tame now.
Green is an investigative reporter who 'becomes Jewish' for several months in order to discover the truth about anti-Semitism in post-World War Two America. What he finds out about ingrained prejudice is profoundly disturbing, especially when it invades his own home.
Peck is brilliant in the role, as is actor John Garfield, who plays Dave Goldman, his best friend. The rest of the cast is uneven, and the film loses itself too often in ham-handed moralizing and philosophizing which takes away from the story.
Still, it is difficult not to be sickened as the dapper Peck is turned away from a "Gentiles Only" establishment for no other reason than his assumed identity as a Jew; it is horrifying to see his young son (Dean Stockwell) traumatized after being attacked in the schoolyard for being a 'kike'; and worst of all, it is terrible to hear Peck's supposedly liberal girlfriend (Dorothy McGuire) comfort the boy with the words, "But it's not true...You're not any more Jewish than I am."
GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT has its flaws. It never gets its hands dirty by addressing the prejudices of anyone but the tennis club set, and it handles the issue the same way someone might approach a person with poor hygiene.
Yet, despite its shortcomings it dared to attack a very real and (to that point) unaddressed social problem then (and sadly still) existing in an open and democratic United States flush with its victory over Nazi Germany, underscoring that whether by Nuremberg Law or Gentleman's Agreement, prejudice is intolerable in a viable society.