Academy Award winning Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) stars Gregory Peck confronting anti-Semitism in its American form – the nearly invisible miasma of a people who might have formally accepted the American stricture that religion should not matter in one’s social and business dealings, but haven’t actually invested in it. A writer with an assignment, he begins telling all manner of people that he’s Jewish, and observes their reactions – until his own young son is subjected to the more honest anti-Semitism of small children, and while he was morally outraged at what he had encountered from both Christian and Jew alike, this emotional pain is the real lesson he needs to help him write his story.
As one would expect from an award winner, there are many superb aspects to this movie, from the the excellent illustrations of the moral arc of the movie, to the acting and photography (we saw it on TV in the original B&W). Peck is his usual sympathetic, complex self, showing a professional skill at squirming uncomfortably in social situations; the blanket covering hypocrisy is always a little rumpled. Within the greater arc of American history, this is some of the most subtle bigotry, unlike the more raw versions practiced on the Africans, Irish, Germans, Chinese, and no doubt others.
All this aside, while the story is fairly timeless, this telling is inevitably tied to the artifacts of the era, which is just after World War II. It could have hurt, but such things as the man who functions as the directory of a building has an organic, authentic feeling to it, which makes the movie interesting from the academic viewpoint of collecting archaic customs of the time.
While this movie is unhurried, it doesn’t drag through unnecessary scenes; each is important and will tell you something, although occasionally it’s nothing more than Love is a Blindfold. Indeed, beyond the title (I can’t think of a good replacement, but this title is awful), and the ending (I think he got the wrong girl in the end, but then the other one reminds me of my Arts Editor), it’s hard to find much to complain about. This is a long movie and you will find this movie is, as my Arts Editor says, good for you. If you don’t mind such movies, then it’s Highly Recommended.
