![Available on DCP](https://img.artlogic.net/w_680,h_1000,c_lfill/exhibit-e/56d076fc6aa72c8630e65aa7/180b7e69905f98a8398806a4fac87a4f.jpeg)
"A BRILLIANT SATIRICAL COMEDY!"
— Leslie Halliwell
"A BRILLIANT SATIRICAL COMEDY!"
— Leslie Halliwell
United Kingdom, 1951
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Producer: Michael Balcon
Cast: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker
Screenwriter: Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick
Based on the play by Roger MacDougall
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Music: Benjamin Frankel
Genre: Comedy, Science-Fiction
Black & White
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Language: English
Running Time: 85 minutes
Synopsis:
Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) has a dream: to develop a fabric that never gets dirty and never wears out. His textile mill bosses discover his secret experiments and initially ban him from their laboratories. But when Daphne (Joan Greenwood) comes to understand what Sidney is trying to do, she convinces her father, Mr. Birnley (Cecil Parker), that developing Sidney’s fabric would be great for business…and mankind. Little do they know that they will spark an uprising, not only among the textile workers who would lose their jobs to the ultimate cloth, but also the business owners who would rather maintain the status quo.
Awards and Nominations:
Best Writing, Screenplay nomination (Academy Awards, 1953)
Best British Film, Best Film from any Source nominations (BAFTA Awards, 1952)
Top Foreign Films (National Board of Review, 1952)
Restoration:
Restored by Studiocanal at Pinewood Studios
"Both the funniest and most demoralizing of the great fifties Ealing Studios comedies."
— David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"THE EALING COMEDIES DIDN'T COME MUCH BETTER!"
— Dave Kehr
"WICKEDLY INTELLIGENT!"
— Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant