Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones who ten years earlier lit up the screen in Duel from the Sun get together again for a film that's as far removed from that classic as George Washington to George Bush.
The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit just doesn't translate well for the screen. A whole lot of plot elements, some in themselves could be film subjects, don't quite mesh together to make a whole film.
Gregory Peck is Mr. Fifties typical suburbanite with the wife, three kids and a mortgage and looking to do better for himself and his family. One of his commuter friends, Gene Lockhart tells him of a job opening at a TV network and he applies for it. The head man, Fredric March likes him enough, but Peck arouses the jealousy of others in the place like Henry Daniell and Arthur O'Connell.
He's also got an inheritance problem when he gets a sprawling estate from his grandmother and then her caretaker, Joseph Sweeney, looks to contest the will. And he's got something dropped on his doorstep from his World War II service as a result of a wartime romance.
Some parts of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit are nicely done. My favorite moment in it is when Lee J. Cobb playing a judge in an informal hearing in his chambers deals rather nicely with the issues Sweeney raises.
Fredric March as the communications tycoon is drawn from William S. Paley of CBS and does very well. I'm not sure why his family problems get put into the story. He's having problems with his rebellious teenage daughter Gigi Perreau. That could have been a film unto itself.
Even the wartime flashbacks could have been a film plot easily. Keenan Wynn as Captain Peck's sergeant and Marisa Pavan as his wartime inamorata do very well in their roles. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't inspired by Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby.
Jones and Peck still have a lot of good chemistry left over. I wish they had been given a more coherent story to act in.
The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit just doesn't translate well for the screen. A whole lot of plot elements, some in themselves could be film subjects, don't quite mesh together to make a whole film.
Gregory Peck is Mr. Fifties typical suburbanite with the wife, three kids and a mortgage and looking to do better for himself and his family. One of his commuter friends, Gene Lockhart tells him of a job opening at a TV network and he applies for it. The head man, Fredric March likes him enough, but Peck arouses the jealousy of others in the place like Henry Daniell and Arthur O'Connell.
He's also got an inheritance problem when he gets a sprawling estate from his grandmother and then her caretaker, Joseph Sweeney, looks to contest the will. And he's got something dropped on his doorstep from his World War II service as a result of a wartime romance.
Some parts of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit are nicely done. My favorite moment in it is when Lee J. Cobb playing a judge in an informal hearing in his chambers deals rather nicely with the issues Sweeney raises.
Fredric March as the communications tycoon is drawn from William S. Paley of CBS and does very well. I'm not sure why his family problems get put into the story. He's having problems with his rebellious teenage daughter Gigi Perreau. That could have been a film unto itself.
Even the wartime flashbacks could have been a film plot easily. Keenan Wynn as Captain Peck's sergeant and Marisa Pavan as his wartime inamorata do very well in their roles. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't inspired by Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby.
Jones and Peck still have a lot of good chemistry left over. I wish they had been given a more coherent story to act in.