Gentleman's Agreement

The storyline is dated, however, the premise is not. Sixty-four years later, unfortunately, anti semitism still exists. The movie is a good one because of the talents of Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, and Celeste Holm who convey the message that is intended.

Not the first or last high-minded film to be sunk by its own good intentions, this study of anti-Semitism, very timely in 1947 and packed with top-flight talents, comes off as relentless preachy, one-note and self-righteous. The arch didacticism of the script plays like Brecht on a bad day. Peck is terribly stiff and dull in the lead. In fact nobody does very well but Celeste Holm, who's brilliant and brings levels of subtlety and precision not displayed by any other flat, monochrome character. She won a best supporting Oscar for it. In fact the movie was showered with awards, and you can understand why in its postwar context, but like some other big award-winners in their day it doesn't play so well now.

Please read Gregory Perlman's review, he's 100% right, this is a tragically overlooked film.

The whole romance and storyline are a little silly, seeing how much culture has changed in the past sixty years, but the subject matter (anti semitism) and how its dealt with is definitely worth watching for. And for Gregory Peck's performance, because he's pretty much just playing his Atticus Finch character.

When talking about either the Oscars or Gregory Peck, this great film is usually lost and in most cases unknown by the general movie public. A film of great importance for a number of reasons: 1. This film was produced by a non-Jewish producer who didn't like it when the "big guys" tried beating up on the "little guy." The producer, because of his name, was banned from various clubs because they thought he was Jewish. 2. This film was made about 2 years after the Holocaust and American thought that the ideas that Nazi's spread were dead in Europe. This movie proved a wake up call for American's about anti-Semitism. 3. The directing of Eli Kazan and a great cast and a strong story. Three of many reasons why this film is one of the best and why you should AT LEAST rent this movie and be prepared to be shocked and learn about a rarely discussed topic, anti-Semitism in America.