Gentleman's Agreement

The 1947 Best Picture Oscar went to Gentleman's Agreement, which was directed by Elia Kazan, but was really the baby of Twentieth-Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck, who was determined to do a picture about anti-Semitism. When all is said and done, this movie is a lot better than it has any right to be, since it is foremost a polemic, and frequently high-handed and preachy. But I've seen it about three times, and get absorbed it in every time.

The source novel was by Laura Z. Hobson, and when Zanuck read it he snapped up the rights. Interestingly enough, Zanuck was one of the few studio moguls who was not Jewish, but those that were, like Jack Warner, Sam Goldwyn, and others, implored him not to do the picture, fearing that it would stir up more trouble than it was worth.

Gregory Peck plays a magazine writer who is hired by an editor of a liberal-minded weekly to write a piece on anti-Semitism. He struggles to come up with an interesting angle, and is ready to give up when he decides he will masquerade as a Jew to find out what it's really like. Now, this plot point wouldn't work today, as anyone can reasonably ask, why not hire a Jewish writer (there were certainly plenty of great Jewish writers back then, as now). Of course, back in 1947 it would have been difficult to get away with having the lead character be Jewish. It also allows Peck to suffer the slights and insults in a concentrated form. He's told by his Jewish buddy, played by John Garfield, that it must be interesting to experience years of prejudice in just a few short weeks.

Meanwhile, Peck is romancing the editor's niece, played by Dorothy McGuire, and it is her character's development that forms the spine of the film. She's no anti-Semite, but over the course of the story she learns about herself that just "going along" is equally repellent to overt bigotry. It recalls the quote by Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." At the beginning of the film, when Peck tells her about his scheme, a look of incomprehension flashes across her face--is Peck really Jewish? It's a marvelous piece of acting by her.

Though this film's heart is in the right place, and it was a huge hit, there are some nagging concerns. The Jews who are depicted in the film--Garfield, and a secretary played by June Havoc, are assimilated. There is no sign of Hasidim or any other orthodox sect. There is Sam Jaffee, playing a scientist who is obviously modeled on Albert Einstein, but other than him there is no representation of the many different types of Judaism in America. It's almost as if the film were saying that as long as you can't physically tell the difference between Jews and Christians, then everything is all right.

In addition to the film, Kazan won an Oscar for directing and Celeste Holm won Best Supporting Actress for playing the magazine's fashion editor, who is in love with Peck and has a big speech at the end about the hypocrisy of limousine liberalism.

I'm also pretty sure that many people saw this film and probably nodded in agreement, thinking that if Gregory Peck showed up at their dinner party they'd welcome him, even if he was a Jew. But these same people probably went the next day to their restricted country clubs without giving it another thought. Fortunately, time has withered away the concept of "restricted" facilities.