Gentleman's Agreement

An at times very good but above all well-meaning message movie which at times hammers home its points overly directly, the kid and Peck's love interest stand-ins for the intended uneducated audience. That being said, the point of a movie like this is didactic in nature and the Best Picture prize is, I'd wager, most of all a tip of the hat recognizing the importance of raising the issue. All that aside, it's a thoroughly solid film.

It's a good movie but seems to be too preachy for its own good. I'm sure it was riveting in 1947 but now it feels severely dated for a movie made by Elia Kazan and led by Gregory Peck. Overall it's a good watch but it's an odd movie to be among the ranks of best picture winners.

High points for Celeste Holm's character Anne Dettrey; sadly, many more negative points for the heavy-handed magic wand that "ends" Kathy's hypocrisy, and the character of Kathy herself.

I think Kazan is a fairly poor director. The film is ambitious for its time and Peck carries it well, but the entire presentation is so bland and static that I found myself losing interest rapidly. The image and composition are so much an afterthought that this might as well be a radio drama. Even then, the writing could use some polish -- I was far more interested in Anne than Kathy. It's not hard to see why it won Best Picture, though, considering who the voters are. Is that anti-semetic? ;)

A little too preachy and slowly paced, but Kazan--a superb director of actors--brings out unexpected acting resources from everybody involved. Peck is good, particularly at expressing contempt and anger, although perhaps not quite at his best, but McGuire, Garfield, Holm, Revere, Havoc, Jaffee and Roy Roberts have never been better.