OSCAR WILD DAY 1: GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947)

Arriving just two years after the end of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust, a film that casts a spotlight on American antisemitism might have seemed like a bold proposition. Gentleman’s Agreement tackles its thorny subject without flinching, undoubtedly aided by its bestselling source material. Throw in some top-notch acting, and it seems like you should have a recipe for an all-time classic. Why then does this movie feel more like Oscar bait than an instant classic?

Gregory Peck brings the thunder as Philip Schuyler Green, a New York City journalist who is tasked by his publisher to write a story about antisemitism in America. Though reluctant at first, he takes a method acting approach to the assignment and pretends to be Jewish to learn about how various corners of society respond to, interact with, and shy away from those associated with the Jewish faith and culture. His commitment to the assignment, however, strains his relationship with his son (Dean Stockwell) and his girlfriend (Dorothy McGuire).

I grew up in a time and place that was very insulated from the kind of overt prejudice on display in this film. Post-Civil Rights suburbia has a way of making one think that most of this kind of discrimination has been done away with. As I grew up, I learned that many of those harboring prejudice and engaging in discrimination against minority groups just learned how to be more subtle about it. Still, I think the naivety of my youth erected a mental boundary for comprehending and appreciating the kinds of things that this film tries to convey.

My limitations aside, I dare say that this film has not aged well. In some circles, it might be derided as woke propaganda designed to make middle and upper-class WASP folk hate themselves. On the other side of the coin, there is a cringe factor to having a protagonist from a privileged set masquerade as a member of a minority group to expose the plight of said minority group. The book and movie capitalized on the world’s heightened awareness to antisemitism in the wake of Hitler’s atrocities, but I doubt you could make this film in the present day without substantially changing how Philip witnesses and calls out those around him. The message is, sadly, still vital and necessary today, but the means and methods Philip engages in involve enough faulty logic to give us moderns pause.

Peck is one of only a few actors who could have handled Philip’s transition from shock in the face of prejudice to becoming a confrontational change agent who challenges even his closest relations. McGuire guides her character down a narrow path, and the rest of the supporting cast do fine jobs conveying the ups and downs of those along for the ride on Philip’s journey. Maybe Peck gets a little too forceful and some scenes feel a tad melodramatic by today’s standards, but you can tell that most, if not all, of the main cast are all-in on this production.

In 1947, Gentleman’s Agreement was a necessary wake-up call to ‘polite society,’ showing that the seeds of what grew into the Holocaust in Europe were still very much around in the minds and actions of some. With craftier and less blatant discrimination in modern times, Philip’s sledgehammer approach now feels like a little too much. Today’s viewers will still find that this film is of solid quality, its impact is altered by virtue of the absence of the film’s contemporaneous context. Dated, but not outdated, this film still likely possesses power and speaks to some viewers more than others.

FINAL RATING: 3.5 out of 5