Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Gregory Peck and Dorothy Maguire

'Gentleman's Agreement' is a dramatic film about the effects of anti-semitism, made in 1947, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield and Celeste Holm. The screenplay, by Moss Hart, was based on the novel by Laura Hobson which was published as the film came out.

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The film contains a strong anti-racist message, which still resonates today. When it was released in 1947, with memories of the Holocaust still fresh and with the state of Israel only just coming into being, the message was even more powerful.

Twentieth Century-Fox production chief Daryl F. Zanuck wanted to make a film on the theme of anti-semitism after being refused membership, when he was a young scriptwriter, in the Los Angeles Country Club, when it was assumed incorrectly that he was Jewish. Though warned before filming commenced by Samuel Goldwyn and other Jewish film executives that producing the film would merely "make trouble," it is to his great credit that he saw the project through to its final editing.

The movie was commercially successful and was one of Fox's highest grossing movies of 1947, after 'Forever Amber' and the Betty Grable picture 'Mother Wore Tights'. It was nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards, winning three, for Best Picture, Best Director for Elia Kazan and Best Supporting Actress for Celeste Holm and lost in five categories, including Best Actor and Best Actress.

Gregory Peck plays Philip Green, a magazine writer who decides to go undercover and pretend to be Jewish in order to gain a real-life perspective on anti-semitism. The movie traces the incidents where Green is slighted because of his announced religion, the most insidious insult being the subtle, "gentleman's agreement" form of bigotry wherein anti-Jewish sentiments are assumed as a matter of course. We see his transformation from determined writer to avowed crusader against prejudice aided by his Jewish friend, Dave Goldman, played by John Garfield at his best.

It came as no surprise that the majority of people connected with making the film were subsequently called by HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, to be questioned about ties to communism. John Garfield was summoned to a second appearance but died, aged just 39, of a heart attack, the night before he was due to appear. HUAC, although publicly hunting communists, also pursued a barely hidden anti-Semitic agenda. They were the Gentleman's Agreement in action.

It is a smart film, well acted and directed, and a clever and intelligent portrayal of an insidious social problem.