The film opens with Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness), a research chemist who has been fired from jobs at numerous mills because of his demands and his obsession with inventing an fibre that never wears out or gets dirty. Whilst working as a labourer at the Birnley mill, he accidentally becomes an unpaid researcher and invents the incredibly strong fibre.

Stratton is hailed as a genius until both management and the trade unions realize the consequence of his invention. That once consumers have purchased enough cloth, demand will drop through the floor and put the textile industry out of business. What follows are the managers attempts to get Sidney to sign the rights away to his invention and Sidney’s attempts to outrun and outwit the managers and mill workers in a florescent white suit.

Having grown up on Ealing Studios productions as a child, I never really got back into it when I got more interested into mainstream cinema. Watching The Man in the White Suit though was a delight from start to finish and has prompted me to seek out some more Ealing Studio productions. The film carries a charm that is sadly absent into today’s productions and the film did have me giggling quite a bit as well and seemed a bit more refreshing than some of today’s comedy. Alec Guinness’s role as Sidney Stratton is a joy to watch and his comic timing is perfect. The supporting stars (Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger & Vida Hope) also carry the film’s humour along nicely

From Studio Canal’s press release

“The Man in the White Suit restoration was completed at Pinewood Studios in high definition using the best original film materials available. After rigorous assessment, the best material for restoration, which was used was the fine-grain inter-positive and scanned in 2k resolution. Over 100 hours were spent to ensure a thorough clean up was performed removing dirt, scratches, warps, tears or replacing torn or missing frames and improving stability issues for the digital restoration, ensuring the general look of the film does not stray too far from the original release.”

Presented on Blu-ray in 1080p with a MPEG4-AVC codec and pillarboxed in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, the restoration is quite remarkable for a 62 year old film. The black and white picture shows a healthy amount of original film grain throughout its running time and contrasts and black levels are exceptionally good. The restoration from the original 35mm print though does show the faults that are inherited in the print like reel scratches, some softer focus shots and a flickering that is present throughout. For a restoration from a print this old though, this was expected and didn’t detract from my enjoyment for viewing this splendid film.

The original mono audio mix is faithfully presented here in LPCM 2.0 (48Khz). Due to the limitations of technology back in the days of Ealing Studios, I found the actual audio mix to be a bit hollow. Dialogue was a bit weak which resulted in adjusting the volume a few times and music sounded a bit unbalanced. This was expected though. Thankfully Studio Canal have cleaned up the mix and I couldn’t hear any audible pops or hisses or crackles.

Any bonus features that are presented in High Definition will be indicated

Revisiting The Man in the White Suit (HD): a collection of sit down interviews with current directors and film historians who reflect on the film and its star. Running time 13:20

Stills Gallery: a short collection of behind the scenes photographs

Restoration Comparison (HD): a short segment of random footage with no audio that swipes from the restored print to an unrestored print. Running time 05:02

Trailer (HD): The original trailer is presented to round off the bonus features. Running time 02:40

The Man in the White Suit is a delight to watch and is more refreshing than some of today’s comedies. Alec Guinness’s performance shines through (literally towards the end as well) and the comic moments do have a charm to them. Video and audio quality is as what is expected for a film of this age and Studio Canal have once again performed a great restoration given the material’s they have had to work with but this shouldn’t distract you from your enjoyment of the film. The features whilst a bit light does give a bit of extra insight into the film’s production.

Studio Canal in conjunction with The British Film Institute have re-released and restored The Man in the White Suit in celebration of the late director’s 100th Birthday and the digitally restored print can be seen during November at BFI Southbank London and selected cinemas in the UK