Triple Bill of Alexander Mackendrick

The Man in the White Suit (1951)
The Ladykillers (1955)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

I was already a fan of Alexander Mackendrick as evident by the ranking of his two Ealing studio films The Man in the White Suit and The Ladykillers at #22 and #35 respectively in my Top 60 Comedy films list. I associated Mackendrick with Ealing Studios and the Comedy Genre especially since four of the five films he directed for Ealing Studios were comedies with Mandy (1952) being the exception. All five of his Ealing Studio films: Whiskey Galore! (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), Mandy (1952), The Maggie (1954), The Ladykillers (1955). 

However, a recent viewing of Sweet Smell of Success led me to rethink Mackendrick’s films in a new light. The 1957 American film starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison is dark look at human nature and on the surface is far removed from the comedic framework of Ealing studio films. Even though, The Man in the White Suit and The Ladykillers have a predominant comedic note, they aren’t pure comedies but contain dark notes. The Ladykillers is a dark comedy laced with crime while The Man in the White Suit is draped with shades of tragedy and irony along its sleeves. Sweet Smell of Success heightens the dark and tragic undertones from these two films and mutes any comedic element to a whisper. 

In Sweet Smell of Success, Tony Curtis’ Sidney Falco character is constantly joking, laughing but his character has an air of desperation about him while the entire film has tragedy written all over it. Sidney is a press agent who gets promotion money from owners to promote their club. All he needs is a good review or a mention of the club in a newspaper article from J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Sidney would go to any lengths to get on J.J’s good side including trying to fulfill J.J’s request to breakup his sister’s (Susan Hunsecker played by Susan Harrison) romance with a jazz musician. As Sidney tries to do whatever it takes to break up the romance, he starts to cross moral and ethical boundaries from which there is no turning back.

Sweet Smell of Success is a brilliant portrayal of American society at a time when newspaper reviews meant the world for financial survival for restaurants, theatrical plays and even movies. While traditional newspapers have been in decline in recent decades, some of the core elements of the film such as a smearing someone’s reputation, publishing false stories or personal affairs have sadly been amplified in our contemporary social media dominated world. In that sense, Mackendrick’s film and script co-written with Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman is still as relevant today as it was back in 1957.

Sweet Smell of Success belongs to a different genre but it is unified via 2 threads to Mackendrick's two Ealing Studio films. All three films are a keen insightful observation of characters while also provide an overarching commentary on society. The Man in the White Suit highlights the invisible hand or supply-demand forces that make things work. All the clothing textile company owners want the invention of an indestructible and dirt repellent fabric to fail as that would make people buy their clothes less. In The Ladykillers, the bank robbers try to justify their crimes as saying that no one would be hurt by the missing money because it would be a blip for the banks since insurance would cover it all while the robbers can use the money for their families benefit. There is a financial truth to what the robbers say as has become evident with all the banking and insurance frauds that have become much more commonplace since the film was released. Sweet Smell of Success shows a world where favours can open doors for people and the scenarios in the film are aptly described by the phrase “you scratch my back, I scratch yours”. This phrase still makes the world go around and allows careers to flourish and is at the core of our broken political machine.

I was a fan of Alexander Mackendrick before but after seeing Sweet Smell of Success, I am an even bigger fan. He clearly was one of the best directors to have worked in cinema, yet not as widely appreciated as his peers.