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By
NICK ZEGARAC
In "Gentleman's Agreement" Gregory Peck stars as Philip Green/Greenberg, a reporter impersonating a Jew in order to gain first hand knowledge into anti-Semitism.
At first, snubs seem quite subtle and harmless. But as the film progresses the seething underbelly of dissension against the Jewish faith begins to rear its ugly head. Dorothy McGuire costars as Kathy, his waspish girlfriend who struggles with her own built-in anti-Semitism. John Garfield offers a startling and poignant cameo as Dave Goldberg, while Celeste Holm turns in another fine performance as Anne Dettrey, the only cast member seemingly untouched by prejudice. The film also costars Anne Revere, as Philip's mother, and Dean Stockwell as his son. Despite excellent source material from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson, and the directorial reigns handed over to one of Hollywood's best, Elia Kazan, the resulting film is heavy-handed and tiresome in spots. The plot never quite surpasses its very theatrical staging and the performances, particularly McGuire's are stiff and uninspiring.
Fox already released this title as a movie only disc, without the making-of featurette. Now, as part of its Studio Series "Gentleman's Agreement" continues to suffer from digital anomalies which plagued the original transfer. However, whereas the old transfer seemed to falter during the latter half with excessive film grain and shimmering of fine details, it is the first hour or so of this re-release that is riddled with edge effects, aliasing, pixelization and digital grit. As far as extras are concerned, this DVD offers little more than a brief back-story featurette, audio commentary and theatrical trailer. |
