Five reasons to see the films of Alexander Mackendrick
The director of Whisky Galore! and Sweet Smell of Success is the subject of a retrospective
1. It’s the centenary of the birth of the Scottish-American filmmaker who became one of Ealing studios’ greatest directors. Born in Boston, Massachusetts to Scottish immigrant parents, Mackendrick moved back to Glasgow with his grandfather when he was just seven years old. Mackendrick began his career in advertising before cutting his teeth as a filmmaker working on propaganda films during World War II. He subsequently took at job at Ealing where he worked as a screenwriter and production designer until, less than a year later, he directed his first feature, Whisky Galore!, which is widely considered to be the best Scottish comedy of all time.
2. Mackendrick made a total of five films for Ealing between 1949 and 1955: Whisky Galore!, The Man in the White Suit, Mandy, The Maggie and The Ladykillers. The first, second and fifth of those are generally recognised to be among the very best films made at Ealing, and certainly their delightful combination of eccentric humour and anti-authoritarianism make them quintessential Ealing films.
3. The Man in the White Suit has been given a full digital restoration and now looks as brand spanking new as the titular dirt-proof two-piece invented by Alec Guinness’ boffin. And like the suit that never gets dirty and never wears out, Mackendrick’s second film for Ealing, a cutting comedy about commerce that secured BAFTA and Oscar nominations, really stands up to repeated viewings.
4. Following the sale of Ealing studios to the BBC in the late 1950s, Mackendrick found himself out of work and moved back to America where, in 1957, he made Sweet Smell of Success. The acerbic tale of slimy press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) and a powerful newspaper columnist JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) remains one of the greatest, most influential Hollywood film noirs of all time.
5. The Mackendrick retrospective also features several rarities: the three films – Sammy Going South, A High Wind in Jamaica and Don’t Make Waves - he directed during the 1960s plus the 1937 British thriller he scripted, Midnight Menace. It’s a shame Mackendrick never got to make his version of Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros with Tony Hancock and Barbara Windsor (!?), but we should be grateful that he gave us at least four enduring masterpieces.
The Man in the White Suit has been digitally restored and is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Mon 19 Nov. The Alexander Mackendrick retrospective is at BFI Southbank until Fri 30 Nov and is at Edinburgh’s Filmhouse from Wed 12 Dec.