This is the story of a young American suburbanite who gets a chance to become a big shot and turns it down because he realizes that he’s a nine-to-five man to whom family means more than success.
It’s also the story of a man with a conscience, who had a love affair in Rome which resulted in a child. When he tells his wife about it, their marriage almost breaks up.
As the ‘Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’, Gregory Peck is handsome and appealing, if not always convincing. It is only really in the romantic sequences with Marisa Pavan, who plays his Italian love, that he takes on warmth and becomes believable. Pavan is human and delightful.
Playing opposite Peck as his wife is Jennifer Jones, and her concept of the role is faulty to a serious degree. Jones allows almost no feeling of any real relationship between her and Peck. They never come alive as people.
As the broadcasting tycoon, Fredric March is excellent, and the scenes between him and Peck lift the picture high above the ordinary.
