postwar life, or something like it

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
4 Stars
Directed by Nunnally Johnson
Starring Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Frederic March

Surprisingly honest portrait of a mid-50s white-collar worker who has to balance the pressures of a soulless job, alienated family, and lingering war trauma. I know this sounds like a bunch of studio-era tripe, but this one has barely aged at all: if it weren't for the process shots and cheesy score the movie could easily be mistaken for one made in the 80s. Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones may not have been the best casting decisions, but Frederic March is good, and Nunnally Johnson and Darryl F. Zanuck smooth out any deficiencies in the acting.

Trivia: In the Pacific war sequence, Peck brings his fallen comrade to a medic, played by DeForest Kelley (later, Dr. "Bones" McCoy on Star Trek), who tells Peck, "This man's dead, captain."