In which 1951 Alec Guinness film does an inventor create a fabric, which never gets dirty or wears out, thus creating panic in the clothing industry?
Ealing comedies the city. In "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1951) a timid bank clerk gets together an unlikely gang of accomplices to snatch a delivery of gold bullion. The armed robbery proves surprisingly successful, but things start to go wrong when they attempt to melt down their haul into model Eiffel Towers. "The Man in the White Suit" (1951) features the efforts of a zealous young scientist to create a new kind of clothing material that will never get dirty and never wear out - an invention that threatens the livelihoods of both big business and the trade unions who join forces
Ernest Thesiger oldest of the industrialists (jointly with the trade unions) trying to suppress Guinness's invention of a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty. Thesiger made several appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of "As You Like It" ever produced on Broadway. Later films included "The Horse's Mouth" (1958) with Alec Guinness, "Sons and Lovers" (1960), and "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty (1961). That same year he made his final stage appearance—a mere week before his death—in "The Last Joke", with John Gielgud and