Gentleman's Agreement

An eye-opener in its day, this exposure of high-society racial prejudice still has the power to compel. The story of magazine writer Gregory Peck passing himself off as a Jew to reveal anti-Semitism is not violently confrontational, but is successful in showing that the subtle malaise is barely recognised as such by the people who sustain it. Writer Moss Hart pressed all the politically correct postwar buttons, adapting Laura Z Hobson's controversial bestseller for rising young director Elia Kazan, and, while it's one of Peck's finest performances, other members of the cast produced work of similarly high quality - the confused liberal Dorothy McGuire, the soured poseur Celeste Holm and the cynically bitter ex-serviceman John Garfield. Twentieth Century-Fox gave this blast at bigotry all the hype it needed and the result was Academy awards and nominations all round.