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Gentleman's Agreement Overview:

Gentleman's Agreement (1947) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Laura Z. Hobson published in 1947.

SYNOPSIS

The best of the few Hollywood treatments of anti-Semitism. Peck gives the right gravity to his role of a magazine reporter who comes to understand in a personal way the barriers imposed by prejudice when, to add depth to his magazine feature, he takes on a Jewish identity. Hart wrote the script, based on the novel by Laura Z. Hobson.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1947 --- Ceremony Number 20 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorGregory PeckNominated
Best ActressDorothy McGuireNominated
Best Supporting ActressCeleste HolmWon
Best Supporting ActressAnne RevereNominated
Best DirectorElia KazanWon
Best Film EditingHarmon JonesNominated
Best Picture20th Century-FoxWon
Best WritingMoss HartNominated
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Gentleman's Agreement Quotes:

Phil Green: Funny thing, that girl, Mr. Minify's niece suggested the series on antisemitism. Funny.
Mrs. Green: You don't say? Why, women will be thinking next, Phil.
Phil Green: You want the moon!
John Minify: yeah!... with parsley.
Mrs. Green: I never realized pain could be so... sharp.
John Minify: I've asked Phil to do a piece on anti-Semitism.
Kathy Lacey: Am I going to get a credit line?
John Minify: You? Why?
Kathy Lacey: Well, don't you remember last winter when that Jewish schoolteacher resigned, and I...
John Minify: Oh, yes. Well, I knew somebody would be asking me for a credit line. I'm always stealing ideas without realizing it.
Kathy Lacey: That's what makes your magazine so original.
Mrs. Green: You know something, Phil? I suddenly want to live to be very old. Very. I want to be around to see what happens. The world is stirring in very strange ways. Maybe this is the century for it. Maybe that's why it's so troubled. Other centuries had their driving forces. What will ours have been when men look back? Maybe it won't be the American century after all... or the Russian century or the atomic century. Wouldn't it be wonderful... if it turned out to be everybody's century... when people all over the world - free people - found a way to live together? I'd like to be around to see some of that... even the beginning. I may stick around for quite a while.
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Gentleman's Agreement Facts
Celeste Holm is on record as saying that she found Gregory Peck to be no fun to work with.
Despite winning an Oscar for his direction, Elia Kazan revealed in a later interview that he was never fond of this movie, feeling that it lacked passion on his part and he thought that the romance was too forced.
The movie mentions three real people well-known for their racism and anti-Semitism at the time: Mississippi Sen. Theodore Bilbo, who advocated sending all African-Americans back to Africa; Mississippi Rep. John Rankin, who called columnist Walter Winchell "the little kike" on the floor of the House of Representatives; and Christian Nationalist Crusade leader Gerald L.K. Smith, who tried legal means to prevent Twentieth Century-Fox from showing the movie in Tulsa. He lost the case, but then sued Fox for $1,000,000. The case was thrown out of court in 1951.
Among the concerns that the movie's anti-anti-semitic message would stir up a "hornet's nest"was the bizarre belief that "Jewish friendly" films and novels from the time were linked with communism. The fear was not entirely unfounded, as many of the people involved with the film were brought before the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC), including 'Daryl Zanuck', Anne Revere, (perhaps most notoriously) Elia Kazan, and 'John Garfield'. Garfield was brought before HUAC twice, was blacklisted, taken off the blacklist and put back on it again and it was believed that it was the stress of these experiences which led to the heart attack that killed him at the age of 39.
Studio bosses - most of whom were Jewish themselves - urged Elia Kazan not to make the film.
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