Rebecca Rich

Red Group
Gentlemans Agreement
The film Gentlemans Agreement is centered on the theme that bigotry
should be combated and not ignored. It is opened with an introduction to
Philip Schuyler Green, a journalist who was living in Hollywood, but moved to
New York City to be with his mother and son. Almost as soon as the movie
starts, Green is shown meeting with a magazine publisher, who is asking him
to write an article on anti-Semitism. Green, being a gentile, is unsure of how
to come at the topic in an interesting way. That is, until he comes up with the
idea of trying to pass as Jewish, with the name Phil Greenberg, and relaying
his first-hand experiences. Kathy, the magazine publishers niece, is
introduced to him at a dinner party. It turns out that she came up with the
topic of anti-Semitism. He is shocked by this at first, but he soon starts
dating her. However, when he tells her his angle for completing the article,
she asks if he is actually Jewish. By saying this, she seems slightly antiSemitic herself, which puts a strain on their relationship. The story of the
anti-Semitism continues when Greens secretary turns out to be Jewish, but
her initial application for the job was rejected with a Jewish-sounding name,
so she changed it for the ability to obtain the job. When the magazines
publisher hears about this, he makes sure that the magazine has no hiring
prejudice. Later, Greens childhood friend, Dave, who is Jewish, comes to
New York for a job, and is living with Greens family until he can find a home.
Finding one is hard with many anti-Semitic landlords. Many anti-Semitic acts
towards Green follow, including his son being cursed out for being Jewish.
When Kathy tries to comfort him, she makes an anti-Semitic comment, so

Green calls her out for it. They were engaged, but Kathy broke it off because
she was tired of hearing about it. Eventually, Kathy meets with Dave to talk
about an incident she encountered involving a bigoted joke, when she
realizes that she should be speaking up. At the end, Phil and Kathy make up,
because she let Dave move into a neighborhood where she would protect
him from hateful neighbors by living next door.
The film Gentlemans Agreement was only somewhat historically
accurate. In the film, anti-Semitism was slightly exaggerated. According to
the Destiny Foundation, Jews began to experience the sort of acceptance
that they had never known through millennia of exile in the 1950s. This is
not suggesting complete acceptance, but it is suggesting more acceptance
than ever before. The movie did come out in 1947, three years before 1950,
but the effects of being right after the war did not change that much within
those years. The postwar period had its own effects. For example, the
Holocaust led many Americans to be sympathetic to Jewish refugees. There
was also a very large number of Jews who fought in the American army,
shattering many stereotypes with their bravery (The Destiny Foundation).
All of this was true, however, there were such places in America like
Darien, Connecticut, which was where Dave wanted to move to but could not
do so easily, that were called sundown towns. These were communities
that wanted to stay all-white. They mostly are known for keeping out AfricanAmericans, but they also kept out other minority groups, including Jews.
Apparently, most suburbs began life as sundown towns (Loewen 5). Since

suburbs started to become common in the post-war period, sundown towns

must have had their peak then, too. They were especially common in the
northern parts of the country, not so much in the Deep South. In addition to
all this, Darien was a real sundown town. Dave would have been rejected in
reality.
Because this movie was, in fact, made in 1947, it made sense for the
anti-Semitism to be exaggerated. The film makers probably wanted to make
a point of it, so something could be done about it. Many Americans probably
did not even realize that sundown towns such as Darien existed. Overall, this
movie was not completely accurate, but it did make sense for the time it was
released.
Writing Prompt #1
The cinematographic elements within the movie were very well used. First of
all, the use of an establishing shot only happens at the beginning of the film,
where it is made obvious that the film is taking place in New York City. After
that, it looks like most of the movie could be happening anywhere. This
seems to be showing that the setting is not particularly important for the
movie, because what is happening there could happen anywhere. In addition,
every movement of the camera is very intentional. The camera only moves
when it needs to, which sometimes means that it is placed in a particular
position for a while when two characters are talking to each other but facing
the same way, or that it is following a person walking down a hallway. The

goal, as with almost all film productions, seems to be to keep the person
talking in focus. Phil, however, seems to have his face in focus more after he
decides to pretend to be a Jew, meaning maybe that having that perspective
is making his life fuller and more important. The lighting is another thing
that is very intentional. For example, when Phil is having his first date with
Kathy, half his face has brighter lighting than the other. This could be
foreshadowing the moment when he decides to pretend to be a Jew, making
him a sort of two-faced person. After that moment, the lighting is less visible,
which means it is well done. Overall, the cinematographers of this movie did
an excellent job.

Works Cited
"American Jewry in the 1950S: The Challenges of Suburbanization, Acceptance and
Assimilation." The Destiny Foundation. Destiny Foundation, 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.jewishdestiny.com/destinys-projects/faith-fate/a-new-beginning/topicsummaries/american-jewry-in-the-1950s-the-challenges-of-suburbanization-acceptanceand-assimilation/>.

Loewen, James W. "The Importance of Sundown Towns." Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension
of American Racism. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 3-23. Illinois.edu. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.
<http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/content/sundown-introduction.pdf>.