Based on the play by Roger MacDougall, Alexander Mackendrick's second film (which he cowrote) is a winning comedy about the battles between labor, capitalists, and scientific dreamers. Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) works quietly at Michael Corland's (Michael Gough) textile mill until his mysterious, costly lab experiment is discovered. Fired by Corland, Stratton takes a menial job at Alan Birnley's (Cecil Parker) mill in order to continue his work on the sly. When Daphne (Joan Greenwood), Corland's fiancée and Birnley's daughter, discovers his secret, she threatens to expose Stratton. The desperate scientist reveals to Daphne that he has invented an indestructible cloth that never gets dirty. Close to realizing his vision, Stratton celebrates by having a white suit made of the fabric (because it repels dye). The trouble, however, is just beginning. The lowly mill workers (who spout market economics in rough accents) fear for their jobs while the mill owners, led by the decrepit Godfather-esque Sir John Kierlaw (Ernest Thesiger), worry about their profits. In a series of entertaining chase scenes and attempted double crosses, the impish yet determined Stratton (sporting his luminous suit) struggles to defend his hard-won discovery from the mob.