jhkp The Hucksters is about sponsors and advertising agencies in network radio, in New York and Hollywood, circa 1945-47. It's a time when radio is king (just before TV came in). Double-breasted suits and men's hats are in style. People wear tuxedos to go out to fancy nightclubs, and take elegant trains to cross the country, if they can afford it. And ad man Vic Norman (Clark Gable), just back from the war, is determined to make the kind of money that will give him such a comfortable lifestyle. He thinks he has it all figured out.Vic goes to work for the Kimberly (Adolph Menjou) agency, which handles the Beautee Soap account. The big man who manufactures the soap is Even L. Evans (Sydney Greenstreet) a bully who has the ad men cowering because his account is worth several million dollars.The Hucksters is about how Vic loses himself in this crazy ad game, and finds himself again before all his self-respect is gone. It's about his relationships with two women (Deborah Kerr, Ava Gardner), a kindly Hollywood agent (Edward Arnold), and a sub-par comedian, Buddy Hare (Keenan Wynn), for whom Vic must create a radio program on orders from tyrannical nut case Evans.It's an entertaining picture, even if the satire is not quite pointed enough, and the serious side of the film - it's philosophical side, if you will - plays out as somewhat blunted. I think this may have to do with the fact that Hollywood satirizing the ethics and values of Madison Avenue is like the pot calling the kettle black. It just doesn't seem legit. On the plus side, the acting is uniformly good. It's hard to picture anyone other than Gable in the lead. In fact, he makes the film seem a little better than it is. He's possibly 10 years too old for the role, and he shows the beginnings of the tremor that was sometimes too distracting in his later films. But he's still Gable, which is damn good! You don't question for a minute that the younger women in the film would find him attractive. Quite a man. The Hucksters has outstanding cinematography, the score, by Lennie Hayton, is jazzy, yet elegant. Jack Conway's direction is fairly sure-footed. It's all a bit too glossy, and not really as smart as it wants to be. But The Hucksters is a good piece of entertainment, all told.By the way, The Hucksters was sold using the famous phrase, "Gable's New Star Is Deborah Kerr (it rhymes with star)!" Menjou's ad agency couldn't have come up with a better line.

SimonJack "The Hucksters" is an unusual combination of film genres, each with its own subplot woven expertly into the film. Based on a novel of the same name by Frederic Wakeman, this film is a biting critique of the advertising world. It is also a story about a returning war veteran who has a new sense of ethics since his war experience. It's a story about a young English war widow of an American officer who settles in New York with her two young children. It's not a romance, but a deep love story between the two. It's a story about fresh starts for people after the war. It's about big business, workaholics, tyranny and fear. And, it's about discerning values in life. It's a drama, love story and comedy of unequal proportions that mesh perfectly.All of these things come together in a brilliant story and screenplay. The direction, editing and technical production are superb. And, I can't imagine a cast that would be any better, or even as excellent overall. The main supporting cast are all lead actors in their own right.The story takes place mostly in New York, with a short stint in California. The time is early 1946 – several months after the end of World War II. Clark Gable is Victor Norman who has just returned to civilian life after the war. He had served four years in the Army, the last several months in the occupation forces in Germany following the May 8 end of the war in Europe. We know he was a captain by his uniform that the hotel valet mistakenly had pressed along with his civilian suit. The time is further verified by a letter that is read later in the film.Adolph Menjou is Mr. Kimberly, the head of the ad agency Vic hopes will hire him, "so long as it pays $25,000 a year to begin, with a promise of more … much more." Kimberly, his number two man, Cooke (played by Richard Gaines) and the whole agency staff are nervous, worried, on edge and upset most of the time. They live in fear of the company's largest client, Evan Llewellyn Evans played masterfully by Sydney Greenstreet. I have to say that of all the roles Greenstreet played, I enjoyed and liked his characters for who and what they were. But his Evan Evans is such an unlikeable and disgusting character. What a performance he gives. Deborah Kerr made her American film debut in "The Hucksters," and she too was superb as the widow, Kay Dorrance. Kerr already had an impressive list of roles behind her in British films, so she wasn't unknown to American moviegoers. The rest of the cast are superb in their supporting roles. Edward Arnold is Dave Lash, Ava Gardner is Jean Ogilvie, Keenan Wynn is Buddy Hare, and Gloria Holden is Mrs. Kimberly. Several other players have fine small parts. This all sets the stage for the story. It all comes out clearly in the first few minutes of the film, along with some good humor. But to tell how the story plays out from there would take away from its enjoyment for those who haven't seen it the first time. Suffice to say that this is a superb movie with an interesting combination of plots; and with a cast that is sure to entertain and please any audience. The year 1947 was a very good year for movies, and a number of social issue films were up for Academy Awards, along with a range of other good movies. "Gentleman's Agreement," was an excellent film starring Gregory Peck and it won best picture. I can't understand how "The Hucksters" didn't even receive a single nomination. The novel was a best seller, and the movie was a blockbuster at the box office. I think the story, screenplay, directing and supporting role of Greenstreet were especially worthy and equal to the quality of the films that received nominations in those fields. There is also one other thing that sets this film apart as satire. Most such films are filled with humor, and often have good doses of sarcasm, ridicule and parody. The satire in "The Hucksters" is much more subtle. While the film has humor, its drama, love scenes and other aspects tend to level it off so that the satire doesn't overpower the film. One note about the advertising business and the media. A reviewer whose comments I always enjoy surmised that this film was dated because radio was on the verge of being displaced by TV. Well, even when TV became the dominant media a few years later, it too thrived on advertising. While the mediums differed, the "huckstering" still went on. Radio "huckstering" today is much more by local markets; but it still gets a shot of national ads too. No, the world of huckstering has probably never been stronger, more obvious, and, I add, more tedious than it is today. I wonder if there still are tyrants like Evan Evans who think they know advertising better than the working professionals.

st-shot Madison Avenue gets a dusting up by Hollywood in this mainstream star driven vehicle featuring Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr. Usually the topic of provocateurs and malcontents outside the big tent The Hucksters does not shy away from the surly, high pressure of selling beauty soap or any other product for that matter to the masses by incessant drilling, usually by way of a jingle, to the public.Victor Norman has just been discharged after the war. He seeks a high paying job working for soap titan Evan Evans and quickly impresses him by signing war widow Kay Dorrance (Kerr) to endorse his product. Victor falls for Kay in the process but she is hesitant in committing leaving the door wide open for torch singer Jane Oglivie (Ava Gardner) to walk through. Meanwhile the job is peeling away Norman's self respect working for the humiliating Evans and playing some ugly hardball with former friends and associates. Dangling a huge salary before him Norman is faced with the decision to sell out or walk out.Any intention by The Hucksters to soft soap the advertising business is immediately extinguished by the ogre like appearance of Greenstreet's Evan's who enters the boardroom and spits on his polished table while lackeys quake about him. Gable may have been able to handle the China sea and darkest Africa but Greenstreet in the boardroom poses a different threat to his dignity and self worth.Gable brings a war weary look and background to Norman that allows his incredulity to resonate in a business that calls for him to create fantasies for day dreaming housewives. At the same time he is seeking normalcy and knows if you are going to get along you have to go along.As love interests Kerr as the tentative, responsible, vulnerable widow and Gardner as the vivacious good time girl are much better fits than Garson in Gable's first picture after the war Adventure. In spite of their disparate character personalities Gable shares a convincing chemistry with each causing me to wonder if Ms. Kerr might have been a better fit in Mogambo. In addition to the ladies fine performances veterans Adolph Menjou and Edward Arnold convey the pressures of the work while Keenan Wynn as a corny comic steals his scenes from everybody in the room.While it may be a little dated and not be a full frontal assault or satire on the advertising business in total The Hucksters for its day lands more than a few subversive punches to get its point across. Not exactly Putney Swope but in its own tempered way still gets its digs in.

ilprofessore-1 This is a pretty poor movie overall, particularly in its overblown romantic scenes with Lennie Hayton's syrupy MGM strings pounding out the emotions. Its best moments, and there are many, must come from Fredrick Wakeman's 1946 novel—at its time one of the first exposés of the advertising and talent agency business. Most of the screenplay seems watered down by today's standards, most likely sanitized not to offend two of Hollywood's power brokers, Leo Stein and Lou Wasserman of MCA, said to be the prototypes. On the other hand, if you have ever wondered why Ava Gardner in her first major part broke Sinatra's heart when she left him, just take a look at her under Harold Rosson's soft-focus big studio glamor lighting. At the time the picture was made she was twenty-five year's old and absolutely ravishing! Deborah Kerr, playing a stereotypical upper-class Englishwoman, simply can't compete with the gorgeous Ava; Deborah has very little to do here other than to be vedy vedy British and the voice of Integrity. There are some wonderful on- the-nose scenes about the biz, however, with Edward Arnold and Adolphe Menjou, perfectly cast and doing what they did so superbly film after film, to say nothing about the great Sydney Greenstreet at his most gross physically and morally. But it is Keenan Wynn who walks away with the picture, playing a thoroughly obnoxious and untalented stand-up comic with jokes so bad that even Milton Berle wouldn't have stolen them. It takes great talent to make someone so bad seem good.