Mercaderes de ilusiones

Clark Gable made several comedies in his career, some of them quite funny (such as TEACHER'S PET). THE HUCKSTERS was one of the funny ones that still retains it's edge. It is considered dated by some because advertising is taken for granted in the modern day world, but if you consider that mass advertising actually goes back to the newspaper and magazine explosion of the late 19th Century THE HUCKSTERS was only bringing the story up to date in post World War II America.

What sets this film above other attacks is the acting of Gable, Adolphe Menjou, Ava Gardner, Keenan Wynn, Edward Arnold, and (best of the group) Sidney Greenstreet as the evil Evan LLewellyn Evans, the soap king. The film does look closely at the running of the advertising world inside an ad firm - quite a different look from the normal in any Hollywood film up to that time.

Basically the film shows how everyone jumps to the tune of the rich client (here the manipulative and sadistic Greenstreet). Gable has some values, and he slowly is corrupted sufficiently by dealing with Evans and Menjou to drop them. The key scene is when he blackmails Edward Arnold to do something unethical. Subsequently we realize that this never sits well with Gable, as Arnold's character in this film (for a change) is a rather decent guy. It does lead to his final act of independence - one of the best moments in Gable's and Greenstreet's film careers.

Keenan Wynn has always been underrated. He was a very good dramatic actor (witness his performance in THE GREAT MAN) and very amusing as a comedian (as in MY DEAR SECRETARY and DR. STRANGELOVE - two different approaches to comedy by the way). His father was Ed Wynn, one of the great Broadway clowns of all time. It is easy to see how he got his sense of timing. But what makes his role here as Buddy Hare, the second rate comic that Mr. Evans thinks is the funniest man in the world, is he is dealing with a man who has weak material to begin with, and delivers it with gusto that we can't stand hearing. Witness the joke about a man painting the front door of Buddy's home with black paint, and Gable's Vic Norman drops the obvious punchline on him. Eddie smiles weakly acknowledging that it is bad material. This is done so well, we end up liking Eddie (even if we wish he'd take his material and go away).

This is all about getting advertising business up to your neck and getting fed up with it, and this was even before the television commercials took over the field and drowning it in rot, which it has been doing ever since. There are excellent actors and splendid wit and dialog all the way that keeps moving on a constant race, so as an entertainment this is an ace of a film. Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner are both relatively young here and doing their very best for their adorable Clark Gable, who is always good and never made a bad film. To this comes Adolphe Menjou, Edward Arnold and Sydney Greenstreet to cap it all as the established monster of commercialism. It is both a comedy, satire and romance, the direction is splendid as is the music, so there is nothing missing. The problem remains today and is more abhorrently omnipresent than ever in all society, so even such a brilliant film as this did not help no matter how much it made a full hit at the problem.

Gable's a commanding presence and appears in about every scene. His ad-man character Victor Norman is none too likable, but that's the way it should be, given the shark tank he's swimming in. I found the first part rather tedious as Victor bounces around socially and professionally to no particular purpose. The second part, however, picks up noticeably as the plot thickens. Vic's a self-assured man looking to make big money in advertising, but has his own uncompromising ideas on what sells. Thus, he's either a man of principle capable of better values, or a mercenary man who will only reluctantly sell out. Which of the two wins out emerges as the plot's crux.

Of course, being Gable he has to have an active love life, and that means deciding between the gentile Kay (Kerr) or the vibrant Jean (Gardner). Frankly, Kerr's given a basically one- dimensional role that doesn't hold much interest. I can see why she was afraid Gardner would steal the picture (IMDB). The movie's satirical part emerges with Greenstreet's portrayal of the caricatured soap kingpin Evan Evans. He presides over Beautee Soap's advertising interests like a gelatinous cretin, spitting on the table, tossing hats out the window, and dumping water on hapless underlings. It's here that the film makes a jolting statement about the industry, given Evans' unchallenged authority. At the same time, a reckoning between him and Gable's Norman shapes up as inevitable. All in all, the movie stands now as something of a curiosity, with lessons about commercialism that I expect still stand, whether radio, TV, or internet streaming.

The Hucksters, a really good film about the advertising game, became instantly dated almost from its release. A new box with both voices and pictures was invading American living rooms in 1947 just around the time this fine film was released. So a film about advertising for the radio became immediately dated.

The situations and the ethics involved in those situations however are still as real today as they were post World War II.

Clark Gable who had done three years service in World War II brings just the right dimension to the character of Vic Norman who is anxious to restart his career in the advertising game. But also having been fighting against tyranny overseas, you know it's only a matter of time before he and Sydney Greenstreet clash head on.

I don't know what deal Louis B. Mayer made with Jack Warner to get Greenstreet over to MGM for his part as Evan Llewellyn Evans the soap king, but it was well worth it. Next to his movie debut as Casper Guttman, this is Greenstreet's best moment on screen. Greenstreet is the sadistic tyrannical head of a soap manufacturing firm who delights in making everyone jump at his slightest whim.

The one who jumps the highest is Adolphe Menjou. This is also one of Menjou's finest roles as Kimberley the head of the agency that has Greenstreet's account and where Gable wants to work. Menjou is one ulcer driven man who started his agency with Greenstreet's account and has now worked himself into virtual slavery for the big money Greenstreet pays him. Menjou is quite an object lesson for where you could go wrong in the advertising game.

Both Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner are in this film as Gable's love interests. This was Kerr's first American film and she basically set her image of refinement in this film. She's the English widow of an American general from World War II and Gable meets her by trying to sell her on endorsing Greenstreet's soap.

This was Ava Gardner's first big role in a major film and even with a dubbed voice for singing, she's just fine as the nightclub singer who's got a big old thing for Clark Gable. This was the first of three films she did with Gable, besides Lone Star and Mogambo. Their chemistry is pluperfect.

One of Greenstreet's whims is getting a radio show for a second rate burlesque comedian played by Keenan Wynn. Wynn himself has an interesting part. He's a second rate talent at best and you can see he really knows it. Yet he bluffs his way through life with a certain braggadocio which is charming in its own way.

And Wynn isn't so totally offbase with his dream either. Five years before Buck Privates hit the screen, second rate burlesque comedians were what you would have described Abbott and Costello. Why shouldn't Keenan Wynn dream of their kind of success.

Whenever I watch The Hucksters I'm reminded of Bewitched. Remember that Darren Stevens is also in the advertising game and half the plots of that show involved him dealing with a difficult client and Samantha working things out with a bit of nose magic. What was Bewitched in fact, but witchcraft and advertising.

I'm sure dealing with Greenstreet, Gable wished that either Kerr or Gardner had a little nose twitch magic that he could have used with the soap king. Failing that he has to take a direct approach.

And that folks, is something to sit through this very fine film to see.

Forget that this film was made in 1947, or about radio advertising. This film is about all tyrannical bosses, liars, and propaganda which have existed years before and after this film was made. This The state of current American politics is sold to the public, much the same way as the Soap was sold in this movie.

An aging Gable proves his abilities as an actor in this film. Some comments call his a liar, but by definition, a liar is someone doesn't tell the truth under oath. When you work in a business such as advertising or politics when the best "liar" wins,lying is an asset, not a negative moral judgment. Anything, short of murder is considered OK.

I rate this film a 9 because it artfully shows the "huckster" meeting a "real lady" played by Debra Kerr. She is not your average 'war widow" Her husband was a General, she is from English Aristocracy, and has two young children. When the film begins-the two complete opposites clash but fall in love. Perhaps what saves Gable, and makes him attractive to Kerr is his four years of service during WWII.

Gable has seen men die, and seen fear for one's life which changes his perspective. One of the best lines is when he tells Ad firm boss(aptly played by Adolph Menjou that he saw more courage in the men at Normandy than he saw in the reaction to Sydney Greenstreet who plays the largest client in the firm.

Desite Gable and Kerr's differences, and the injection of a very attractive and young Ava Gardner, Gable and Kerr fall in love.

The only reason I would not give this movie a "10" is due to the ending. Eventually, all men must make their living, and compromise with your boss or your customers is sometimes necessary. I found the ending a bit too sanctimoneous. In real life, Gable would have taken the job working for a despicable character played expertly by Sidney Greenstreet. Most of us have to face people like Greenstreet's character. The trick is keeping the job to pay the bills and keeping your self respect without running away from the job. There have always been Sidney Greenstreets.