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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 has a lot of good clean fun with the advertising business of the 1940's. Clark Gable, newly discharged from the service, returns to his old haunts as an ad man and finds himself involved with two women, a tyrannical client, and an obnoxious, not too talented radio comedian. This is high class melodrama, and has some pretty good satirical moments, though I don't think that the guys who wrote it were as smart as they thought they were, it's a decent, watchable movie.

One can see Gable slipping into middle age here, and though he seems spry enough, he's clearly not the man he was five years earlier, and I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner are attractive if otherwise unremarkable as the women in his life. Sidney Greenstreet does a nice turn as the sinister, demanding client. Keenan Wynn's the one to watch here, as the (so-called) comedian Gable must contend with; and he does a smashing job, managing to be pathetic, sympathetic and obnoxious all at once, not, I imagine, an easy thing for an actor to do.

Worth keeping an eye out for: excellent production values from MGM's art department in its glory years. Marvelous sets, expert lighting. The movie is a pleasure to look at, if not always to listen to.

Suave ad man makes his biggest pitch...to himself. Or some such sappy nonsense.

OK, this movie is strictly a star vehicle (which must have rankled the author of the original novel, who was trying to make a serious point), and as a result it suffers from the usual limitations. But when the star is Clark Gable, and he's at the top of his form, the movie is bound to be worth watching. The story is ostensibly a drama, but except for the stifling "passionate" scenes with Deborah Kerr (who admittedly isn't given much in the script to work with), the tone is more comedy than drama. Lots of fine supporting performances from Menjou, Greenstreet, Gardner and a Keenan Wynn so young it's difficult to recognize him.

The storyline is pretty weak (as in, bowdlerized), and the premise about the annoying nature of entertainment and advertising, however accurate, is itself presented in an annoying way. (Although it is satisfying to see Ava Gardner snap off the radio in disgust.) But the storyline is of secondary importance in a movie like this. The heart of the movie is in Gable's interaction with the other stars, and he really shines. He gets a phone call early on from what is obviously last night's bedmate, and the one-sided conversation must have been pushing the bounds of movie-making respectability at the time. Maybe in the postwar years they were trying to loosen things up a bit.

Throw in a classic fancy nightclub scene, offices that featured those low two-foot-tall walls with little swinging doors (what was that all about?), a seaside resort that was obviously a philanderer's hideaway (shocking!), a boss with a New York City mansion and an Eleanor Roosevelt-ish wife, references to a sport jacket, tie, white shirt and slacks as "casual dress", a young man just out of the military and broke, but able to afford a swanky hotel with his own personal valet, and of course Sidney Greentstreet as a comic corporate villain in a silly ultra-high-backed chair that passed for a kind of throne, and I think you have just about every delightful 1940's Hollywood cliché ever dreamed up.

If you like the 1940's style of movie-making and you like star vehicles with lots of supporting stars, you're bound to get some jollies from this movie.

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.

This film is a very cynical look at the advertising business. Gable plays a slick liar who could charm the stripes off a snake who sets out to charm a widow for his own ends. However, over time he grows to hate himself and his sleazy business--ultimately culminating with a confrontation with the revolting and incredibly disgusting Sidney Greenstreet! Speaking of Mr. Greenstreet, he is FABULOUS in the film as the president from a soap factory with no soul. You MUST see the segment when he is first introduced, as it is one of the most memorable and disgusting scenes in the 1940s! You gotta see it to believe it! Also notable is the performance of a young Keenan Wynn as an obnoxious and untalented star. He does a good job of being annoying!