The Hucksters is a 1947 film directed by Jack Conway.
The All-Star Cast starts off with Clark Gable as Victor Norman, an advertising man who has just returned to New York after fighting in World War II, and is now looking to get back into the business. He approaches old friend Mr. Kimberly (Adolphe Menjou) of the Kimberly Advertising Agency, looking for work. Kimberly sets him on the agency's flagship client, Beautee Soap. The owner of Beautee Soap, Edwin Llewellyn Evans (Sydney Greenstreet) is a tyrannical bully. Evans gives the agency a list of high society ladies and summarily demands that the agency get all of them to endorse Beautee Soap.
Victor approaches the first name on the list, Mrs. Kay Dorrance (Deborah Kerr), a British aristocrat and widow of an American general killed in the war. Kay is surprisingly willing to participate in an ad campaign for soap—she has two children and a widow's pension, even a general's widow's pension, isn't overly generous. She also quite clearly becomes besotted with dashing Victor, which helps in securing her agreement. Soon Victor and Kay fall in love, but since it's a movie a misunderstanding drives them apart. There's also another complication in the person of Victor's old girlfriend Jean (Ava Gardner), who is clearly interested in starting things up again.
Deborah Kerr's first American film. Keenan Wynn pops up in the third act as Buddy Hare, a hopelessly unfunny comedian that Victor has to sign for the Beautee Soap campaign.
Tropes:
- Betty and Veronica: Deborah Kerr was a redhead instead of a blonde (the movie is in black and white), but in all other respects Kay and Jean fit this trope exactly. Kay, while very good looking, is the sweet nurturing type, the respectable mother who recoils when she thinks Victor is suggesting they get a hotel room together. Jean, also gorgeous, is wisecracking and sassy and obviously much more willing to put out than Kay is.
- Call-Back: In the opening scene Victor tosses some money out the window, saying that he'll start his new life back home with only $50 to his name because "it's neater that way." At the end, after Victor has quit Kimberly and Kay has inspired him to only sell products he believes in, Victor throws his money out of the car and says that he'll start his new life with nothing, because "it's better that way."
- The Chanteuse: Jean's job, singing in a nightclub. Victor and Kay go there; Victor drinks in the eye candy while Kay seethes with jealousy.
- Cigar Chomper: Buddy Hare's obnoxious unfunniness is underlined by the cigar he has chomped between his teeth.
- Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Victor wishes he had one for his first meeting with Kay, noting that "Women always seem to trust a man who smokes a pipe."
- Emerging from the Shadows: Victor is coming back to his hotel room when he is surprised by Kay, coming out of the shadows of the patio outside his door. She's cast pride aside and flown cross-country to see him again.
- Establishing Character Moment: Victor's friendly manner when coming back to his hotel marks him as a Nice to the Waiter sort. Then the suggestive Newhart Phone Call he takes in his room suggests that he's a ladies' man.
- Fanservice Extra: The bikini-clad model posing for a suntan lotion campaign as Kay and her children arrive at the ad agency.
- The Film of the Book: Adapted from the 1946 novel of the same name by Frederic Wakeman.
- Flyover Country: Lampshaded by Victor. After an agent makes small talk about how beautiful the countryside rolling by the train is, Victor laughs and says "What's America to us? A blank space between New York and Hollywood where people buy soap."
- Heel Realization: After Victor engages in a little soft blackmail to force David Lash to give up the rights to Buddy Hare, he's ashamed of himself and apologizes. This plays a big part in leading Victor to quit his job at the end of the movie.
- Lap Pillow: The rapidly developing closeness between Victor and Kay is shown when they are sitting on a park bench by the ocean, talking, with his head in her lap.
- Lingerie Scene: Kay is shocked when the Kimberly Advertising Agency wants her to pose in a negligee for the ad campaign. Victor arranges for a much more modest shoot with Kay in a dress...but the movie still shows Kay wearing the lingerie at home in the next scene.
- Love Triangle: Victor has to pick between Kay and Jean, the two smoking hot babes in his Betty and Veronica duo.
- No-Tell Motel: It wasn't easy to get this idea across in 1947 with The Hays Code, but this movie tries. It seems the Blue Penguin Inn, a favorite romantic getaway of Victor's before the war, has devolved into this. The cabbie is visibly shocked when Kay, a classy dame, tells him to drive her there. Victor is surprised to find that the inn has gone to seed, with stuffing coming out of the chairs and holes in the drapes. And the scene in the lobby, with a man and a woman dancing very close to jazz music while drunks play pinball, further implies that the Blue Penguin has become a No-Tell Motel.
- Sex Sells: So thinks Evans, who wants Kay to pose in a negligee for the ad campaign. Victor convinces him to go in a more conservative direction.
- Sitting Sexy on a Piano: The lid on the piano is up, so Jean does the next best thing and leans sexily against the piano while singing her number.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Victor, finally pushed too far by Evans's relentless tyrannical bullying, pours a carafe of water on his head, refuses the job, and stalks out.
- Title Drop: Upon admitting to Kay that he's an advertising man, Victor says "We're professional hucksters."
