A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.A World War II veteran wants to return to advertising on his own terms, but finds it difficult to be successful and maintain his integrity.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAs the start of production neared, Ava Gardner got cold feet about co-starring with Clark Gable, whom she had idolized since childhood. Arthur Hornblow asked Gable to call her, and he told her: "I'm supposed to talk you into doing this thing. But I'm not going to. I hated it when they did that to me. But I hope you change your mind, kid, I think it would be fun to work together." The two remained friends for life.
- GoofsWhen Vic and Kay are lying on the beach at night, the background of the sea is a still shot; the waves stay fixed during the entire scene.
- Quotes
Tie Sales Clerk: Anything?
Victor Albee Norman: I want a very sincere necktie.
Tie Sales Clerk: I beg your pardon?
Victor Albee Norman: I want something that makes me seem sincere. You know, honest; genuine; upright; trustworthy.
Tie Sales Clerk: Well... um, here's a handpainted one in four colors; at thirty-five dollars. Is that sincere enough?
Victor Albee Norman: I think, my friend, any more sincerity would be downright foolhardy.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Inside the Dream Factory (1995)
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.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $2,439,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1