Hucksters, The

Vic Norman is an advertising executive, a snappily suited huckster who dreams up ways of singing his clients' praises and selling their wares. Principles? That's something the ad biz isn't selling this year. Clark Gable portrays Norman, struggling to preserve his integrity while hustling to serve the whims and demands of a deep-pocketed client (Sydney Greenstreet) who, noted the New York Herald Tribune, "thinks of America as a blank space between New York and Hollywood where people buy soap." Deborah Kerr ("rhymes with star" said the film's publicity) and Ava Gardner join in an often funny look at Madison Avenue. Gable, Kerr, Gardner, Greenstreet: If they're selling, we're buying!

• drama