After watching half of this film, I had to confirm that it was indeed filmed after 1960 which it was. So many elements of it by 1961 standards scream mid to late 1940's, including its three stars who were top stars in 1947. The audacious character that Dana Andrews plays could easily be compared to Clark Gable in MGM's glossy "The Hucksters", an all-star saga that was one of their big prestige pictures. Had 20th Century Fox made and released it 14 years before it came out, this might have said the test of time a lot better, but watching it through a 1961 or 1962 lens (when it was released in the United States), so many elements about it seem unbelievable.
Quitting the big firm (before he gets fired) run by Howard St. John, Andrews storms into the smaller advertising firm run by Parker and basically takes over, charming dour secretary Kathleen Freeman, and taking on their biggest (and only) client, a milk company owned by Henry Danielle and managed by the awkward Eddie Albert. He's pursued by journalist Jeanne Crain, and while they are far away from the state fair, they still seem stuck in early post-war sensibilities which in 1962 were rather tame when looked through the eyes of a more turbulent world.
In spite of the fact that this seems to be a very old-fashioned melodrama about big business in 60's ideals (probably closer to what Warner Brothers did in 1933 with "Skyscraper Souls"), this is delightful soapy fun that needed a bit of color to un-date itself. I couldn't believe for a second that Parker would just allow Andrews to storm into her office and literally take over.
Albert's character is definitely the top candidate for one of the wimpiest male executives ever on film, unable to make a speech without tripping over his words. David White, two years before "Bewitched", ironically playing a big shot advertising company executive, and nowhere near the buffoonish Larry Tate. I kept expecting him to reference McMann and Tate. No surprise in finding out that this was based on a 1951 novel. A lot had changed in a decade, and even with the ruthless executives and owners of the male dominated corporate giant Andrews worked at before, this doesn't come off as strong as it should have. Still fun to watch, but for all the wrong reasons.
Quitting the big firm (before he gets fired) run by Howard St. John, Andrews storms into the smaller advertising firm run by Parker and basically takes over, charming dour secretary Kathleen Freeman, and taking on their biggest (and only) client, a milk company owned by Henry Danielle and managed by the awkward Eddie Albert. He's pursued by journalist Jeanne Crain, and while they are far away from the state fair, they still seem stuck in early post-war sensibilities which in 1962 were rather tame when looked through the eyes of a more turbulent world.
In spite of the fact that this seems to be a very old-fashioned melodrama about big business in 60's ideals (probably closer to what Warner Brothers did in 1933 with "Skyscraper Souls"), this is delightful soapy fun that needed a bit of color to un-date itself. I couldn't believe for a second that Parker would just allow Andrews to storm into her office and literally take over.
Albert's character is definitely the top candidate for one of the wimpiest male executives ever on film, unable to make a speech without tripping over his words. David White, two years before "Bewitched", ironically playing a big shot advertising company executive, and nowhere near the buffoonish Larry Tate. I kept expecting him to reference McMann and Tate. No surprise in finding out that this was based on a 1951 novel. A lot had changed in a decade, and even with the ruthless executives and owners of the male dominated corporate giant Andrews worked at before, this doesn't come off as strong as it should have. Still fun to watch, but for all the wrong reasons.