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 and Ava Gardner join in an often funny look at Madison Avenue.

Kerr made her American debut in this drama about the advertising business. The story pits an idealist against the ranks of yes-men vying for the approval of a sadistic tycoon. Greenstreet is superb as the evil boss. Don't bother with the colorized version.