Classic Films About Advertising

[AmateisGal]

Ok, I did a search and didn't find a thread similar to this, so I hope I'm posting a "fresh" topic.

My brain has so far been unable to come up with any classic movies where the characters are involved in advertising, except for Laura with Dana Andrews.

My novel takes place in the New York City advertising world of the 1940s and I'd like to watch some movies that may give me a good sense of what it was like.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

not -quite- golden era....but


Lover Come Back...Doris Day Rock Hudson...1961

Jerry Webster and Carol Templeton work for rival advertising agencies on Madison Avenue. Webster's firm has a reputation of stealing accounts from other agencies by using unscrupulous tactics to nab new accounts (wine, women and sex). Carol has plans to snag the Miller's Wax account, which is metamorphosing it's image with a new can and Templeton has, she thinks, just the right ideas to convince Mr. J. Paxton Miller (Jack Oakie) to give the account to her firm. Webster, on the other hand, decides to shower the gentleman with liquor, women and carnal activities. Guess who wins out? Furious at Webster's tactics, Carol accidentally learns from Webster's some times girlfriend, nightclub performer, Rebel Davis (Edie Adams) that he is going after a new account for a product called VIP. Determined to "get even" with Webster for stealing the Paxton account, Carol sets out to outsmart her competition.She begins to mount a campaign for a product that doesn't exist. Jerry Webster invented "VIP" to accommodate Rebel's disappointment in him at not getting her lucrative commercials and to bribe her into not testifying before the Advertising Council against him for unprofessional tactics in advertising. ....

 

[Lady Day]

The Hudsucker Proxy.

LD

 

[LizzieMaine]

One-Two-Three! (1960), with James Cagney as a rip-roarin' Coca Cola Company executive looking to introduce The Pause That Refreshes into Communist territory. A Billy Wilder film, and you can imagine how it goes. Not quite period, but a lot of the same mentalities existed.

Also, there are two 1940s novels set in the advertising world you should read if you haven't already -- "Aurora Dawn" by Herman Wouk, and "The Hucksters," by Frederick Wakeman.

 

[deadpandiva]

It's not about advertising and it's not a 40's film but A Face In The Crowd does focus on advertising a little.

 

[Haversack]

A couple that deal with the advertising world if only on the periphery:

_Its Always Fair Weather_, (1955). An MGM Musical about 3 GIs who meet up again 10 years after the War. Dan Daily plays an artist who went into advertising rather than art. His song "Situationwise, Saturationwise" parodies some of the buzzwords current on Madison Ave back then.

_Murder Must Advertise_, (1973). Although made in 1973, this Lord Peter Wimsey mystery takes place in a 1930s London advertising agency. Based closely on the book, it reflects author Dorothy Sayers own experience working in a 1930s London advertising agency.

Haversack.

 

[AmateisGal]

Excellent suggestions! I knew I could count on my fellow Loungers.

Any more?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Excellent suggestions! I knew I could count on my fellow Loungers.

Any more?

I just remembered that there was a movie of "The Hucksters," made in 1947 when the novel was very much a best seller. Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, and Sydney Greenstreet -- and while it wasn't quite as steamy as the book, it was still very much an expose of the ad game as it then existed. I don't think it's out on DVD, but there's a VHS release floating around, and it also turns up on TCM from time to time. It's been years since I saw it, but I recall that it was quite good.

 

[AmateisGal]

I just remembered that there was a movie of "The Hucksters," made in 1947 when the novel was very much a best seller. Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, and Sydney Greenstreet -- and while it wasn't quite as steamy as the book, it was still very much an expose of the ad game as it then existed. I don't think it's out on DVD, but there's a VHS release floating around, and it also turns up on TCM from time to time. It's been years since I saw it, but I recall that it was quite good.

Thanks so much, Lizzie! I'll definitely see if I can track this down.