Main Cast: Alec Guinness, Petula Clark, Glynis Johns, Valerie Hobson, Edward Chapman
Release Year: 1952
Country: UK
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
The Promoter was based on the Arnold Bennett novel The Card, which served as its British release title. Impoverished young clerk Alec Guinness works his way up the financial ladder until he has become a successful and highly respected loan officer. Actually, Guinness is not as above-board as the world perceives him. Beginning with cheating on a high school exam, he has wheeled and dealed his way to the top, and ethics be damned. Balancing Guinness' cold-blooded business savvy is his comparative ineptitude with women, particularly the bewitching Glynis Johns. Only Alec Guinness could succeed at making his "Sammy Glick" character appealing from first scene to last. The Promoter was scripted by Eric Ambler, who managed to unearth moments of sly cynicism that original author Bennett had barely touched upon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Very few films can be both as charming and as cynical as The Promoter, and it is a tribute to director Ronald Neame and scenarist Eric Ambler that they are able to pull off this difficult combination. Neame, whose understated approach to material often leads him into dullness, has a very fine grip on things here, keeping the general tone leisurely, but never lazy, and Ambler's screenplay is sharply detailed and finely realized. But as good as the work of these two men is, the real reason that The Promoter works so well is Alec Guinness' flawless performance. While Guinness won his Oscar (and widespread recognition in America) for the showier The Bridge on the River Kwai, it's because of his quiet, incredibly detailed performances in films such as this that he is remembered as an actor of rare talent. His skill is especially evident in The Promoter, which would be unbearable with a less charming actor -- and unbelievable with one who depended too much on that charm. His performance is a marvel of subtlety, although he also knows how to go "full out" when the film calls for it. He's ably aided and abetted by the delightful trio of Glynis Johns, Valerie Hobson, and Petula Clark, and there's fine work from many in much smaller roles, but the faint heart and tainted soul of the movie is definitely Guinness. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Gibb McLaughlin - Emery; Veronica Turleigh - Mrs. Machin; George Devine - Herbert Calvert; Frank Pettingell - Supt. Barlow; Peter Copley - Shillitoe; Lynn Evans - The Boatman; Matthew Guinness - Denry as a Boy; Joan Hickson - Mrs. Codleyn; Paul Hopkins - Denry as a Baby; Michael Hordern - Banker; Wilfrid Hyde-White - Lord; Alison Leggatt - Mrs. Cotterill; Michael Trubshawe - Yeomanry Officer; Henry Edwards - Mr. Cotterill; Deirdre Doyle - Widow Hullins; Harold Goodwin - John
Credit
T. Hopewell Ash - Art Director, Bob McNaught - Associate Producer, Motley - Costume Designer, Max Varnel - First Assistant Director, Ronald Neame - Director, Clive Donner - Editor, William Alwyn - Composer (Music Score), Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision, W.T. Partleton - Makeup, Oswald Morris - Cinematographer, John Bryan - Producer, Eric Ambler - Screenwriter, Arnold Bennett - Book Author
