I Can Get It for You Wholesale

I should note that I haven't read the book on which Michael Gordon's "I Can Get It for You Wholesale" is based, or seen the stage adaptation. This look at the high-pressure world of designing clothes casts Susan Hayward as a dress designer not about to let anything stand in her way. A possible snag arises in the form of some men with whom she's been in relationships.

Undeniably, a lot of the material is dated. I guess that's bound to happen with any movie released way back when. It's not even really a good movie or a bad one; it simply it what it is. A time capsule, if you will. Worth seeing as a look at how things were back then. The rest of the cast includes Dan Dailey, Sam Jaffe, George Sanders and Marvin Kaplan (apparently best known for "Alice", but I mainly know him as a garage owner in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World").

PS: Michael Gordon was the grandfather of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Also, Eda Reiss Marin (Ms. Marks) played the babysitter in "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead", and also appeared in "Ghostbusters" as Louis's neighbor who opens her door and briefly sees the monster.

During much of her career, Susan Hayward played dames...hard-bitten, conniving and power-hungry dames. Because of this, her role in "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" is very familiar. Once again, she's playing a tough woman who is as tough a man as anyone in the film. The only real question is how many folks she'll need to talk on along her path to the top in the fashion designer business.

Her partner near the beginning of the film is played by Dan Dailey. Dailey's character is tough but soon wants no part of the sexless and determined Hayward. It doesn't matter anyway, as he's 'small potatoes' and soon sets her sights on a bigger fish (George Sanders).

Overall, this is an enjoyable soap opera-like film--the sort of glossy trash at which Ms. Hayward excelled. It's not particularly deep nor groundbreaking but it is enjoyable in a sleazy sort of way.

This is an Abraham Polonsky film and a rare social documentary of the kind that was essentially out of business by the early 60's. The original novel had a male protagonist but was changed to suit 'women's picture' zeitgeist. But if you look carefully, the script is a very strong echo of "Force of Evil" by Polonsky.

In addition to some crucial taxicab courtship banter common to both films, designed to 'disarm' both John Garfield and Dan Dailey before their love interests (the car was even picked up in "On the Waterfront" to show actual desperation between the Brando and Steiger characters)you have tough males depicted as ambitious but morally uneducated instrumentalities; a background of "law of the jungle" capitalism governed by arcane insider rules (respectively bookmaking and garment manufacturing); industrial consolidation as an ominous force (neighborhood bookmaking subsumed under a legalized crime syndicate,dressmaking bought out by a big name)and industrialists with independent capitalist streaks (Thomas Gomez, Sam Jaffe).

It is amazing how Susan Hayward found films to echo some aspect of her life. She really was skilled in visual art, modeling, and had a family of Irish vaudeville types (echoed by Dailey).We were confused by the handling of the love interest. Could such an ambitious dame have found real love with anyone? And Teddy is not a lothario == just a penniless farceur who needed education and some control over his temper (a point almost entirely missed, but in real life such fisticuffs were a way to win Hayward's respect). Anyway, a rather juicy film to savor.

Jerome Weidman's novel is the basis for the film of the same name. This film was a curiosity piece. Shown on a cable channel, it proved to be worth a look because of the general good adaptation of the book and the direction of Michael Gordon.

The movie takes a look at the "rag trade", or garment industry of New York in the fifties. We are presented with a trio of ambitious people who want to make it on their own. There's Harriet Boyd, the show room model who has had it and wants to show her talents as a designer. Harriet and Cooper, the man in charge of the production need a great salesman who knows how to sell the affordable dress line to the big department stores, so they entice Teddy Sherman to join their team.

Things go smoothly, but Harriet is a woman with a vision that would be her worst enemy. Harriet Boyd feels flattered by Mr. Noble, a man who is influential in what women of a certain status would like to buy, and decides to start an expensive line, neglecting the orders placed with the firm. All this backfires when Teddy finds out the deception and wants out. In the end, Harriet sees the light and what Noble has been trying to do with her and goes back to the partners she left behind and Teddy, who is obviously much in love with her.

The film offers glimpses of what 7th Avenue looked like in that era and what goes on behind the production of the fashions that America wore before that industry was exported overseas by the same people that created it. The "Made in USA" label was soon a thing of the past as this industry is not the shadow of what it was.

Susan Hayward's portrayal of the ambitious Harriet is what makes this movie worth seeing. George Sanders is perfect as Noble, the man who recognizes Harriet's talents and wants her to come work for him. Dan Dailey is also excellent as the salesman with a lot of flair. Sam Jaffe is Cooper, the decent man who gambles all his savings in the business he knows well.

The film will not disappoint, as it keeps the viewer interested at all times.

Susan plays Harriet Boyd, a ruthless model-turned-fashion designer determined to claw her way to the top on Seventh Avenue. It's a Joan Crawford-ish role, but Hayward acts the role with a real vulnerability that Crawford lacks. Part of the film is shot on location in the Garment District and it's an interesting look at postwar Manhattan and an industry that's long gone. Boyd is forced to choose romantically between scrappy salesman Teddy Sherman (Dan Daily) or the suave garment mogul J.B. Noble (George Sanders). Interestingly, considering the fact the film was made in 1951, all the women's clothing in the film seems a little dated. Hayward has a floppy (but charming) forties' hairdo. Dior introduced his New Look in 1947, but you'd never know it here. Even Boyd's role as a determined career woman was starting to look passé as women in the fifties were pressured to leave the workforce to open up jobs for unemployed veterans. I Can Get It For You Wholesale is a great period-piece and a well-acted and engrossing film.