Wed 23 Aug 2017
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[15] Comments
CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR. United Artists, 1950, Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Barbara Britton, Art Linkletter, and (according to IMDB) Albert Einstein. Written by Hans Jacoby and Frederick Brady. Directed by Richard Whorf.
No classic, but a sparkling little gem of a film that deserves to be screened more often.
Ronald Colman stars as Beauregard Bottomly, unemployed genius. Sharing a bungalow with his sister (Barbara Britton) who makes a living giving piano lessons to Byron Foulger. Colman applies for a job at Milady Soap, where he runs afoul of mad soap tycoon Burnbridge Waters (Price) Humiliatingly rejected, he plots an exquisite revenge ……
… because it seems Milady Soap sponsors a Quiz Show (hosted by Art Linkletter!) with the prize amount doubling every week. With his superior mental capacity, it becomes an easy matter for Bottomly to run up the stakes till he threatens to bankrupt Waters by winning his whole company — until Waters strikes back.
I should say at the start that this film is hardly a Laff Riot on the order of His Girl Friday or Duck Soup; it’s a gentle comedy, with moments of gentle satire, and an atmosphere of gentle pleasantry. But it comes to sharp, hilarious life whenever Vincent Price is on screen!
Price’s Burnbridge Waters ranks as one of the great characters in fiction, alongside Hamlet, Scrooge, Mister Toad, Oedipus and Rochester (both of them) and Vinnie plays it with relish, rolling grandiose lines across his tongue, indulging in outrageous double-takes, and generally imparting a helluva good time all around. Colman, Holm, Britton, and even Art Linkletter are all fine, but Price just walks away with it all.
And whenever I find an off-beat thing like this, I’m always intrigued by where it came from. The careers of the writers and director of this thing are so negligible that I’m inclined to give credit to producer Harry M. Popkin, whose credits include such unorthodox efforts as And Then There Were None, The Thief, and DOA.
Hey, it works for me!
August 23rd, 2017 at 7:22 pm
If it is a sparkling little gem of a film, why isn’t it a classic.
August 23rd, 2017 at 7:30 pm
It’s one of the few movies I watched before I was ten that I still remember. I don’t know what that tells you, but it tells me something.
August 23rd, 2017 at 7:34 pm
By the way, when Walter Albert reviewed this movie quite some time ago on this blog
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=10848
it was less of a review than a chance to tell us about Celeste Holm being interviewed after the movie was shown at Cinecon in Hollywood in 2008.
But he did say that “This the kind of film you don’t see much of anymore, a comedy for adults, and one whose subjects are still relevant, corporate greed and inane TV shows.”
August 23rd, 2017 at 10:58 pm
Without checking, and just for the fun of it, can anyone name Ronald Colman’s next starring film
August 23rd, 2017 at 11:14 pm
As his next TV show, my answer was HALLS OF IVY, but now that I’ve looked, I see that that isn’t even correct.
I wonder, though, if any of the IVY TV shows exist. I’ll have to go look for that now.
August 24th, 2017 at 12:26 am
Is this before or after A DOUBLE LIFE, and Colman”s Oscar? I know somewhere in here he did THE STORY OF MANKIND, also with Price. His last role was a guest star in AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS in the East Indian sequence.
This is an underrated classic with one of Price’s best comedic roles and a superb cast with a rare romantic lead for Holm. Interesting to watch this and Redford’s film about the real thing and the Van Doren scandal.
August 24th, 2017 at 12:28 am
Steve,
Yes some of the IVY episodes exist, and at one time were on UTube. I think you can even find a set of the series. Many episodes of the radio series are around.
August 24th, 2017 at 12:54 am
This was his last starring role until The Story of of Mankind. A days work in Around The World, and various guest spots on television, plus a season of his own show, The Halls of Ivy. A Double Life was several years earlier, 1948.Not really much those last ten years. Oh, and Halls of Ivy on radio. Excellent.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:17 am
I enjoyed this one a lot. The Hollywood Bowl sequence, in particular, is great.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:33 pm
My point was that any casual look at Colman’s career clearly indicates his career as successful film actor was essentially in the past.
August 24th, 2017 at 6:24 pm
I’ve never seen this. Thank you for an interesting review.
Richard Whorf made some good episodes of GUNSMOKE:
COWS AND CRIBS (1957)
ROBBER BRIDEGROOM (1958)
August 26th, 2017 at 12:47 am
Colman appeared on some episodes of Four Star Theater, I suspect when Powell had his heart attack. A few of those are on UTube.
August 26th, 2017 at 12:06 pm
David — where did you find that — about Powell having a heart attack. Not heard that before.
August 26th, 2017 at 12:18 pm
Dan is so right: “Price just walks away with it all.” He did the same thing the next year with HIS KIND OF WOMAN.
August 28th, 2017 at 11:04 am
I read that some people consider this Price’s best performance. Hadn’t seen the DVD anywhere, went to a thrift store and, BANG, there it was. Enjoyable movie. Loved that trick of Price suddenly freezing in position.