USA,
1950, 99 min
Shown in 1985
CREDITS
- dir
-
Richard Whorf
- scr
-
Hans Jacoby
- cam
-
Paul Ivano
- cast
-
Ronald Coleman, Vincent Price, Celeste Holm, Barbara Britton, Art Linkletter
This charming screwball comedy stars Ronald Colman as Beauregard Bottomley, an unemployable genius who fights back by challenging a radio/TV quiz show for all it’s worth. Celeste Holm is the temptress sent to distract him and Vincent Price steals the film as Burnbridge “Dirty” Waters: neurotic soap manufacturer, desperate sponsor of the show, and Colman’s ruthless foe. While not a masterpiece of satire, Champagne for Caesar provides whimsy when it doesn’t have bite, and in its best moments it edges into Sturges territory. Although television was young when the film was made, many of the media jokes are still timely and “Masquerade for Money,” the ludicrous quiz show hosted by “Happy” Hogan (Art Linkletter!) is not that far from the real thing, even by today’s standards. If Colman’s characterization is sometimes a little too straight, Price’s hilarious villain is right on target. As contestant Colman accumulates the really big money, Price’s reaction shots and broad comic takes are—uh—priceless. At one point, Price gives Colman a tour of his soap factory and, while passing by a boiling vat, seriously considers pushing him in—three years before House of Wax!
—Richard Peterson
FACTOID #88
Steve Cochran, the American actor who starred in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1957 SFIFF entry Il Grido, demanded a private screening of the film before it could be shown to Festival audiences so he could ensure that scenes that had been censored in Italy had not been cut from the print. Cochran, who had American distribution rights to the film, got a screening’delaying the film’s 8:30 start time for ticketholders.
