Champagne for Caesar (1950)

In order to get even with the pompous president of a soap company, an eccentric genius goes on his quiz show in order to bankrupt his company.

Director:

Richard Whorf

Writers:

Frederick Brady, Hans Jacoby

Stars:

Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ronald Colman	...	Beauregard Bottomley
Celeste Holm	...	Flame O'Neill
Vincent Price	...	Burnbridge Waters
Barbara Britton	...	Gwenn Bottomley
Art Linkletter	...	Happy Hogan
Gabriel Heatter	...	Announcer
George Fisher	...	Announcer
Byron Foulger	...	Gerald
Ellye Marshall	...	Frosty
Vicki Raaf	...	Waters' Secretary
John Eldredge	...	Executive #1
Lyle Talbot	...	Executive #2
George Leigh	...	Executive #3
John Hart	...	Executive #4
Mel Blanc	...	Caesar the Parrot (voice)

Storyline

What happens when the man who knows everything goes on a quiz show that doubles your cash prize every time a you answer a question correctly? Beauregard Bottomly is that man & what happens is you end up with 40 million dollars at stake.

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Plot Keywords:

quiz show | genius | soap company | costume | emcee | 

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Taglines:

...the bubbliest, frothiest, tickliest comedy!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

Botta senza risposta

Filming Locations:

Motion Picture Center Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cardinal Pictures (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Goofs

The quiz show is shown as a TV show in a store window but sometimes referred to as a radio show.

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Quotes

Beauregard Bottomley: I fail to see why the location of birth should be met with applause.
Frosty: But she comes from Brooklyn!

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Connections

References Gunga Din (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Rock-a-bye Baby"
(uncredited)
Traditional lullaby

User Reviews

Don't Get A Genius Mad At You

Ronald Colman, self confessed genius and bookworm extraordinary, lives in a small bungalow with sister Barbara Britton who supports both of them with giving kids piano lessons.

Colman works every now and then because frankly there isn't much call for geniuses at entry level jobs and he intimidates those in power when he does get hired. But one day a particularly arrogant head of a soap manufacturing company dismissed him without an explanation during the interview.

But Colman takes an unusual way of getting even. He goes on the company sponsored quiz program and keeps winning and winning week after week. They're going to owe him big time before he's done.

Champagne for Caesar anticipates the big money quiz show era and the celebrities they spawned by about seven years and the movie about that time, Quiz Show, by over 40. Colman is seemingly the detached man of letters that he was in The Late George Apley. But in fact he turns out to have an exceedingly good grasp on reality and the more mundane treacheries associated with every day life.

Although this is Ronald Colman's film, whenever he's on Vincent Price steals the show totally with his portrayal of the megalomaniacal soap king. It's the kind of outrageous part that actors can really chew the scenery with and Vincent Price had a full course meal.

Celeste Holm plays the femme fatale that Price hires to do Colman in and she's good at her job. But the seemingly unworldly Colman is more than up to her tricks.

Art Linkletter who was just getting nationally known as a radio and television host plays, what else, the host of Price's quiz show. Linkletter did some dramatic television work later on Wagon Train, GE Theater, and Zane Grey Theater, but this is his only feature film role as other than Art Linkletter.

Champagne for Caesar was an independent production by Harry Popkin for United Artists. Though he got great critical reviews, Colman was shorted on his money for this film by Popkin. According to his daughter Juliet's biography of her father, the lawsuit her father brought against Popkin dragged on so long that it got to be something of a family joke. It was still not settled when Colman died in 1958.

Legal problems aside, Champagne for Caesar is one very funny film and should not be missed by fans of Ronald Colman or Vincent Price.