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

[Burnbridge Waters is attempting to dissuade Beauregard Bottomley from taking his winnings]
Burnbridge Waters: Oh, don't thank me, Beauregard. Just stay as you are. Walk out of here into the sunshine of a carefree world, wise in the knowledge that I have bestowed on you. For it is my sincere conviction that the only way to be happy is to be poor.
Beauregard Bottomley: My dear Burnbridge, I see your point. I am about to make you the happiest man in the world.

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Connections

References Gunga Din (1939)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Just hysterical

I haven't seen this for years so my mind is a little sketchy on the exact plot but it goes something like this: Beauregard Bottomley (Ronald Colman) a VERY intelligent man goes on a radio quiz show. He keeps answering all the questions correctly and gets more and more money. The show's creator (Vincent Price) wants to stop him. Celeste Holm plays the obligatory love interest.

Just great. Who thought Price could do comedy? He's absolutely hilarious on screen. He's clearly having the time of his life and it rubs off on the audience. It basically reaches the point when he appears on screen you start grinning. His reaction when Albert Einstein calls the show to correct an answer to a question is uproarious.

Also it has a great, intelligent script with one-liners flying fast and furious. Colman and Holm are good also but it's Prices movie all the way through.

Unfortunately this remains virtually unknown (good luck finding a print). The last time I saw it was in the late 1990s at a revival theatre--and it was a TERRIBLE print. Let's hope this makes it on DVD in good shape someday.