Rarely have I seen a film fall apart midway through the picture--but that's exactly how I felt about "Champagne for Caesar". The first portion was clever and enjoyable but later, after they introduce a wicked woman, the film just seemed to fizzle--mostly because the writing seemed to fall apart.
When the film begins, Beauregard Bottomly (Ronald Colman) goes to get a job with a soap company. Unfortunately, the boss (Vincent Price) is a nuts...and fires him for no real reason at all. Naturally Beauregard is upset and he determines to destroy the company. So, he goes on the radio quiz show sponsored by the soap company and begins to win...and win...and win. He plans to keep coming back week after week in order to put the company out of business. Soon his plan looks like it's going to work and the company decides to end the show. But the public is furious and no one buys the soap...and so the company is forced to put the show back on the air and have Bottomly return. So what can they do to stop the guy?
At this point, I was really enjoying the film (aside from the dopey parrot). However, when the soap company unleashed its secret weapon in the form of a woman to woo and thoroughly distract Bottomly, the film bottomed out. Celeste Holm was a fine actress--but the part they wrote for her was awful. She played it very broadly and why the super- genius Beauregard would fall for her too obvious shtick was a HUGE problem for me. All through the film he had been self-assured, brilliant and could read right through the soap company's machinations. But then, we are to assume he's downright stupid...and her routine was just dumb. The film also seemed to drag on way too long at this point.
So what do we have? A highly uneven film that could have easily been a lot better. It also featured a really, really dumb parrot. Overall, too broadly written to be anything more than a time-passer.
When the film begins, Beauregard Bottomly (Ronald Colman) goes to get a job with a soap company. Unfortunately, the boss (Vincent Price) is a nuts...and fires him for no real reason at all. Naturally Beauregard is upset and he determines to destroy the company. So, he goes on the radio quiz show sponsored by the soap company and begins to win...and win...and win. He plans to keep coming back week after week in order to put the company out of business. Soon his plan looks like it's going to work and the company decides to end the show. But the public is furious and no one buys the soap...and so the company is forced to put the show back on the air and have Bottomly return. So what can they do to stop the guy?
At this point, I was really enjoying the film (aside from the dopey parrot). However, when the soap company unleashed its secret weapon in the form of a woman to woo and thoroughly distract Bottomly, the film bottomed out. Celeste Holm was a fine actress--but the part they wrote for her was awful. She played it very broadly and why the super- genius Beauregard would fall for her too obvious shtick was a HUGE problem for me. All through the film he had been self-assured, brilliant and could read right through the soap company's machinations. But then, we are to assume he's downright stupid...and her routine was just dumb. The film also seemed to drag on way too long at this point.
So what do we have? A highly uneven film that could have easily been a lot better. It also featured a really, really dumb parrot. Overall, too broadly written to be anything more than a time-passer.