CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 652, 4 January 1952, Page 18

CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR

CAN’T remember having encountered the productions of Mr. Harry M. Popkin before (and for once I feel I can rely on my memory), nor do I recall any of the earlier work of Richard B. Whorf, who directed this particular opus. Maybe they haven’t worked in association before-I would feel less frustrated if I knew they hadn’t-maybe (depressing thought) this is the only conjunction of these two luminaries. If that were so I would feel under the same compulsion as W. H. Davies, when he wrote, "A Tainbow and a cuckoo’s song May never come together again; May never come This side the tomb." In a mild way, Messrs. Popkin and Whorf seem to me worth singing about, and (again in a mild way) if they never made any more pictures. together, aempagre for Caesar would be something amusing to remember them by. The film is not without fault-for one ‘thing there is a lot of it, and by the time one gets near the bottom of the ‘Magnum the champagne is becoming a little flat-but I feel sure that most filmgoers by that time will be merry enough not to care, Champagne for Caesar, which you might call a Moral Tale for Quiz Sponsors, stars Ronald Colman as Beauregarde Bottomley, a Hollywood intellectual who will remind you irresistibly of Mr. Belvedere. Beauregarde’s béte noire is "Masquerade for Money," a television quiz show sponsored by the makers of My Lady, The Soap That Sanctifies. "If it is noteworthy to know that two and two make four," he complains, "then two and two will soon become the top level of learning." : However, like so many intellectuals, Mr. B. has difficulty in finding work and as ill-luck will have it he finds himself obliged to apply to the soap czar for a job.. His arrival at the sanctified headquarters of My Lady Soap is one of the bright spots of a bright show, The general layout reminds one of something by Evelyn Waugh out of The Loved One, and the décor suggests Beauty and the Beast, by Cocteau, out of the Penguin Film Review (disembodied arms holding cakes of soap instead of flambeau). The proprietor (Vincent Price) could pass, too, for a caricature of Salvador Dali. These comparisons may serve to indicate that much of the fun in Champagne for Caesar is by no means juvenile. The script might have been written by a team of New Yorker ‘comics (led by Perelman, perhaps) as a holiday diversion. It’s true that much of the dialogue hangs on the easily-for-gotten wisecrack, but the dialogue is buoyéd up by well-thought-out comedy of situation which generates a deeper and more satisfying laughter-and if your taste inclines to a sharper flavour in fun there is the hard spine of satire running through almost the whole film. The fun begins in earnest when Beauregarde is refused a job and in revenge decides to enter the quiz contest. Being (like Belvedere) a genius, he has no trouble in answering all questions correctly, but instead of taking his prizemoney he jackpots it and announces that (Harry M. Popkin-United Artists)

| i he will be back next week. After about four appearances his winnings run to well over five figures, and in desperation the sponsor puts him off the air. The result is catastrophic. The sales of My Lady Soap, which have been climbing astronomically ("No Biz Like Quiz Biz," quips Variety), slump to zero. Since the company plans to launch a new all-purpose cake-it will also clean teeth-something must be done, and only one thing is possible. Beauregarde comes back, and his intention is disclosed. He has made a private financial survey of the corporation and values its total assets at 40,000,000 dollars. When he has won that amount he will retire from the arena. Having indicated the plot, I won't spoil the rest of the fun for you, though I must add that the satire fails to run the full distance and I found that a little disappointing. But the cast so obviously enjoy themselves that the filmgoer must enjoy himself too. Colman, as usual, is suave and polished; Celeste Holm, the secret weapon of the soap interests ("a corn-fed Mata Hari with everything but a heart"), is in her best form; Vincent Price hams and clowns with a zest that should win him an Oscar, and I think I liked him best of all. The script of Champagne for Caesar was by Hans Jacoby and Fred Brady. They deserve a medal of some sort,