Richard Whorf directed this splendid film that spoofs quiz shows and corporate empires.
A genius named Beauregard Bottomley (Ronald Coleman) knows everything about everything except how to get a job. It seems nobody wants to hire him out of fear for his high IQ.
One day Bottomley has an interview at the Milady Soap Company run by a pompous ass named Burnbridge Waters (Vincent Price). After being insulted at the interview, Bottomley happens upon an idea to get even with Waters.
Milady sponsors a quiz show called Masquerade For Money and Beauregard gets on the show as a contestant. He works out a plan to double his money every week on the show until he owns the Milady Soap Company.
While being a ratings and soap selling sensation, Waters wants to get rid of Bottomley, but that proves none too easy. He tells the quiz show host, Happy Hogan (Art Linkletter) to begin dating Bottomley's sister Gwenn (Barbara Britton), but that fails as Hogan actually falls for her.
Outraged by this "Un-American" activity, Waters decides to send in a woman named Flame O' Neil (Celeste Holm) to distract Bottomley.
What I have written cannot even come close to what you'll actually witness on screen. The entire cast does a stellar job, but Price steals the entire movie. During the course of the film his character goes from pompous ass to greedy executive to a man driven to the brink. His lines are (no pun intended) priceless and I cannot recall ever seeing Price being able to bring out his comedic nature as in this film.
I can't recommend this movie enough. I found it in a small store in Boise as it had been years since I saw it on TV. There is a scene where Price has water dumped on him after a meeting with Coleman's character, but that scene is cut out of all known prints. I only saw it on TV many, many years ago.
To me this is one of the greatest American films ever made and it never fails to make me laugh out loud. I picked this up about two weeks ago and have watched in now about 4 times. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!
The rest of the cast includes Byron Folger, Ellye Marshall and Lyle Talbot. I guess I should also tell you that the title refers to Bottomley's parrot named Caesar who simply loves champagne and who is voiced by Mel Blanc.
No comments:
Post a Comment