Rating: 
Summary: Still Just as Good
Review: I saw this on television over forty years ago and have always wanted to see it again. Trouble was that I had forgotten the title! Having discovered this a week or so ago I immediately ordered it (October 30th order, delivered in the UK on November 5th - well done Amazon).
It is as hilariouly funny as I remembered and I thoroughly recommend it. The sound track problem (mainly sibilant distortion) lasts only a few minutes and I did not find it too much a problem despite being a sound man by trade. I did find the film using the terms "radio" and "television" interchangeably a little confusing until I realised that in those early days of US TV, they simulcast television programmes, like quizes, on Radio.
Roger Derry
Rating:
Summary: A Comical, Cinematic Curiosity
Review: "Champagne For Caesar" has all of its main characters playing against type. Dashing Ronald Colman, star of "Beau Geste" and many other action films, stars as Beauregard Bottomley. He's the ultimate bookworm, an intellectual snob with no social life. Celeste Holm, the sophisticated star of "High Society" and other wholesome family fare, plays Flame O'Neill. She's a femme fatale with sex appeal, brains and ambition, but no heart. Art Linkletter, most famous for hosting a television show, plays Happy Hogan, host of the fictitious Masquerade Party quiz show. He's a ladies man who woos Beauregard's sister in an attempt to get insider information, but ultimately wins her heart.The most amazing performance in this film is that of Vincent Price, star of "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and countless other horror movies. Here he plays Burnbridge Waters, head of Milady Soap Company and sponsor of the quiz show. His performance is a comic masterpiece, especially when he goes into one of his many trances. There's one scene where Ronald Coleman is touring the soap factory, standing near a vat of boiling hot soap. Vincent Price is sorely tempted to push him into the vat, but resists. It eerily foreshadows the movie "House On Haunted Hill" with its vat of acid. The film drags a little towards its ultimate happy ending, but has many comedic highlights along the way. Also, with characters named Beauregard, Burnbridge, Flame, Happy, Frosty and Caesar (the alcoholic parrot), it has the strangest character names of any movie, with the possible exception of "Dr. Strangelove."
Rating:
Summary: A Comical, Cinematic Curiosity
Review: "Champagne For Caesar" has all of its main characters playing against type. Dashing Ronald Colman, star of "Beau Geste" and many other action films, stars as Beauregard Bottomley. He's the ultimate bookworm, an intellectual snob with no social life. Celeste Holm, the sophisticated star of "High Society" and other wholesome family fare, plays Flame O'Neill. She's a femme fatale with sex appeal, brains and ambition, but no heart. Art Linkletter, most famous for hosting a television show, plays Happy Hogan, host of the fictitious Masquerade Party quiz show. He's a ladies man who woos Beauregard's sister in an attempt to get insider information, but ultimately wins her heart. The most amazing performance in this film is that of Vincent Price, star of "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and countless other horror movies. Here he plays Burnbridge Waters, head of Milady Soap Company and sponsor of the quiz show. His performance is a comic masterpiece, especially when he goes into one of his many trances. There's one scene where Ronald Coleman is touring the soap factory, standing near a vat of boiling hot soap. Vincent Price is sorely tempted to push him into the vat, but resists. It eerily foreshadows the movie "House On Haunted Hill" with its vat of acid. The film drags a little towards its ultimate happy ending, but has many comedic highlights along the way. Also, with characters named Beauregard, Burnbridge, Flame, Happy, Frosty and Caesar (the alcoholic parrot), it has the strangest character names of any movie, with the possible exception of "Dr. Strangelove."
Rating:
Summary: Poor Vincent Price: Ronald Colman wants to be a millionaire
Review: "Champagne for Caesar" is a pleasant little satire on quiz shows, which in 1950 were big on radio. Ronald Colman stars as Beauregard Bottomley, a brilliant professor who is turned down for a job by a soap company. Our hero then decides to break the company by winning a fortune on a radio quiz show they sponsor. Vincent Price plays Birnbridge Waters, the president of the soap company who keeps trying to thwart Bottomley, but with no success since it seems the professor knows everything about everything. Celeste Holm co-stars as his romantic interest Flame O'Neil and Art Linkletter is Happy Hogan, the quizmaster. The best moments of this comedy are when Colman clashes with Price, deflating every attempt to stop him with elegant ease. This 1950 film directed by Richard Whorf was such a disappointing follow-up to his Oscar winning performance in "A Double Life," that Coleman did not make another film for six years when he did a featured cameo in "Around the World in Eighty Days." The following year he teamed again with Vincent Price in "The Story of Mankind," which proved to be his final film. Ronald Colman was a classy guy.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Vincent Price: Ronald Colman wants to be a millionaire
Review: "Champagne for Caesar" is a pleasant little satire on quiz shows, which in 1950 were big on radio. Ronald Colman stars as Beauregard Bottomley, a brilliant professor who is turned down for a job by a soap company. Our hero then decides to break the company by winning a fortune on a radio quiz show they sponsor. Vincent Price plays Birnbridge Waters, the president of the soap company who keeps trying to thwart Bottomley, but with no success since it seems the professor knows everything about everything. Celeste Holm co-stars as his romantic interest Flame O'Neil and Art Linkletter is Happy Hogan, the quizmaster. The best moments of this comedy are when Colman clashes with Price, deflating every attempt to stop him with elegant ease. This 1950 film directed by Richard Whorf was such a disappointing follow-up to his Oscar winning performance in "A Double Life," that Coleman did not make another film for six years when he did a featured cameo in "Around the World in Eighty Days." The following year he teamed again with Vincent Price in "The Story of Mankind," which proved to be his final film. Ronald Colman was a classy guy.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad transfer
Review: "Champagne for Caesar" was a film I saw in my early days of film going. I've always remembered it as a smart and funny film, especially notable for Celeste Holmes sophisticated turn as Ronald Coleman's charming nemesis and Vincent Price's off-the-wall performance as the eccentric manufacturor of "Milady Soap, The Soap That Sanctifies." I looked forward to this DVD but must report that technically it falls too far short to recommend. About a quarter of the way into it, the sound turns extremely harsh and is almost unlistenable. Later still, intrusive scratches and smudges-- that surely could have been eliminated--suddenly intrude, spoiling the moment. "Champagne for Caesar" remains a charming romp but not in this presentation.
Rating:
Summary: Picture is fun and smart. The sound, just awful.
Review: "Champagne for Caesar" was a film I saw in my early days of film going. I've always remembered it as a smart and funny film, especially notable for Celeste Holmes sophisticated turn as Ronald Coleman's charming nemesis and Vincent Price's off-the-wall performance as the eccentric manufacturor of "Milady Soap, The Soap That Sanctifies." I looked forward to this DVD but must report that technically it falls too far short to recommend. About a quarter of the way into it, the sound turns extremely harsh and is almost unlistenable. Later still, intrusive scratches and smudges-- that surely could have been eliminated--suddenly intrude, spoiling the moment. "Champagne for Caesar" remains a charming romp but not in this presentation.
Rating: 
Summary: CAESAR THE PARROT
Review: A self-confessed genius (Colman) with a grudge against a soap company determines to win an astronomical sum on the company's weekly radio show. Ronald Colman and Celeste Holm, usually joyous in comedy, struggled here to make bricks without straw under the direction of Richard Whorf. The film is notable, however, in being one of the very first to recognise Hollywood's new rival, television, though its real target is quiz shows, which were outstandingly popular on both TV and radio at the time. Colman plays a mastermind who enters a quiz show; Vincent Price is very funny as its pretentious and humourless sponsor. An agreeable little diversion which unfortunately tends to peter out during the second half. Not a huge success at the box-office, since the stars sued the producer (Harry M. Popkin) for their deferred fees.
Rating: 
Summary: "And then, like Romeo and Juliet, we'll die together!"
Review: Being a hard core Ronnie fan, I tracked down this movie for his performance. By the time it was over, I was a hard core Vincent Price fan as well. He's absolutely hilarious in this film as the CEO of "Milady Soap Company". Half shrewd businessman, half raving nutbar, Price steals every scene not nailed down and ultimately steals the movie. Watch for the best line in a movie full of great lines, the one where Colman succintly describes what goes on in Price's office. A must-see.
Rating:
Summary: An oft-missed comedic gem
Review: Colman and Price clash wonderfully in a class of comedy rarely seen these days. A must have for fans of either.
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