Odd title, but what a flick!

I took a break from my pile of bootlegs featuring you-know-who, to watch my most recently arrived Netflick. And?

A smart but unpretentious comedy that makes good use of a terrific cast, 1950's Champagne for Caesar stars Ronald Colman in what I understand is one of his few comic performances (though, on the basis of this one, I cannot understand why there weren't more!). He plays uber-intellectual Beauregard Bottomley, whose recurring success on a weekly quiz show catches national attention (think Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!, only with every question double-or-nothing, so that the monetary stakes get very high very fast). Despite having lived most of his life with his nose in a book, our hero is not a stereotypically awkward nerd. Instead, he's charming, funny, and pretty savvy to the ways of the world, all of which qualities stand him in good stead as the quiz show's very worried soap mogul sponsor-- an utterly hilarious Vincent Price (who also, it seems, missed a calling to be funny in film)-- devises various plots to sabotage the clever contestant and thus avoid making a big cash payout. Rounding out the main cast are Celeste Holm as a femme fatale who's hired to discombobulate the brilliant bachelor, and Art Linkletter (!), a pleasant surprise in the role (his only one as an actor) of the goofy quiz show MC who romances Bottomley's sister (Barbara Britton) with mixed motives.

Oh, and Caesar is a talking parrot (Mel Blanc). He's completely superfluous to the plot, so why shouldn't the film be named after him?

I cannot begin to guess why this movie wasn't a hit in its day. Maybe its contemporary audience couldn't appreciate what a clever satire of burgeoning mass culture it was (from today's perspective, it looks amazingly insightful). Or maybe they did, and were too insulted to have fun with it. Anyhow, I can't recommend the film enough. Put it in your Netflix queue and see if you agree.