CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR - 1950

Excellent comedy starring comic Ronald Colman as Beauregard Bottomely, who is described as being the last scholar in America.
His sister gets him to watch a "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" type show where you are asked 7 successive questions, each time you answer a question correctly the prize doubles. The prize is not much.
Beauregard is disgusted by what he presciently sees as the the herald of intellectual Armageddon: "If it is noteworthy and rewarding to know that 2 and 2 make 4 to the accompaniment of deafening applause and prizes, then 2 and 2 making 4 will become the top level of learning."
He decides to appear on the quiz show. He turns up dressed as the Encylopaedia Britannica, which basically means the quizmaster can ask him any question he feels like.
Of course Beauregard gets all seven question right and wins something paltry like $120. But he says he wants to continue and the producer thinks it will be a ratings winner so they ask him some more questions on the next show.
The problem is, Beauregard's prize winnings get too high and the soap company wants to take the show off the air.
One question for example: "How many teeth does an Asiatic elephant have", Beauregard comes straight back with "24". They can't find a question to stump him.

It's well plotted with lots of twists and a great ending. You can't help but enjoy yourself, and Vince Price is simply hilarious in what is perhaps a career best performance as the
anti-intellectual soap company boss Burnbridge Waters with solipsistic tendencies.

I USE TO COME HOME FROM J.H.S. AND WATCH THIS SHOW ON THE MOVIE CHANNEL
IN BROOKLYN -- I MUST HAVE SEEN IT 30 TIMES AND I LOVED IT AND I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE ANYONE COULD WATCH THIS FILM AND NOT ENJOY IT.

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