The Solid Gold Cadillac

Last updated
The Solid Gold Cadillac
The Solid Gold Cadillac FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Richard Quine
Written by Abe Burrows
Based onThe Solid Gold Cadillac
1953 play
by George S. Kaufman
Howard Teichmann
Produced by Fred Kohlmar
Starring Judy Holliday
Paul Douglas
Fred Clark
Narrated by George Burns
Cinematography Charles Lang
Edited by Charles Nelson
Music by Cyril J. Mockridge
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
August 22, 1956 (1956-08-22)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.4 million (US) [1]

The Solid Gold Cadillac is a 1956 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine and written by Abe Burrows, Howard Teichmann, and George S. Kaufman. It was adapted from the hit Broadway play of the same name by Teichmann and Kaufman that pillories big business and corrupt businessmen. The film stars Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas. The film is in black-and-white except for the final scene, which is presented in Technicolor.

Contents

Plot

At a shareholders meeting for International Projects, a billion-dollar corporation, John T. Blessington announces that he is replacing Edward L. McKeever, the company's founder, president and chairman of the board who is resigning to serve as Secretary of Defense in Washington D.C. Laura Partridge, a stockholder with just ten shares, infuriates the company's arrogant, self-serving executives by repeatedly exercising her right to ask questions during the meeting.

Blessington devises a plan to hire Laura for the meaningless position of director of shareholder relations in order to keep her occupied and out of the executives' business. He assigns her a secretary named Amelia with secret instructions to obstruct Laura as much as possible. With no substantial job duties, Laura begins to write letters to the stockholders. She gains Amelia's friendship and assistance by helping her develop a romantic relationship with the office manager.

When the directors discover that Amelia is helping Laura, they fire Amelia. However, Laura discovers that Blessington's unqualified brother-in-law Harry Harkness has driven an apparent competitor into bankruptcy, unaware that International Projects actually owns the smaller company. With that as leverage, she gets Amelia rehired.

Still determined to neutralize Laura, the board sends her to Washington to persuade McKeever to award them some government contracts. She agrees to go, but secretly intends to convince McKeever to return and retake control from the crooked board even though, when assuming his Cabinet position, he had sold his shares in the company to avoid any conflict of interest. After Laura tells him about Harry's blunder, McKeever agrees to leave his government post and try to wrest control of the company. However, Blessington and his men block his attempt, and Laura quits.

McKeever takes the company to court, arguing that sending Laura to persuade him violated the lobbying laws, as she was not a registered lobbyist. When Laura is forced to admit on the stand that she had a romantic reason for seeing McKeever, the judge throws the case out. However, many of the smaller investors with whom Laura had forged relationships through her letters have sent her their proxy votes, granting Laura the right to vote their shares. Laura and McKeever use these votes to replace the entire board. At a meeting of the new board, it is revealed that Laura has married McKeever.

For its final scene, the film changes from black-and-white to color, showing the small stockholders' wedding gift to Laura, a gleaming solid gold Cadillac that she drives around Manhattan.

Cast

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Holliday, stating, "[T]he invincible Miss Holliday has dared to project her youthful figure and personality into the character shaped by Miss Hull" (Josephine Hull, then in her seventies, played the role in the Broadway play) and is "knocking the role completely dead." [2] However, he felt that the villains were neither particularly convincing ("not precisely representatives of the workaday financial world"), original ("cut from a fairly familiar stencil of Kaufmanesque farce") or formidable enough ("The problems set up by the play-wrights are little barriers of cardboard farce"). [2] He concluded, "[I]t will give you an entertaining ride, but don't expect it to take you or your intelligence very far." [2]

A Film4 reviewer agreed that the story was not particularly convincing ("Yeah – like global capitalism gets overthrown that easily"), but "even so, it's undemanding and amusing." [3]

Awards and nominations

Jean Louis won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black and White. Ross Bellah, William Kiernan and Louis Diage were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White. [4]

Holliday was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Peck</span> American actor (1916–2003)

Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Holliday</span> American actress, singer (1921–1965)

Judy Holliday was an American actress, comedian and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josephine Hull</span> American stage and film actress

Marie Josephine Hull was an American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Harvey (1950), a role she originally played on the Broadway stage. She was sometimes credited as Josephine Sherwood.

<i>Bells Are Ringing</i> (film) 1960 film directed by Vincente Minnelli

Bells Are Ringing is a 1960 American romantic comedy-musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. Based on the successful 1956 Broadway production of the same name by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne, the film focuses on Ella Peterson, based on the life of Mary Printz, who works in the basement office of a telephone answering service.

<i>Blue Murder at St Trinians</i> 1957 British film

Blue Murder at St Trinian's is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder, co-written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Lionel Jeffries and Richard Wattis; the film also includes a brief cameo of Alastair Sim, reprising his lead role in the 1954 film, The Belles of St. Trinian's. Inspired by the St Trinian's School comic strips by British cartoonist Ronald Searle, the film is the second entry in the St. Trinian's film series, with its plot seeing the students of the fictional school making plans to secure a place on a European tour, all while subsequently aiding a criminal who is secretly seeking to escape the country with stolen jewels.

<i>Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</i> (film) 1957 film by John Sturges

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, and loosely based on the actual event in 1881. The film was directed by John Sturges from a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris. It was a remake of the 1939 film Frontier Marshall starring Randolph Scott, which was until 1957 the definitive film of the gunfight story.

<i>Executive Suite</i> 1954 MGM drama film directed by Robert Wise

Executive Suite is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer drama film directed by Robert Wise and written by Ernest Lehman, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Cameron Hawley. The film stars William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters, Paul Douglas, Louis Calhern, Dean Jagger, and Nina Foch. The plot depicts the internal struggle for control of a furniture manufacturing company after the unexpected death of the company's CEO. Executive Suite was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including for Nina Foch's performance, which earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosley Crowther</span> American film critic (1905–1981)

Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews were criticized as unnecessarily harsh. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini.

<i>Bend of the River</i> 1952 film

Bend of the River is a 1952 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, and Rock Hudson. Based on the 1950 novel Bend of the Snake by Bill Gulick, the film is about a tough cowboy who risks his life to deliver confiscated supplies to homesteaders after gold is discovered in the region. Bend of the River was filmed on location in Sandy River, Mount Hood, the Columbia River and Timberline, Oregon. This is the second Western film collaboration between Anthony Mann and James Stewart.

<i>It Should Happen to You</i> 1954 film by George Cukor

It Should Happen to You is a 1954 American romantic comedy film starring Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford and Jack Lemmon; it was Lemmon's first major film appearance. The film was directed by George Cukor, and partly filmed on location in New York City. Screenwriter Garson Kanin originally intended the script as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, but Kanin's wife, Ruth Gordon, suggested casting Judy Holliday instead. The title was initially A Name for Herself.

<i>They Drive by Night</i> 1940 film by Raoul Walsh

They Drive by Night is a 1940 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, and Humphrey Bogart, and featuring Gale Page, Alan Hale, Roscoe Karns, John Litel and George Tobias. The picture involves a pair of embattled truck drivers and was released in the UK under the title The Road to Frisco. The film was based on A. I. Bezzerides' 1938 novel Long Haul, which was later reprinted under the title They Drive by Night to capitalize on the success of the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Louis</span> French costume designer (1907–1997)

Jean Louis was a French-American costume designer. He won an Academy Award for The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956).

<i>It Happened on 5th Avenue</i> 1947 film by Roy Del Ruth

It Happened on 5th Avenue is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles and Gale Storm. Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, losing to Valentine Davies for another Christmas-themed story, Miracle on 34th Street.

<i>No Man of Her Own</i> (1950 film) 1950 film

No Man of Her Own is a 1950 American film noir drama directed by Mitchell Leisen and featuring Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Phyllis Thaxter, Jane Cowl and Lyle Bettger. The production is the second film Stanwyck made with director Mitchell Leisen. Its screenplay was adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1948 novel I Married a Dead Man. Woolrich is cited in the film's opening credits by one of his commonly used pseudonyms, "William Irish".

<i>The Wheeler Dealers</i> 1963 film

The Wheeler Dealers is a 1963 American romantic comedy film produced by Martin Ransohoff, directed by Arthur Hiller, and starring James Garner and Lee Remick. The script was written by George Goodman and Ira Wallach based on Goodman's 1959 novel of the same name. The film was produced by Filmways and distributed by MGM.

<i>Youre in the Navy Now</i> 1951 film by Henry Hathaway

You're in the Navy Now is a 1951 American war-comedy film about the United States Navy in the first months of World War II. The film was directed by Henry Hathaway and stars Gary Cooper as a new officer wanting duty at sea but who is instead assigned to an experimental project without much hope of success. It was released by 20th Century Fox and its initial release was titled U.S.S. Teakettle. When the film failed to gain an audience, it was re-titled to the present title.

<i>Tea and Sympathy</i> (film) 1956 film by Vincente Minnelli

Tea and Sympathy is a 1956 American drama film and an adaptation of Robert Anderson's 1953 stage play of the same name directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Pandro S. Berman for MGM in Metrocolor. The music score was by Adolph Deutsch and the cinematography by John Alton. Deborah Kerr, John Kerr and Leif Erickson reprised their original Broadway roles. Edward Andrews, Darryl Hickman, Norma Crane, Tom Laughlin, and Dean Jones were featured in supporting roles.

<i>Janie</i> (1944 film) 1944 film by Michael Curtiz

Janie is a 1944 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on a 1942 Broadway play by Josephine Bentham and Herschel V. Williams Jr. The play was adapted from Bentham's 1940 novel by the same name.

<i>Night Without Sleep</i> 1952 American film by Roy Ward Baker

Night Without Sleep is a 1952 American film noir mystery film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Gary Merrill, Linda Darnell and Hildegarde Neff. It was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

<i>Always Together</i> 1947 film by Frederick de Cordova

Always Together is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova and written by I. A. L. Diamond, Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron. The film stars Robert Hutton, Joyce Reynolds, Cecil Kellaway, Ernest Truex, Don McGuire and Ransom M. Sherman. The film was released by Warner Bros. on December 10, 1947.

References

  1. "Top Grosses of 1957", Variety, 8 January 1958: 30
  2. 1 2 3 Bosley Crowther (October 25, 1956). "The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)". The New York Times.
  3. "Solid Gold Cadillac, The" . Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  4. "NY Times: The Solid Gold Cadillac". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2008-12-22.