THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC

US, 1956, 99 minutes, Black and white.
Judy Holliday, Paul Douglas, John Williams, Fred Clark, Neva Patterson, Ray Collins, Arthur O'Connell.
Directed by Richard Quine.

The Solid Gold Cadillac is an excellent Judy Holliday vehicle of the mid-'50s. Judy Holliday made her mark in her cameo performance in Adam's Rib and then in her Oscar-winning role in Born Yesterday. She made comparatively few comedies but many of them are excellent: The Marrying Kind, It Should Happen To You, Phffft. She was directed by Richard Quine in her subsequent comedy, Full of Life.

The Solid Gold Cadillac is based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichmann, with a screenplay by playwright Abe Burrows. It is very reminiscent of the Robert Riskin-Frank? Capra social comedies of the '30s. Judy Holliday's Laura Partridge with her ingenuity and authentic honesty is very much in the tradition of Mr. Deeds and Mr. Smith. She exposes the shady side of big business. There are many comic pieces, good verbal humour, pleasant support from Paul Douglas and excellent villainy from Fred Clark, John Williams and Ray Collins. There is an added bonus with some narration by George Burns. The final sequence of the Cadillac itself is in Technicolor.

1. An entertaining social comedy? Judy Holliday vehicle? Its impact in the '50s with its social comment? Now?

2. Production qualities: black and white photography, jaunty musical score, the atmosphere of the city? The special Technicolor finale?

3. The tradition of the social comedies of the '30s? The ingenuous and authentic hero and heroine? The confrontation of financial exploitation? Exposure by mockery and comedy? The place of this film in the tradition? A worthy successor?

4. The plausibility of the plot - Laura Partridge and her work, her shares, the attending of the meetings, the repercussions of her intervention? The romance with Edward McKeever? The contacts with the shareholders? Her winning in the end? Romanticised? But in an entertaining way for the social point?

5. Judy Holliday's dumb blonde techniques in making Laura Partridge an attractive heroine? Laura as an actress, unemployed? Her ten shares? Her presence at the stockholders' meeting? Her naive questions and their relevance? The effect on the directors? Her continued pursuit? Her being silenced by being given a job? Her office and her busyness, discovering she has nothing to do? Her going to work, writing letters? Using the ordinary means of communication with unexpected results? The growth in her mail? Getting to know the shareholders? Her personal interest? Her secretaries etc.? The humour of her communication? Her going to Washington to see McKeever?, persuading him to return to the business? The reaction of the directors? The legal action and the defeat? Her going to the meeting and winning by being the proxy for the shareholders? Her taking over - and the solid gold Cadillac? An enjoyable American heroine? Verbal and visual, humour?

6. McKeever? and his financial background, leaving the firm, work in Washington, reaction to Laura, his return, devices for legal action, finally winning? Romance? Quiet support for Laura?

7. The picture of the directors - the comic styles and skills of Fred Clark, John Williams, Ray Collins? Their villainy and smooth talk? Their being harassed? Their exasperated meetings? Their perks and double values? Their finally being defeated?

8. The supporting characters and the mood of the film: Amelia Shotgraven and her contribution, Jenkins? Their support of Laura?

9. The American dream and capitalism? Exploitation and corruption? The exposure of such corruption? The honesty of the ordinary American citizen - and the capacity to undermine corruption?

10. Entertaining moralising - and social relevance?