Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas drive away in “The Solid Gold Cadillac”

The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) is an American comedy directed by Richard Quine and starring Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas. The supporting cast includes Fred Clark, John Williams, Ray Collins, Neva Patterson, and Arthur O’Connell.

Laura Patridge (Holliday) attends the board meeting for International Projects, a billion-dollar corporation. John T. Blessington (Williams) announces that he is replacing Edward L. McKeever (Douglas) who founded the company and served as president and chairman of the board. McKeever is resigning to serve as Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C. Laura is a stockholder with just ten shares who frustrates the arrogant and dishonest executives by asking them questions during the meeting which is her right as a stockholder.

To get Laura out of their hair, Blessington hires her for the position of director of shareholder relations. The job has no real duties, but to make sure Laura stays in check, Blessington assigns her a private secretary named Amelia (Patterson) to keep an eye on things. With nothing to do, Laura writes letter to the stockholders. She and Amelia become friends and Laura helps her in her romance with the office manager (O’Connell).

The board of International Projects is distraught because they’ve received no government contracts. McKeever is a straight-shooter and refuses to give preference to his former company. In a move to help them get business, Blessington sends Laura to Washington, outfitted in a new wardrobe to try and convince McKeever to throw some business their way. 

When Laura tells McKeever what’s been happening at International Projects, he decides to return to his old position, but there’s only one catch. He has no controlling stock in the company which leaves him powerless to act.  

Will Laura and McKeever come up with a plan to take the company back and run it honestly and honorably?

 

Richard Quine (1920 – 1989) was an American director, actor, and singer. As a child, he had roles in several films throughout the 1930s including Cavalcade (1933), Dames (1934), and Dog of Flanders (1935). Quine transitioned to adult roles but his career as an actor began to wane after World War II. He decided to switch to directing and producing and became a very successful director during the 1960s and 1970s. Some of his films as director include Bell, Book and Candle (1958), The World of Suzie Wong (1960), Paris When it Sizzles (1964), How to Murder Your Wife (1965), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1979).

Judy Holliday (1921 – 1965) was an American actress, comedian, and singer. She started out in show business playing nightclubs before making her way to Broadway. Her role as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday in 1946 made her an “overnight” sensation. When she recreated the role for the film version, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress of the Year. Other films include The Marrying Kind  (1952), It Should Happen to You (1954), Phffft (1954), The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956), Full of Life (1956), and Bells Are Ringing (1960), recreating her Tony Award-winning performance. Holliday died of breast cancer in 1965 at the age of 43. 

Paul Douglas (1907 – 1959) was an American actor. Douglas starred on Broadways as in film. He is mostly known for his comedic performances in films like It Happens Every Spring (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), and Never Wave at a WAC (1953). Other Douglas films include A Letter to Three Wives (1949), The Big Lift (1950), Love That Brute (1951), and Clash by Night (1952). Douglas was set to play the role of Mr. Sheldrake in The Apartment (1960) but died of a heart attack right before production was to start. He was replaced by Fred MacMurray.

 

Paul Douglas and Judy Holliday

The Solid Gold Cadillac trivia

• The final scene was filmed in color to show of the “solid gold” Cadillac.
• Holliday and Douglas starred together in Born Yesterday on Broadway.
• Producer Hal Wallis tried to purchase the film rights as a vehicle for Shirley Booth.
• The $225 sheer black nightgown would cost about $2500 today.

 

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

 

 

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Discussion questions

1. Do you think the film had a serious message underneath the comedy?
2. Was this role similar to Holliday’s role in Born Yesterday?
3. Did Holliday and Douglas have good screen chemistry?
4. Would you have liked to have been on the board of International Projects?
5. Does the film remind you of any other films you’ve seen?
6. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?

 

Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden star in Billy Wilder's "Sabrina"

Sabrina (1954) is an American romantic comedy directed by Billy Wilder and starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden. The screenplay was by Wilder, Ernest Lehman, and Samuel A. Taylor. The supporting cast includes John Williams, Martha Hyer, Francis X. Bushman, Ellen Corby, and Nancy Kulp.

Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn), the daughter of the Larrabee family’s chauffeur (Williams) has been in love with David Larrabee for as long as she can remember. David has been married three times and is the handsome, non-working playboy younger brother of the hard-working Linus (Bogart). Sabrina has lived at the Larrabee estate on Long Island her entire life. To David, she is still a little girl.

As a way to help her forget David, her father has arranged for her to attend the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris. Before she is supposed to leave, she leaves her father a suicide note and proceeds to start all the cars in the garage in an effort to kill herself. Linus, who happens to walk by the garage and hearing all the car engines running, finds Sabrina about the pass out from the fumes. Linus saves Sabrina and brings her to her family’s apartment above the garage.

Sabrina goes to Paris and after completing her cooking course, she comes back to Long Island a sophisticated young woman who David doesn’t even recognize. David finds Sabrina enchanting but there’s one problem; he’s engaged to be married to socialite Elizabeth Tyson (Hyer).

What will happen to Sabrina? Will she find happiness with her childhood crush, David, or is there someone else who is a better match?

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Humphrey Bogart (1899 – 1957) was an American film and stage actor. He is one of the most famous and popular movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Nicknamed Bogie, the actor toiled in supporting roles in both A and B pictures for a decade before his breakout role as Roy Earle in High Sierra (1941). Many more film roles followed including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Key Largo (1948), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). His career continued with good roles in films like In a Lonely Place (1950), The Caine Mutiny (1954), and Sabrina (1954) co-starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn. Bogart died from cancer in 1957.

Audrey Hepburn and William Holden

Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) was a British actress. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her first starring role in Roman Holiday (1953), co-starring Gregory Peck. Peck predicted that Hepburn would be a big star during production and insisted that she receive equal screen building with him. Hepburn also starred on Broadway in Gigi and Ondine. Other film roles include Sabrina (1954), War and Peace (1955), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), How to Steal a Million (1966), Wait Until Dark (1966), Two for the Road (1967). Besides her acting career, Hepburn was a fashion icon and a humanitarian working as Goodwill Ambassador with UNICEF.

William Holden (1918 - 1981) was an American actor and major movie star. He was one of the most bankable stars of the 1950s. Holden starred in some of the most popular and beloved films of all time including Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Stalag 17 for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Holden became a star with his very first role in Golden Boy (1939). He had lead roles in other popular films like Our Town (1940), and  I Wanted Wings (1941). World War II interrupted his career. Holden was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force. After the war, he made some popular but forgettable films. It wasn’t after he collaborated with director Wilder on Sunset Boulevard that Holden’s popularity and stature in Hollywood grew to superstar status.

Sabina trivia

• Cary Grant was Wyler's first choice to play Linus. 
• Humphrey Bogart wanted his wife (Lauren Bacall) to play Sabrina.
• Bogart did not enjoy working with Hepburn and Holden. Bogart thought Hepburn was inexperienced.
• The script was being worked on as they filmed. Reportedly, one scene was written in the morning and shot that afternoon. Writer Ernest Lehman had a nervous breakdown during production.
• Hepburn was 24, Holden was 35, and Bogart was 53 during the film's production.
• Bogart was paid $300,000, Holden $150,000, and Hepburn $15,00.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

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Bogart, Hepburn, and Holden

Discussion questions

1. Would you have rather seen Cary Grant in the role of Linus or did you think Humphrey Bogart was just right for the role? Joseph Cotten played Linus in Sabrina Fair, the play on which the movie is based. Can you see Cotten in the Bogart role?
2. Some critics think that William Holden was miscast as David; do you agree with the critics?
3. This was only Hepburn's second major film role. What did you make of her performance?
4. Do you think Lauren Bacall would have made a good Sabrina?
5. Did this film remind you of any other romantic comedies you've seen?