Watch The Solid Gold Cadillac For Free

Purely Joyful Movie!

Perfect cast and a good story

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In a role tailor made to her special gifts Judy Holliday is totally captivating and wholly endearing. The sign of a truly unique performer is to watch a film or performance and not be able to envision anyone else in the part. That's what happens watching the magical Judy as Laura Partridge. There are many great comediennes but while Marilyn Monroe was sexier, Lucille Ball wackier and Carole Lombard more stylishly outlandish no one quite had the special sweet radiance and naive intelligence of Miss Holliday.While she is wondrous she isn't the whole show. Paul Douglas and his gruff charm plays well off of her and they are surrounded by an absolutely great cast of some of the best character actors working in film at the time. The story is a pleasant far fetched little fable, a sort of David versus Goliath reworking. Sit back and enjoy.

Before the days of S&L scandals, Enron, the Texas billionaire brothers manipulating the precious metals market, and the 2009 bailout of the largest and once most powerful financial institutions in the world by the United States government, Richard Quine helmed a screenplay adaptation of a play sending up corporate manipulation of share holders and deceiving the government by demanding contracts.A classic comic look look at how things haven't changed in the fifty some odd years since this film was made. Financial gamesmanship and political deceit are as old as pharaohs and kings. To paraphrase Richard Harris playing Oliver Cromwell from "Cromwell", "An immovable parliament is more obnoxious than an immovable king!"... or words to that effect."Solid Gold Cadillac" shows us this premise in spades, and gives us the gallant comedienne Judy Holliday sallying forth with womanly earnestness, by asking the most basic and fundamental questions; i.e. why do the boards of directors get paid so much? Her innocence and wide eyed (almost country girl like) innocence throws a monkey wrench into the antagonists' machinations.We are reminded of some of the pitfalls of automated private bureaucracy. And how if the average share holder (or voter as the case may be) doesn't follow the "Trust but verify" axiom, then they're in for a roller coaster ride as unethical executives play funny with their money.This is a smart light hearted comedy that plays to a more reserved audience. This isn't the "in your face" 90s nor 2000s. It's the reserved 1950s where sexual intrigue is understood, but not blatantly thrust in the face of the mainstream viewer. It's kind of refreshing.Although the film is a glimpse into the financial double-dealings of past 1950s America, it's a parable on how not to repeat history. Or, should history repeat itself, then fight it with a repeat of your own; get informed, organize, and take action by mobilizing the stock holders :-) Were this film made today, it would placate strictly to a female audience. It is in some sense a "chick flick" of a bygone era, but it's really more of couples' film.Some nice entertainment for a lazy afternoon.Enjoy :-)

What can you say about Judy Holliday? Her timing was always absolutely perfect. Her facial expressions frequently making speech unnecessary. In Solid Gold Cadillac she gives a magical portrayal as Laura Partridge, the supposedly, dumb blonde, part time actress with no appreciation of Shakespeare, ("You don't even get to sit down unless you're a king" - a typical Holliday line), but who is nonetheless shrewd enough to see through the corrupt shenanigans of the board of directors of a multi-national company in which she owns just ten shares. The partnering of Judy Holliday and that fine actor, Paul Douglas, as Edward L. McKeever, the upright, down to earth and totally incorruptible founder of the company, who is (according to Laura Partridge) "scared of girls", works like a dream. The film also has excellent support from Ray Collins, Arthur O'Connell, Neva Patterson, John Williams and of course Fred Clark, as Snell, the oily, slippery company treasurer, a real nasty piece of work. I defy anyone not to boo and hiss whenever he appears. In addition to being a delightful romantic comedy, this is also a tale of good fighting to overcome evil, and the little people of this world getting together and refusing to be trampled by a big faceless conglomerate. If you've never seen this picture before, or maybe never seen a Judy Holliday movie, you're in for a treat.

Lots of commentators here have been referring to Capra. This is enlightening: this comedy, this story of an honest little woman against the riches and corrupt guys who run a corporation, lacks a great director. And Capra sure would have been the best choice to make this movie more than just marginally good.Look, the storyline is good because it was rehearsed and played so many times on stage and so are the actors since they were already in the play or had a chance to see it. But the mise en scene is lame. So many important if not climactic scenes are shot on the same level as the rest... it's a pity. The movie's breath is that of a dozing director. No rush, no hush, and certainly no plush nor blush.Bottom line: a very good play with very good actors unfortunately shot at stage level, not movie level.Personal: in my opinion: Paul Douglas was a bit too old or too common to be a love interest. If I can daydream of Capra helming this one why not attach Jimmy Stewart?