''Champagne'' is a 1928 British silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

and starring

Betty Balfour Betty Balfour (born Florence Lilian Woods; 27 March 1902 – 4 November 1977) was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness". She was best known to aud ...

Gordon Harker William Gordon Harker (7 August 1885 – 2 March 1967) was an English stage and film actor. Harker was one of the sons of Sarah Elizabeth Harker, née Hall, (1856–1927), and Joseph Harker (1855–1927), a much admired set painter for the ...

and

Jean Bradin Jean Bradin (30 May 1899 – 7 October 1969) was a French actor. Bradin was born in the 5th arrondissement of Paris and died in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Selected filmography * '' The Island of Despair'' (1926) * '' The Bordellos of ...

. The screenplay was based on an original story by writer and critic

Walter C. Mycroft Walter Charles Mycroft (1890 – 14 June 1959) was a British journalist, screenwriter, film producer and director. In the 1920s he was film critic of the London ''Evening Standard'', and a founder of the LondoFilm Society before joining the film ...

. The film is about a young woman forced to get a job after her father tells her he has lost all his money.

Cast

– Betty *

– The Boy *

– Mark, Betty's Father *

Ferdinand von Alten Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

– The Man (as Theo von Alten) Supporting cast, all uncredited: *

Jack Trevor Anthony Cedric Sebastian Steane (14 December 1893 – 19 December 1976), known by the stage name Jack Trevor, was a British film actor of the silent and early sound era. Based in Weimar (and later Nazi) Germany, he acted in 67 films between ...

– The Officer *

Claude Hulbert Claude Noel Hulbert (25 December 1900 – 23 January 1964) was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor. Early life Claude Hulbert was born in Fulham in West London on Christmas Day 1900. He was the younger brother of J ...

– Club Guest *

Marcel Vibert Marcel Vibert (2 November 1883 – 11 June 1959) was a French film actor. Vibert worked primarily in the French film industry, but in the late 1920s he also appeared in several British silent films including ''Moulin Rouge'' and ''Champagne''. ...

– Maitre d'Hotel * Hannah Jones – Club Servant *

Clifford Heatherley Clifford Heatherley Lamb (8 October 1888 in Preston, Lancashire – 15 September 1937 in London) was an English stage and film actor. Filmography * ''Henry VIII'' (1911) * ''Bleak House'' (1920) * ''The Tavern Knight'' (1920) * '' The Myst ...

– The Manager *

Vivian Gibson Vivian Gibson (22 October 1898 – 9 May 1981) was a British-born Austrian actress. Selected filmography * '' Demos'' (1921) * '' The Glorious Adventure'' (1922) * ''Fräulein Raffke'' (1923) * ''Countess Maritza'' (1925) * '' The King and the ...

Sunday Wilshin Sunday Wilshin (26 February 190519 March 1991) was a British actress and radio producer; the successor to George Orwell on his resignation in 1943. She was born in London as Mary Aline Wilshin (corroborated by publicly available birth records; ...

Phyllis Konstam Phyllis Esther Kohnstamm (14 April 1907 – 20 August 1976), known as Phyllis Konstam, was an English film actress born in London. She appeared in 12 films between 1928 and 1964, including four directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Life Phyllis Est ...

Alexander D'Arcy Alexander D'Arcy ( ar, ألكسندر دارسي; 10 August 1908 – 20 April 1996) was an Egyptian stage, television and film actor with an international film repertoire. Career Born Alexander Sarruf in Cairo, Egypt, D'Arcy, variously credited ...

* Fanny Wright * Gwen Mannering * Balliol and Merton

Plot

Betty (Betty Balfour), an heiress, draws the ire of her father after using his

aeroplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...

to fly to her boyfriend (Jean Bradin) who is on an ocean liner headed to France. Once reunited, they arrange to meet for dinner but Betty's boyfriend is unable to dine with her due to seasickness. When seated, Betty notices a man watching her, who then comes over to talk to her. Betty receives a telegram from her disapproving father who warns that her boyfriend is not going to be admired by her friends. To prove her father wrong she asks her boyfriend to marry her, but her boyfriend has grown to resent how controlling she is of their relationship. A quarrel ensues between them and the two part company when it's over. The boyfriend regrets the fight and goes to Betty to apologise. He is surprised to find her adeptly playing a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

with the mysterious man. Another quarrel between the two is interrupted by the arrival of Betty's father (Gordon Harker). He tells Betty the family fortune, earned in the

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

business, has been wiped out by a falling stock market. The boyfriend leaves after hearing the news of their fortune and the father sees this as proof the boyfriend is only after money. In France, Betty decides to sell her jewellery but is robbed en route to the jewellers. Now penniless, Betty and her father move into a small, rundown apartment. Unbeknown to Betty, her father sneaks out to eat at an expensive restaurant after her cooking proves to be terrible. Once again Betty's boyfriend tries for a reconciliation but she rebukes him as she now thinks her father is right about him, and vows to get a job. Betty finds work at an upmarket restaurant. The mysterious man shows up again and invites Betty to his table. She becomes uncomfortable with the stranger and is relieved when her boyfriend arrives on the scene. The mysterious man leaves after handing her a note that advises her to call him if she ever needs any help. The boyfriend openly disapproves of Betty's job. He leaves after a still-angry Betty dances wildly to provoke him. The boyfriend soon returns with Betty's father. He is outraged at Betty's lowly job and confesses he lied about the loss of their fortune to teach her a lesson. Rather than being pleased, Betty is further angered by both her father and boyfriend. She turns to the mysterious man who offers to take her back to America. Betty gladly accepts but is later horrified to find she has been locked in her cabin. She imagines the worst about the mysterious man's intentions and is both relieved and delighted when her boyfriend arrives and releases her from the cabin. They soon reconcile. The boyfriend hides in the bathroom when they hear the mysterious man approaching. He enters with her father who confesses he hired the man to follow and protect her. The boyfriend is furious and misunderstanding the situation, bursts from his hiding place to attack the man. Betty's father pacifies the boyfriend's anger by telling him he no longer disapproves of their wedding. The reunited couple start discussing the wedding, but soon start bickering over the arrangements.

Reception

Hitchcock's second comedy was this time poorly received, following the critical and commercial success of his first film in the genre, ''

The Farmer's Wife ''The Farmer's Wife'' is a 1928 British silent romantic comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis and Gordon Harker. It is adapted from a 1916 play of the same name by British novelist, poet an ...

''. Although his expanding visual technique continued to draw recognition and praise, they were not enough to distract from the film's lack of an engaging plot. The "mysterious man" at the beginning of the film proved to be misleading, which aroused further displeasure from critics. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', although impressed with the technical aspects, was dismissive of the film. The reviewer felt "The story is of the weakest, an excuse for covering 7,000 feet of harmless celluloid with legs and close-ups". Hitchcock would later voice his unhappiness with the film in

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

's book-length interview ''

Hitchcock/Truffaut ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' is a 1966 book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock, originally released in French as ''Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock''. First published by Éditions Robert Laffont, it is based on a 1962 dialogue between H ...

'', when he said the film had no story to tell.

Preservation and home video status

A restoration of ''Champagne'' was completed in 2012 as part of the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

's £2 million "Save the Hitchcock 9" project to restore all of the director's surviving silent films. Like Hitchcock's other British films, all of which are copyrighted worldwide, ''Champagne'' has been heavily bootlegged on home video. Despite this, various licensed, restored releases have appeared on DVD, Blu-ray and video on demand from

Optimum Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criterion, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfi ...

in the UK,

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

and

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...

in the US, and many others. At the end of 2023, ''Champagne'' will enter the

public domain in the United States Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights (such as copyright) at all, or if the intellectual property rights to the works have expired. All works first published or released in the United States b ...

but only in its non-restored, scoreless form. It will remain copyrighted in the rest of the world until the end of 2050.

References

External links

* *
''Champagne''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...

''Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide: Champagne'' at Brenton Film
{{Authority control 1928 films 1928 comedy films British comedy films Films shot at British International Pictures Studios Films based on British novels Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock British black-and-white films British silent feature films Seafaring films 1920s British films Silent comedy films Silent adventure films