What makes it different from others?

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Hitchcock was once asked, if he could obliterate one of his movie from film history, which one would it be. 'Champagne', he said. To Truffaut he said 'The film had no story to tell'. Although visually striking, the film really has very close to plot. A rich father tries to teach a lesson to his spoiled daughter. There is mysterious man mixed in the story, but his intentions are revealed right away. The sweetheart of the rich girl is pretty straight guy with no surprises. And then the girl herself, played annoyingly by Betty Balfour. I don't mean by the big-gestured silent movie acting, but her performance was simply off. Although comedy, the film lacked much comedy besides couple of brief moments that offered some chuckles. This film is only for Hitchcock completeist (like myself), and besides it's technical achievement 'Champagne' holds no other entertainment value.

When the cork popped on "Champagne" in 1928, silent star Betty Balfour was a much bigger name than Alfred Hitchcock. Ms. Balfour was known as Britain's Mary Pickford. So, this is much more a Balfour flick than a Hitchcock. The director called it "Dreadful" (he was never happy filming a "star vehicle"). This was a transatlantic-themed film, seeking to broaden Balfour's popularity; but, she never "went Hollywood", and was stalled by sound. Balfour and French boyfriend Jean Bradin gain some mileage out of getting tipsy on an Atlantic cruise ship. Hitchcock gets in a few interesting shots. The sequences following Balfour going to get a job as a toothpaste model, but finding men more interested in her legs than her teeth, kick it up a notch. Nothing too revolutionary.***** Champagne (8/20/28) Alfred Hitchcock ~ Betty Balfour, Jean Bradin, Gordon Harker, Theo von Alten

Let's see. This very wealthy young lady, Betty Balfour, runs, or rather flies away from home on a lark. Picked up at sea by a ship, she meets two classy gentlemen. One is a villainous looking older type with a mustache (Frederick von Alten), the other a handsome young fellow, a little priggish (Jean Bradin).Her father catches up to her and informs her that in her absence the market has fallen and they are now broke. We next see Betty and Daddy living in reduced circumstances, with Betty doing all the work. Bradin visits them and offers to take her out of "this wretched place." Right away, I didn't like Bradin too much. That wretched place looked more comfortable than where I grew up. Not that it matters -- Betty tells him she couldn't leave Daddy alone in any case, although she and Bradin are clearly attracted to one another.Betty, however, must get a job to support her and her father. She becomes a "flower girl" at a cantina, where she runs into both of the men she met on the ship. The unctuous and oily Maitre De, for whom she works, makes life miserable for her. One thing follows another and she decides to run home to America was the mustachioed von Alten. Bradin catches them aboard ship before they leave. A fight ensues but Daddy bursts in and tells them that it was all a joke. They're still as rich as Croesus! Betty swoons into Bradin's arms! Bon voyage! I got lost a bit here and there in this silent flick. There weren't many title cards and the transitions seemed too quick for me at times. Either the editing was off or my brain is turning into some kind of instant soy burger compound. Add one cup milk and one beaten egg. For instance, Daddy tells Betty they are busted and, whammo, we see her serving him what struck me as a recherché dinner with champagne, while he smiles in his evening clothes. And they're supposed to be POOR.It's also rather too long to be adequately supported by this rather thin and whimsical story. It's not slow. It just meanders along leaving oxbow lakes behind. There were times I didn't understand her motives. Why does she pretend to be jolly in the cantina while the priggish young man who could be her savior sits across the table from her? Or IS she pretending? See what I mean? Interesting experiment. Two samples of people, both naive movie-goers who wouldn't know Alfred Hitchcock from Fred Niblo. Tell Group One that the movie they are about to see is called "Champagne" and was directed by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. Tell Group Two nothing. Then show them the movie and ask them to rate it on a scale from one to ten, ten being best. Prediction: Group One will rate it significantly higher than Group Two.Why else would anyone watch this extended and not particularly engaging film except for their knowing that it was an early effort of Alfred Hitchcock?

There's not much to this film of Hitch's, a bit like champagne itself but not so mirth-inducing. Maybe you already know it but he went on make better films than this – many of 'em in fact, but notwithstanding that I still find this one an enjoyable watch.Spoilt little rich girl Betty Balfour is taught a salutary if convoluted lesson by her Wall Street father ably played by Gordon Harker on how to behave as befits the daughter of a millionaire. In this exercise he sorts out the problem of the genuineness of Betty's suitor too. Some of the sets were as flimsy as the plot (almost diaphanous!) but would have made do for the audience that would only see it the once, and some of the photography and ideas were excellent with some, like the view through the bottom of the glass re-used by Hitch years later. Gurning through a wide range of emotions Betty Balfour kept on Bouncing Back in the same manner as Squibs, her famous role, whilst Gordon Harker excelled at playing this type of role before he started parodying himself in the '30's and playing up his down to Earth voice and mannerisms. And even Claude Hulbert made a 3 second appearance on the club stairs in one of his first film roles. If nothing else, it's worth a watch for the sinister Hitchcockian twist at the very end.All told, not a great but an interesting film with a pleasant atmosphere, but because there's so few extant it's definitely a satisfying British silent film.