It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It is the Annual General Meeting of International Projects, a large listed company. The board of directors are a shady lot but none of the shareholders ever question their decisions or vote against their motions. Until now. Laura Partridge, a minor shareholder, starts to ask some pretty important questions, questions which the directors don't like. In the aftermath of the meeting the directors are worried that she will form a committee of minority shareholders, and exercise some control of the company. In order to keep her quiet and in line, they offer her a job in the company, as Director of Shareholder Relations. The idea is to give her nothing to do, but Laura has other plans...Great comedy, lead by the irrepressible, effervescent Judy Holliday as Laura Partridge. Some great lines and wonderful comedic timing. A good satire on the corporate world generally.Had the potential to be a great drama too, and expose on the ethics and machinations of corporate boards. Here it falls a bit short of great, though it started very well. The initial few scenes are a wonderful indictment of company boards, how they're in it for themselves rather than the shareholders, the people they represent and work for.However, beyond those few scenes the movie loses focus on the subject. The directors become too cartoonish in their villainousness, and some of the schemes seem unlikely and contrived. Does still make a decent point regarding corporate governance and ethics, though this is dampened somewhat by the final scene, which jars with Ms Partridge's Jane Average "looking out for the little guy" ethic.The romantic angle involving Ms Partridge and Mr McKeever also set the movie back. Due to the obvious large age difference between them, felt very contrived and even creepy. Was also unnecessary and detracted from the message.

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.

Judy Holliday is one of the lost generation of 1950s stars. She is in that group with Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Grace Kelly, and Shirley Booth who gained stardom in motion pictures, but either died prematurely (Dean, Monroe, Holliday), or made few movies (Dean, Booth, Kelly, and Holliday), or left the motion pictures for other areas of public attention (Booth with her stage and television work, Kelly as Princess of Monaco). Holliday, Booth, and Kelly won the Oscar for best actress (Monroe never did - Dean was nominated but never won). But she is probably the least remembered, although she made as many films as Kelly, and more than either Booth or Dean. Moreover, the elderly Booth never really had a film following (unlike her stage following), and Dean was representative of a new type of film hero like Monty Clift and Marlon Brando. Holliday was more accessible, as a representative of urban, mid-century America.What was her best film? BORN YESTERDAY (her Oscar performance) is usually the one mentioned, or IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU (as Gladys Glover, the woman who creates her own publicity and fame), or THE MARRYING KIND? To me though, her best performance is THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC. It takes off from where BORN YESTERDAY left. That film dealt with corporate corruption of politics (Billy Dawn's boyfriend Harry buying an influential Congressman). The corruption there is the creation of of a cartel controlling (through garbage dumps) scrap metal sales. In SOLID GOLD CADILLAC, Harry's junk empire is replaced by a major Wall Street corporation created by Paul Douglas. Douglas' McKeever had a strong hand controlling his fellow directors, but he's taken a "dollar-a-year" job in Washington (his fellow directors hope he'll send the corporation valuable government contracts - he doesn't). Once he leaves, the others (John Williams, Fred Clark, Ralph Dumke, and Ray Collins) take over, and as the narrator (George Burns) says - "Did I tell you they were crooks?...Boy were they crooks!"It would have been smooth sailing but for two problems. Before he left, McKeever attended a final stockholders meeting. One shareholder (who owns only a couple of shares) is Laura Partridge (Holliday). She happens to demand explanations for various of the actions of the firm in the last year. To silence her they make her a secretary - quasi officer. She is used to keep in touch with the shareholders as a public relations figure. The other problem is due to Harry Harkness (Hiram Sherman) the brother-in-law of the firm's President Jack Blessington (John Williams). Harkness has to be given a job at the demand of Blessington's wife (Harkness' sister). He is a total idiot, best used to playing polo. His "abilities" send the firm reeling, and with the antics of Ms Partridge raises the blood pressure of the firm's bosses, particularly the firm's comptroller Clifford Snell (Fred Clark - possibly his best comic performance).The forces of greed (the corporate officers) and the forces of good (Douglas and Holliday when they join forces) confront each other in the last half hour of the film: who will run the great company. All I will say is that it comes down to who owns more of the company. As a look at the financial culture of the Eisenhower years (and even now, in the wake of Enron and other scandals) THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC can't be beaten. As a showcase of Judy Holliday's friendly, common sensible urbanite taking on the corrupt it is wonderful. Witness her momentarily getting the upper hand over the villains when she uncovers an particularly stupid action by Sherman regarding a company subsidiary. The four directors silently listen to her lecture and agree to her demands, and at the end are glaring at the embarrassed Sherman. If you want to see Holliday at her best comic performance (my opinion), I recommend this film for that purpose.

I have seen this movie about three times, and each time I am taken aback by the sweetness and honesty of the character Laura Partridge, as played by Judy Holiday. Even though the plot is predictable, I still enjoy watching a woman of character (who first comes across as a dizzy dame) as she continues to outsmart the cynical "opposition." A sweet comedy, and a good escape from the "real world."