{ "id": "ep7r91g9dw", "slug": "champagne-1928-film", "title": "Champagne (1928 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent", "label": "Early and silent cinema", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "label": "Released 1927 to 2012", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Champagne (1928) is a British silent comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock for British International Pictures, released 20 August 1928. A millionaire (Gordon Harker) feigns bankruptcy to teach his daughter (Betty Balfour) a lesson; restored by the BFI in 2012.", "snippet": "Champagne (1928) is a British silent comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock for British International Pictures, released 20 August 1928. A millionaire (Gordon Harker) feigns bankruptcy to teach his daughter (Betty Balfour) a lesson; restored by the BFI in 2012.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "markdown": "# Champagne (1928 film)\n\n**Champagne** is a 1928 British silent comedy directed by [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock), in which a millionaire feigns bankruptcy to teach his frivolous daughter a lesson, forcing her to earn her own living.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) It was produced by John Maxwell for British International Pictures and distributed by Wardour Films, and it was released on 20 August 1928 as Hitchcock's eighth film.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) Hitchcock himself ranked it low in his work, calling it \"probably the lowest ebb in my output\", yet it contains several of his characteristic visual devices, including an opening shot filmed through a raised champagne glass.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) • [3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-distribution/bfi-international-distribution/touring-programmes/hitchcock-9)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / release | Alfred Hitchcock; released 20 August 1928, his eighth film[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) |\n| Production | British International Pictures, produced by John Maxwell, distributed by Wardour Films[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) |\n| Cast | Betty Balfour (the girl), Jean Bradin (the boy), Ferdinand von Alten (the man), Gordon Harker (the father)[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) |\n| Writers | Scenario by Eliot Stannard, from Hitchcock's adaptation of a screen story by Walter C. Mycroft[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) |\n| Format | Black-and-white silent, 35 mm, 1.33:1, eight reels / 8,038 feet; British Board of Film Censors certificate U[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) |\n| Running time | Sources differ: 95 minutes (BFI film page), 105 minutes (BBFC and BFI touring program), 86 minutes (Rialto Pictures)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) • [4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/champagne-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndc3odc) • [5](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/hitchcocks-champagne) |\n| Restoration | Restored by the BFI National Archive in 2012 as one of the \"Hitchcock 9\"; premiered at BFI Southbank on 27 September 2012 with a live score by Mira Calix[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and cast\n\nThe story follows a spoiled heiress whose father, a champagne magnate, disapproves of her engagement to an unsuitable suitor. He convinces her that the family has lost its fortune, so that she must make her own living; she takes a job in a cabaret selling the champagne on which her father's wealth was built.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) • [7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72458/champagne) The British Board of Film Classification summarizes the setup as an heiress's elopement that causes her father to take drastic steps.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/champagne-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndc3odc)\n\nThe film is built around Betty Balfour, then a major British silent comedy star known for the popular 'Squibs' series, in which she played a Cockney flower girl, and for The Vagabond Queen (1929).[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) Gordon Harker plays the father, Jean Bradin the boyfriend, and [Ferdinand](https://www.edgepedia.org/ferdinand) von Alten a mysterious man whom the father has employed to spy on his daughter.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html) • [1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne) In one disturbing imagined sequence the heroine pictures herself sexually assaulted by this man, and the film's observed voyeurism by several characters is described by the BFI as an emblematic Hitchcock touch.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne)\n\n## Style\n\nAlthough the plot is slight, the film carries several experimental touches. The opening shot is filmed through a raised champagne glass, and the BFI's touring program notes a look through the dregs of a glass of champagne that brackets the picture.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-distribution/bfi-international-distribution/touring-programmes/hitchcock-9) • [8](https://nwfilmnewsroom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sept_oct_final_low-res.pdf) Other noted sequences include comic effects conveying seasickness for the girl's fiancé aboard a swaying ship, where a drunk man walks in a straight line while everyone else sways violently.[9](https://silentfilm.org/champagne/) • [10](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/champagne-film-review-by-scott-macdonald) The BFI describes the film as an early example of Hitchcock's long-term fascination with the foibles of the wealthy.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-distribution/bfi-international-distribution/touring-programmes/hitchcock-9)\n\n## Reception and Hitchcock's verdict\n\nHitchcock later remembered the film for its \"hodge-podge of a story\" and called it the lowest ebb of his output.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72458/champagne) Contemporary reception was mixed: the trade paper Variety called the whole thing \"dire\", even though the studio's pressbook had promoted it as \"light, frivolous, frothy\" from the \"premier British director and one of the finest in the world\".[11](https://filozofia.uni-miskolc.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WhittyStephen-2016-The-Alfred-Hitchcock-Encyclopedia.pdf) Later assessments have been divided in a similar way, praising the visual invention while finding the story thin; on Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 63% Tomatometer from 8 reviews.[10](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/champagne-film-review-by-scott-macdonald) • [12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1057837-champagne)\n\n## Restoration\n\nChampagne was one of the nine surviving Hitchcock silents restored by the BFI National Archive in 2012, the largest restoration project the archive had undertaken to that point.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne) • [3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-distribution/bfi-international-distribution/touring-programmes/hitchcock-9) The restoration was carried out in association with [StudioCanal](https://www.edgepedia.org/studiocanal), with principal funding from The Eric Anker-Petersen Charity and additional funding from Deluxe 142.[13](https://www.britishcouncil.org.il/en/Champagne)\n\nThe work presented unusual problems. The team worked from an original negative, which gave very good image quality, but examination revealed an instruction scratched into a leader reading '2nd neg': the negative had been assembled from second-best shots, kept as a backup for damage or export prints, a known practice at British International Pictures. Because this negative is the only original element in existence, the film's appearance as originally released cannot be established.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne) No production records survive, and Britain's pre-World War II censorship records were destroyed in the Blitz, leaving no intertitle lists or scene descriptions to guide the edit.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne) A 1959 fine-grain duplicate, containing the same scenes out of sequence with unmade lap dissolves and one rogue French title, was used to cover deteriorated sections; unmade dissolves were tidied up, and the intertitles were remade with the original fonts and illustrations.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne) The restored film premiered at BFI Southbank on 27 September 2012 with a live score by Mira Calix.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Champagne (1928), BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/1989189d-3c3f-5645-8706-cd2359f6bdec/champagne)\n2. [Champagne (1928), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/C/Champagne1928.html)\n3. [The Hitchcock 9 – international touring programme, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-distribution/bfi-international-distribution/touring-programmes/hitchcock-9)\n4. [Champagne, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/champagne-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndc3odc)\n5. [Hitchcock's Champagne, Rialto Pictures catalogue](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/hitchcocks-champagne)\n6. [Restoring Hitchcock #4: the trouble with Champagne, BFI (Bryony Dixon, 2012)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/restoring-hitchcock-4-trouble-champagne)\n7. [Champagne, Turner Classic Movies (Roger Fristoe, 2004)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72458/champagne)\n8. [The Hitchcock 9, Northwest Film Center press kit (2013)](https://nwfilmnewsroom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sept_oct_final_low-res.pdf)\n9. [Champagne, San Francisco Silent Film Festival](https://silentfilm.org/champagne/)\n10. [Champagne (1928) review, Eye for Film (Scott Macdonald, 2007)](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/champagne-film-review-by-scott-macdonald)\n11. [The Alfred Hitchcock Encyclopedia (Stephen Whitty, 2016)](https://filozofia.uni-miskolc.hu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WhittyStephen-2016-The-Alfred-Hitchcock-Encyclopedia.pdf)\n12. [Champagne, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1057837-champagne)\n13. [Champagne (UK 1928), British Council](https://www.britishcouncil.org.il/en/Champagne)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1927 to 2012*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Champagne (1928 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Champagne (1928 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Champagne (1928 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/champagne-1928-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Champagne is a British silent comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock for British International Pictures, released 20 August 1928." }