User Reviews

She bursts into the screen. Every tiny little nuance in her extraordinarily telling eyes are absolutely true and we surrender to her persona without even thinking about it. She was miraculous. "I'm stupid and I like it" she tells William Holden with devastating sincerity. She exudes such honesty that it's impossible to be indifferent to her. Ruth Gordon and Garson Kannin concocted a realistic fairy tale that Judy Holliday inhabits (rather than inhibits)with overwhelming naturalness. It is a sensational creation and George Cukor, as usual, puts the camera at her service to magnificent results. Look at the card game, no cut aways from her face for which, I was enormously grateful. If you haven't seen it, rent it now. You'll have an unforgettable time.

"Born Yesterday" is a comedy with some serious ideas behind it. The film does a wonderful job in its subtle take about corruption in high places, the role of the lobbyists and influential people in Washington politics. The movie presents an interesting aspect for today's audiences, as things related to the film have been in the news lately, making the film relevant.

The comedy by Garson Kanin ran for years on the New York stage. Judy Holliday had starred on Broadway opposite Paul Douglas. For the movie version Broderick Crawford was selected. George Cukor directed with his well known style and getting excellent performances of this ideal cast.

The film is the gem it is because the great star turn by Judy Holliday, an actress that was unique in everything she did. Billie Dawn was one of the best achievements in the movies. Ms. Holliday was an intelligent actress who knew what made her character work. She made a wonderful contribution with Billie, who in spite of being supposed to be a girl without brains, Ms. Holliday shows her to be a smart no-nonsense woman with more common sense than anyone could give her credit for.

Broderick Crawford made quite an impression as the ruthless Harry Brock, a man that can't see the goodness in Billie. He constantly belittles her and even goes as far as slapping her on occasion, but that is what someone like him would normally do when he can't get his way, or thinks is being threatened by a woman like Billie. Mr. Crawford was a wonderful actor as proved in his appearances in Fellini's "Il bidone", and in "All the President's Men".

The other good performance was William Holden, who as Paul Verrall, transforms Billie from an abused woman into someone that is not afraid to open her mouth against the bully that has been taken her for granted for a long time. Mr. Holden clearly understood the man he was playing and makes a wonderful match for Ms. Holliday.

"Born Yesterday" is a fun film to watch because all the elements that went into it and the inspired direction George Cukor and the ensemble work of the cast, but especially from its star, Judy Holliday.

A brilliant Judy Holliday performance is the main attraction in this witty, brisk adaptation of Garson Kanin's Broadway success. As a gangster's moll who gradually awakens to her civic responsibility, Holliday expands her dumb-broad persona from her previous film with Cukor, Adam's Rib, into a character who's sweet, memorable and surprisingly tough.

Born Yesterday is a suitable companion piece to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, a much more self-consciously "important" film that imparts similar messages about political corruption and the responsibility of individuals to require ethical governance. The message is arguably more powerfully imparted here - filtered through the perspective of the selfish, spoiled and barely-literate Ms. Dawn - than in the film focused on Jimmy Stewart's eloquent (and intimidatingly ethical) Mr. Smith, an "everyman" who is vastly morally superior to most audience members.

William Holden is relaxed and charming as the Henry Higgins-ish newspaper man tasked with opening Billie's eyes and Broderick Crawford is suitably broad and menacingly raspy as her corrupt, vulgar boyfriend. However, the movie is all Holliday's from the opening scenes, which play on the audience's lack of familiarity with the actress by presenting her as a refined, statuesque beauty in an extended sequence until, at last, she squawks out her first lines in nearly impenetrable, helium-voiced Brooklynese to hilarious effect.

A richly deserved Best Actress Oscar for the newcomer Holliday, despite formidable competition from grande dames Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).

One of my favourite films of all time, this Broderick Crawford, Judy Holliday, William Holden vehicle was magnificently written by Garson Kanin and superbly directed by George Cukor.

Cukor did something that is seldom done with any film: He decided to rehearse `Born Yesterday' as if it were a play (which it was on Broadway and of which Judy Holliday performed the role of Billie Dawn 1,200 times) and had a complete theater built on one of the studio's soundstages and filled it with an audience so he could perfectly time the laughs and the pauses so the movie-going public wouldn't miss a thing.

This bit of directing genius is part of what is responsible for the remarkable film that is `Born Yesterday.'

The other part of the equation is the casting of Broderick Crawford as the slimy, junk dealer turned multi-millionaire, Harry Brock.

Rita Hayworth was originally slated to star as Billie Dawn but when she married Ally Khan and put her screen career on hold the producers ran through an entire list of potential candidates… It was only with great reluctance that they finally decided to use Judy Holliday in the role she created on Broadway – not believing she was a big enough `name' to pull in audiences.

Lucky break for them: She went on to win the first Oscar ever awarded to an actress for a comedic role.

Her every movement, glance and word is a study in brilliance of the not-so-dumb blonde, Billie Dawn.

Unfortunately Judy Holliday's career was cut short when she died of breast cancer just a few weeks short of her 44th birthday – who knows what kind of work she could have accomplished had she only lived.

`Born Yesterday' went on to receive five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, but the only award went to Judy Holliday for Best Actress; she also won the Golden Globe in the same category that year.

This is a finely crafted tale of greed, corruption and the ultimate price that must be paid by those that believe they can manipulate the law and the government by for and of the people.

It is a brilliant movie and should not be missed.

Delightful! Hilarious! How often do we get to see a perfect performance? We're closing in on a century of movies and, as we can see, it's pretty rare. So flawless was Judy Holliday's portrayal of Billie Dawn that, as a relative unknown, she came from behind to beat out two heavyweights for the Oscar in 1950. I'm sure this was due in no small part to her refining the role for nearly three years on stage.

Everything else fell into place as well. Broderick Crawford was just excellent as Harry Brock. Crawford is able to swing you back and forth between anger and sympathy for his character. Not an easy task! William Holden is perfectly calm and reserved as Paul Verrall. His character forms a wonderful opposite to Billie. And, with direction, George Cukor worked his usual magic.

Most of the themes are timeless. A person lives in ignorant bliss until their eyes are opened. They realize that there is a better life for them and begin their struggle for improvement. They discover that their greatest opponents to advancement are not those above them, but those at their current level.

A few of the elements are dated. Particularly Jim's speech about how hard it is to find a corrupt politician in Washington. Wow. Maybe that was the case in 1950. Now it's impossible to find an honest one.

It all comes back to Judy Holliday. This movie is her vehicle. She was a rare talent who we were only able to see for a very short time. I love all of her movies and this one, Born Yesterday, is my favorite.

Thank you Judy!!!!!!

More often than not, I get annoyed at the sound of Oscar award winning (for this part) Judy Holiday's (né Judith Tuvim) voice but it served her character well in this moving drama in which she plays a dim witted and exploited partner of a uncouth and domineering man (Broderick Crawford). William Holden, as always, is very good in his role; this time he is the reporter hired to refine Holiday but falls in love with her. There are so many memorable scenes in this movie but I think the best ones are the card game between Judy and Broderick, the somewhat heavy handed references to Jefferson, and of course the comeuppance of Broderick. The supporting actors, especially Broderick's longsuffering lawyer are also more than competent in their complimentary roles. 8/10.

It is amazing to think that a talented person like Judy Holliday really was a star only for one decade (on film), and only in a total of nine films. She actually made more than nine, but several of them (prior to "Adam's Rib") were actually small roles or small pictures - including (interestingly enough) "Too Much Johnson" a film that was made by Orson Welles for a Broadway comedy he was directing in 1938. From "Adam's Rib" through "The Bells Are Ringing" Judy managed to demonstrate she was a gifted comic actress, a good dramatic actress, and a fine, even sexy musical comedy star. She would even win an Oscar for her second starring role ("Born Yesterday" - the currently reviewed movie). This should have guaranteed some degree of posthumous movie glory. It does to those who take the trouble of watching her performances, but most of her films are rarely shown (or, in the case of "Adam's Rib" they are shown because the real stars are Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn; and "The Bells Are Ringing" is recalled as one of Vincent Minelli's musicals).

Judy died of cancer in 1965, much too young. Had she lived twenty or thirty more years (even up to the present) her filmography would have been longer and more elaborate. A decade's worth of good performances is too dependent on the tastes associated with that decade. And Judy will always be part of the Eisenhower years - not the most glamorous period of our history.

"Born Yesterday" was a play by Garson Kanin, dealing with an unscrupulous, self-made scrap metal dealer and millionaire named Harry Brock. On Broadway, the part was played by Paul Douglas opposite Judy, and apparently they did not get along too well. Yet their stage chemistry worked, and the show ran for four years. Oddly enough, when the film was made, Douglas was not the star - the role went to Broderick Crawford (who had won the Oscar for best actor in "All The King's Men" the previous year. Yet six years later, Douglas did very well as McKeever, the Wall Street corporate leader, opposite Judy as Laura Partridge, in "The Solid Gold Cadillac". In retrospect it would have been interesting seeing Douglas play a more violent type, but Crawford does quite nicely as the street smart Harry.

Harry, Billie Dawn (Judy - his girlfriend), and his bodyguard/cousin Eddie come to Washington, D.C. Harry wants to expand his scrap iron - garbage dump empire by getting legislation passed allowing him an exception to certain tariffs and taxes. This requires his bribing a Congressman (Larry Oliver) who might sway the required committee in changing the law. Supervising this is Harry's lawyer Jim Devery (Howard St. John), an alcoholic who was once quite promising as a legal scholar (he was close to the great associate justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, whom he says was his "god"). But Harry, although rather rough himself in manners, decides that Billie should sharpen her image. She seems too naive, but it is actually that she has never been stimulated (certainly not by the rough, unread, uncultured Harry). Harry has attracted the attention of a reporter named Paul Verrall (William Holden), and on Devery's suggestion, he hires Verrall to transform Billie into a socially acceptable girlfriend.

Paul and Billie fall in love, of course, and the education works too well. In fact, while comparable to Eliza Doolittle's education by Henry Higgins it is actually different. Eliza gains a firmer grasp on her self respect because her speech and manners improve. But she never questions the social order of things, or Higgins' political and economic views. That's because Eliza is never trained to be thinking that widely. But Billie is - Paul has her reading books, and looking up words. His education is far more sweeping. As a result, she starts questioning what Harry and Devery are doing in Washington - which Harry is not very happy about.

"Born Yesterday" works due to the acting of Holliday, Crawford (who for all his roughness is funny - see his constant frustration playing gin with Billie), Holden, and St. John. It ends up as reaffirmation of democracy over corruption, and of the possibility of an individual to grow. And it did set the stage for Holliday's screen personae as the urbanite whose humanity and intelligence won out in the end.

There were moments, in Born Yesterday, when Judy Holliday reminded me of Lucille Ball doing her famous hair-brained TV character--but doing a better job of that kind of funny, I thought. In black-and-white, there are some physical resemblances between the two, but Holliday's comedy in this picture is nuanced, rather than milked. It's a surprise, but a nice one, to read that she beat out two famous performers in two dramatic films--Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve--to take Best Actress Oscar for this comic role.

Holliday and Broderick Crawford's "funny" voices--perpetually raised and in a key of harsh could have been awful, but they remain hilarious from front to finish. I admired how the script and the director avoided some obvious, easy to imagine pitfalls with this story arc. Holliday's character may have an intellectual and moral awakening, but she's still swapping loud brash repartee with her Harry all the way through.

At points, this picture made me think of some of my favourite French films in which minor or unglamorous characters, who would occupy cinematic bit parts in most movies are pushed into the spotlight for a closer look. Born Yesterday engaged in that kind of affectionate recasting and gave these actors room to strut their classic best.

Any play that runs 1642 performances on Broadway for three years you know will wind up in Hollywood. But usually the Broadway cast never makes it intact.

It didn't here, but we were lucky to get Judy Holliday to repeat her acclaimed Broadway role her as Billie Dawn, gal pal of junk tycoon Broderick Crawford. Judy only got the role because Rita Hayworth decided to marry Aly Khan and after testing several others who weren't quite right Harry Cohn decided to go with the original. She rewarded Cohn's late faith with a Best Actress Oscar for 1950.

Speaking of Oscars, Cohn had an interesting problem on his hands which he solved with Born Yesterday. Broderick Crawford had brought home an Oscar the year before for All the King's Men. But Crawford was hardly traditional leading man material. But there sure were enough similarities with the dictatorial minded Willie Stark with the tyrannical Harry Brock so that Cohn could cast Crawford and keep the momentum going for his career. Crawford's part was played by Paul Douglas on stage who would get to Hollywood right around this time as well.

Still neither Holliday or Crawford were box office and Columbia needed one name that had some guaranteed pull with movie audiences. That's where Bill Holden came in. The part was built up from the Broadway version, all that tourist business at the Capitol and other Washington sites were not on Broadway. The role of the intellectual newspaper reporter was played by Gary Merrill and Merrill was certainly better suited for the part than Holden. Personally I think that Cohn should have gone with his other reliable leading man, Glenn Ford in this part. Still even with the built up role Holden was a definite number three in this film.

The plot is very simple, the magic of Born Yesterday is watching Holliday's character grow in awareness of what's around her. She's the play thing of junk tycoon Harry Brock, a self made millionaire who's street smart, rich, and nothing else. He's aware of it though and aware that Holliday lacks the social graces as well.

Since Crawford can't or won't learn them, at least he wants a polished hostess to make up for it. He hires newspaper reporter Holden to teach Holliday. But he teaches her about democracy and the corrupting influence of special interests of which Crawford is one and she's now aware of.

Crawford also put a lot of his holdings in her name for tax purposes. That's a created situation, Crawford regrets starting.

Holliday became so identified with the Billie Dawn role that when she started having blacklisting problems due to her left wing politics, she went into character as Billie Dawn before Congress. The chumps in Congress actually bought it all and she skated. Actually in real life Holliday was a well read intelligent woman, the last thing from Billie Dawn you could imagine.

Judy Holliday spent the remainder of her career between Broadway and Hollywood so her film output remains small and she died way too young. Still as another uneducated character in a film said, what there is, is cherce.

Born Yesterday is as cherce as it gets.

Okay, so Bette and Gloria lost out to Judy Holliday in this Oscar race 50 years ago. In 20/20 hindsight, have there not been enough scenery-chewing, over-the-top dramatics that have won Academy Awards over the years? Even the least of actors acknowledge that comedy is more difficult to play well than drama.

When I watch "Born Yesterday" - I KNOW I'm observing two masters at work: Judy Holliday and Broderick Crawford. (Holden gives a good performance, of course, but can't hold a light to his co-stars in this particular project.) Holliday is mesmerizing with every expression, every screechy syllable - and watch those hands during the gin game! Perfection in each gesture. Crawford pulls off a nifty trick by making the viewer simultaneously loathe and feel compassion for his character.

Although she died before I was even a twinkle in my mother's eye, I think I could have hung out with Judy Holliday (nee' Judith Tuvim.) I like intelligent people, and I've read that she was a brilliant woman. Makes sense: it takes some serious smarts to play so dumb. She was a funnier Marilyn before there WAS a Marilyn.

Partially because she died so young, and partially because of her refusal to play patty-cake with the HUAC, she is now an under-appreciated memory. There's one more reason to love Judy: can you think of any other person hauled before the HUAC who had the . . . <ahem> . . . gonads to confound the committee by appearing as a character from one of their own movies? And pull it off? Now that, ladies and gentlemen, takes guts AND brains!

Treasure this unique gem and then . . .

Thank God for the short-lived, but stunning talent of Judy Holliday.

I just finished watching this film, and, on the whole I liked it. I liked the story, I liked the protagonists, I liked the issues and the point of view, for the most part.

But what I found disappointing was that this was supposed to be a comedy, and in that regard, I think it is largely a failure. I just didn't find it funny. I had a couple chuckles during the film, but not many, and no serious laughs. I am rather rankled that my Leonard Maltin book described it as "hilarious"; it was most assuredly not.

Judy Holliday's performance was fine, but I am in agreement with those who would've given the Oscar to someone else that year. I'd have to go with Swanson and Sunset Blvd.

So, all in all, a good film, but don't set your expectations too high.

I saw this one years ago on TV. Lately, my wife and I have been watching re-runs of "Highway Patrol" on MeTV and I thought it might be fun to see the movie again (she hadn't seen it) with Broderick Crawford in one of his famous movie roles. It wasn't fun. The Crawford character "Harry" is a screaming sociopath from the opening credits on, and he lacks any hint of subtlety, nuance, or humanity. What might work to convey character to someone in the last row of the theater rarely works on screen, where it seems forced and over-the-top. Harry even attacks his own lawyer in a fit of rage! He's a psycho, we get the point! The Holliday character is simply annoying. She screeches, and does strange, fidgety, neurotic things that are supposed to convey how "unsophisticated" she is. Instead, I got the sense she needed urgent psychiatric help. There is absolutely no chemistry between Crawford and Holliday - zilch - and Holden's motives are unclear throughout. (There is no chemistry between Holden and Holliday, either.) I know this is heresy in some movie circles, and I know Holliday won the Academy Award, etc. etc. etc. but I thought she was miscast in the role. (Holden was great as usual with the material that he had; he was absolutely-bar-none the greatest movie star of the fifties.) Rumor has it that Marilyn Monroe was tested for the Holliday part, and she would have been perfect: soft-hearted, soft-spoken, dazzling, vulnerable, sexual. Anyway, not for us - we stopped watching about 20 minutes in. Maybe it got better after that, I may give this one another shot down the road.

I see that most of the reviews on this site are glowing, 10/10 or 9/10. So..you have my opinion only.

Judy Holliday rightly won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of dumb blonde kept woman Billie Dawn, a role she successfully played on Broadway in the stage show production. Yet to only mention her would be doing a disservice to the films other strengths as it has many to justify it being labelled a classic of its time.

Billie Dawn is the girlfriend of scrap metal magnate Harry Brock, she's not that bright and Brock uses her as a front for some less than honest dealings. Sure he cares but his treatment of her borders on the repulsive whilst still managing to get the ribs tickled, Brock worries that her dumbness will do down important business issues socially, so he arranges for the calm and well spoken Paul Verrall to be her chaperon and train her to be eloquent and more astute of the world and its history.

The film then becomes your standard Pygmalion story as the nice but dim Billie not only learns about the world she lives in, she also learns about the world SHE HAS been living in, and coupled with the sexual awakening she finds with Verrall this fills out the rest of the story. It's full of delightful scenes that linger long in the memory, and outside of Holliday's brilliant performance, we get a wonderful example of the polar opposite Male love interest, Broderick Crawford as Brock is a maelstrom of shouting daftness, a man that makes you cringe such is his buffoonery. On the other hand we get the serene and well mannered Verrall played with the right amount of pathos by William Holden, and it is with much credit that amongst the loud brash shows from the other stars, he remains more than a distant memory.

The comedy here will make you cringe one minute, and then have you giggling away the next, all the chief characters here engage you in the way they are meant to, the climax may be a bit too condensed for some but it's a fine ending that befits the previous efforts you have just witnessed, and I defy anyone to not laugh at the gin rummy sequence! 8/10

A hidden gem (I say 'hidden' because as this comment is being written, there are only 400+ votes here in the ImDb for this movie) of a movie from 1950 is "Born Yesterday". Nominated for several Academy Awards and won Best Actress for Judy Holliday's performance of a "not-so-bright" fiancee of another "not-so-bright" but rich and powerful "junkman" played by Broderick Crawford. William Holden also shows another of his fittingly played performances as the newspaperman who teaches Judy Holliday's character the better things she's neglected to even try to learn. Another fine "Broadway Hit" that is preserved on film. Great acting and dialogue does enhance the quality of a movie and this proves it. It also tells a simple story of intelligence that should be heard once in a while. It is not perfect (probably as a result of because of the movie's age and contrast with modern society) but the imperfections could be ignored for it's truly wonderful feeling that reminds me of "Mr. Smith goes to Washington". A movie that should be seen by many politicians and anybody in power. It's just too bad that this movie came at the time of "Sunset Boulevard" and "All About Eve" because it seems to have been neglected as of late. Also, I would like to say to those who say Judy Holliday's performance isn't as deserving against Bette Davis' in All About Eve and Gloria Swanson's in Sunset Boulevard to figure out which one of the roles were the most difficult to play for each particular actress and in fact for any actress. I'm sure that Gloria Swanson's performance was difficult, but it was seemingly so close to her real life that it doesn't seem so difficult (Although that well known fact made 'Sunset Blvd' a greater Masterpiece). As for Bette Davis in 'All About Eve', it was also great but not very difficult for her (She never had a bad performance in her movie career).

Anyway, I recommend this movie to anybody who wants a meaningful movie for a change.

Sometimes luminous and enchanting, at other times banal and phony, Born Yesterday is like many of Cukor's films in that it teeters between its seriousness and its silliness. Here both elements are well pulled off (Holliday's big emotional scene and her cutesy mannerisms hardly qualify her for the Oscar she stole from Swanson and Davis, however) but the result is a chaotic attempt by Cukor to keep pace with Billy Wilder. Its "sophistication" is also a fake, and anybody who has read the papers or lived in Washington knows that this film's species of forced naivete is good for little more than a good laugh.

What a brilliant movie this is. Wonderfully funny, beautifully acted, brilliantly directed and superbly scripted, this is a timeless delight from start to finish. The cinematography is marvellous as well, while the costumes and scenery have a certain elegance about them. The script is witty, funny and intelligent, with not a wasted moment on sight, while the story is endlessly engaging. The film is never dull either, and George Cukor's direction is the best it had been. The acting is just one of the many outstanding assets to this film. William Holden is wonderfully subtle and charming, but it is Judy Holliday's movie, with a presence that melts the heart she was made for the role and is just amazing. In terms of effective scenes, the gin rummy scene fits under that description, it is the epitome of cinematic perfection. Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I expect the movie's serious side took a backseat to Holliday's overpowering comedic performance. Her Billy Dawn is certainly Oscar-worthy in that year's heavy competition. Who can forget the Minnie Mouse voice, the big saucer eyes and sweetly naïve manner. Together, they combine into a career performance in what's a slyly demanding role. But especially, I love that gin game with the exasperated Harry. Billy seems so scatter-brained and he so focused, it's almost like seeing Al Capone get bested by Daffy Duck. What an expert piece of comedic architecture— in my book, it's the movie's and Crawford's best moments.

Speaking of Crawford, he's so consistently loud and abusive, his Harry the junk man (how appropriate) amounts to almost a cartoon character in itself. Director Cukor was known as a woman's director, so maybe that's why Crawford goes over the top. But whatever the reason, he's much too much. The overbearing Harry is supposed to be dislikable but not so dislikable that he becomes a caricature. On a slightly different plane, note how the sexual conventions of the time are slyly finessed—the sleeping arrangements, Billy's withholding sex after the gin game, the suspicious hundred dollars her dad refuses, etc. These amount to a more suggestive screenplay than usual for that straitjacketed time.

As funny as the movie is, it still adds up to more than just an expert amusement. There's a substantial subtext worth remarking on. For example, the moral of the screenplay is a clear one—no tyranny over people's minds. That lesson, of course, applies to Billy in spades, though she acts it out in highly amusing fashion. As the domineering Harry's silken mistress, she shows a tyrannized, inhibited silence in the film's first part— which is also why she so cleverly annoys Harry during that delicious card game. The ex-show girl may be a well-kept victim (check out her suitcases in the hotel lobby), but she's a victim no less, not only of Harry's abuse, but of her own difficult background, as well. The trouble is she's also a victim of her own assumptions and expectations about herself.

Thus, when writer- educator Paul (Holden) arrives on the scene, he arrives as a potential liberator, bringing her both respect and ideas. But he's got to free her not only from Harry, but from her past dependent self, as well. Those tutoring scenes in the nation's capital with its inscribed democratic ideals are well chosen. The ideals, as we learn, apply not only to nations, but to individuals, as well. So when Billy finally recognizes how the two converge, she opens up a new independence of mind and personhood she never realized were waiting there to be freed. And when she finally leaves Harry for Paul, with just a few clothes, she's in effect chosen the 'happy peasant' over the powerful man (Napoleon) and the movie's moral parable is complete.

Nonetheless, there are limits to these lessons. For example, the national monument scenes need not be so reverential since democracy itself remains an ideal, not a religion to be worshipped; at the same time, the 'founding fathers', for all their gifts, were only mortal men and not the gods of a religion. Moreover, the happy peasants of the script don't usually take the risks that drive a history of social and economic progress. Harry may not exemplify this worthy type of risk-taking, but there are limits, I believe, to the 'happy peasant' as a paradigm for an entire society.

Of course, the comedic side of the movie means these more serious points can't be made too subtle or controversial, otherwise the funny parts would be undermined. But I can't help wondering just for the fun of it about the casting. Suppose that instead of the handsome Holden as Billy's catalyst, an ordinary looking man were there instead. Then I wonder how Billy would respond. Or instead of the bullying Crawford, suppose someone less good at being obnoxious were cast. But, of course, much of the movie's satisfaction comes from seeing this nasty guy and his plush prison get rejected.

None of this is meant to take away from the superb comedic side of the movie. But the exceptional appeal of the material (Kanin and Mannheimer) is that it so neatly combines the laughs into food for thought and both of them into a single entertaining package. But above all, the movie remains a superb showcase for one of the best comediennes of that day or this. What a loss that she died so young. Fortunately, the laughs remain.

The dizzy blonde girlfriend of a shady business tycoon gets tutored by a handsome newspaperman in Washington, D.C.; she learns about U.S. Government and more...enough to know that the abusive blowhard she's with is giving her a rough deal. Dated comedy, based on the hit Broadway play, with an erratic tone that switches off and on between the three main characters: brassy (Judy Holliday), romantically sedate and sane (William Holden) and raucous (Broderick Crawford). Crawford in particular doesn't seem to know he's in a comedy, and director George Cuckor doesn't allow his ill-tempered behavior a respite; worse, the writers are so tough on Crawford that we end up caring more about him than was probably intended. Scene-stealing Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar, and she's half a delight; in the first two acts, her brittle witticisms and wide-eyed incredulousness are engaging, but once she smartens up there's nothing left for her to do but trail the men around. Holden doesn't do much except show up looking handsome; his pre-conceived character is just an outline, and Holden can't do much except be easy and charming. The jaunts to the usual D.C. sites have a faint whiff of superficiality (with Holliday's Billie getting fired up over seeing The Constitution), but at least the picture still has some comic drive. By the final act, the writing is too faithful to the play, wrapping things up in a stale, obvious fashion. Billie gets a sweet, funny send-off, but the film is a cut-and-paste job, with a smarter-than-thou sheen which leaves some dissatisfaction behind. **1/2 from ****

Boisterous and highly enjoyable comedy written by the prolific and talented Garson Kanin and filmed by his regular collaborative director George Cukor, "Born Yesterday" showcases the talent of comedienne Judy Halliday to superb, or should that be "supoib" effect, so much so that she won the Oscar that year (over Gloria Swanson, no less in another Holden-starring feature, the great "Sunset Boulevard").

The story roughly adapts the old Pygmalion / Eliza Doolittle story, a sort of educating Billie, as mobster boss Broderick Crawford, with a finger in every pie and a bought-and-paid-for congressman in his pocket comes to Washington to expand his operation along with his dutiful attorney and tie up another major crooked deal. Staying in the best hotel suite in town, also in tow is his eye-candy "dumb blonde" fiancée played by Halliday, who is pressed for tax reasons into being a silent partner in Crawford's business empire and who duly signs every dodgy contract he places in front of her.

After Crawford bumps into William Holden's journalist, to amuse Billie and get her to better fit in with the higher class of the town's corrupt cognoscenti, he offers Holden the gig to educate her, which Holden does by bringing her books and teaching her history through visits to some of the capital's national monuments. A little knowledge as they say is a dangerous thing and it's not long before Halliday and Holden become an item and, even worse for Crawford, his bimbo doormat literally wises up to her situation and naturally rebels.

A good example of a stage play which cleverly belies its origins by having Holden and Halliday doing the town, the film nevertheless stands or falls on characterisation and dialogue and thankfully it's a winner in both respects. Halliday is a delight as the slowly dawning, now bespectacled former-airhead, seizing with relish on every new word or iota of information she absorbs and with a particular way with a put-down ("Vice-versa!") when she and Crawford are in full argumentative flow. Crawford too is a hit as the boorish kingpin, although I didn't like seeing his character revert to using his hands to get the upper hand over her, so to speak, even as I appreciate the scene's importance as a plot-point given that it actually signals the end of his sway over her. Holden too is fine in the kind of part Jack Lemmon would later make his own as the reliable if slightly put-upon regular guy who becomes Billie's ally.

While the screenplay may slightly overdo its promotion of American capitalism and democracy to signpost Billie's awakening and at the same time, demonise Crawford's criminality, it's still a fast-paced, sharply-drawn and well-realised contemporary comedy with a political edge. There's an interesting real-life postscript too, in that when the left-leaning Halliday was later called by the House Of Un-American Activities to testify before them and name names, she invoked the empty-vessel Billie Dawn character under interrogation to cleverly avoid giving up her friends. Crazy like a fox, indeed.

When you consider that Judy Holliday won the Oscar for her performance in BORN YESTERDAY, she beat out Bette Davis as Margo Channing in ALL ABOUT EVE and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD. Controversy over this award, given out 50 years ago, is still raging!

Born Yesterday (1950)

George Cukor has always been known as a woman's director (maybe the best), and if there is some contrary proof here, it is how boorish and pushy the men's parts of this movie are. The lead man, not William Holden (who plays second fiddle with extraordinary coolness), but Broderick Crawford, is played at the top of his voice, and it'll kill you if you grew up in a quiet house.

But of course, there is playing force against silence, and it does work even in small moments right away. And the bluster ends up being a foil for something tender and possibly tragic, a turnaround that defies the almost screwball beginning. Or so it seems as you go.

It's partly Judy Holliday's character, and performance, that keep you glued. She might seem a caricature at first, but there is a lot of subtlety to her acting--watch the hands, the eyes looking away, even her whole body, which isn't a tart looking for attention, but someone uncomfortable where she is. And the Holden character, a writer of some kind who seems to have fallen into a scoop of surprising dimensions, makes the most of the situation.

Cukor isn't only a director of women of course, he's a master at storytelling. That's what really shows here. It's fast without being dizzying. It's interesting, and human, and funny enough and rich enough to hold the line through even some rough patches. I found it all very entertaining, and if you're inclined, there's a lesson in how to be a good citizen built in. Never mind the ending, which seems to wink at the audience--as if justice is all relative, and everyone can get away with whatever they can get away with.

Of course the point isn't so deep. This is a comedy and a funny one, and a loud one. Bring cotton. And love that Judy.

Maybe it's the fact that all the elements that make BORN YESTERDAY funny are too well known to provoke the kind of laughter that greeted it on Broadway years ago. It all seems a bit stale now, the abrasive performance of BRODERICK CRAWFORD is cringe inducing (he's the worst kind of bully to everyone), and JUDY HOLLIDAY actually gives a pretty one-note performance as "Billie", reciting all her lines in that nasal Bronx manner that becomes tiresome after awhile.

But emerging completely unscathed in all of this is WILLIAM HOLDEN, who is excellent in what on paper must have looked like an awfully dull role and certainly one that's second fiddle to Holliday and Crawford. Yet, he gives the film's most polished and assured performance, never missing a beat in his carefree responses to Crawford's bullying tactics.

The whole comedy is too strident for my taste, consisting largely of Crawford's never ending temperamental outbursts, never for a moment giving the man any sympathy whatsoever. Whether this is the fault of George Cukor's direction or a mistake on Crawford's part, I don't know, but he seems to find no humanity in the role.

The unlikely pairing of Holliday and Holden for the happy ending seems awfully contrived--but then again, let's remember Marilyn and Arthur Miller.

Summing up: Not quite as funny as I remembered it from years ago.

My high hopes to finally see Judy's Oscar performance (won over Bette Davis!) were crashed. Obviously a stage play which is always difficult to transfer to screen. Someone should have told Broderick Crawford to turn it down a notch for the screen. The dashing William Holden fell in love with Judy far too early. There wasn't any development leading up to their first kiss. All of the sudden they were in love with each other? Also, how can a man, Holden, just stand there and watch how a woman he is interested in gets abused without interfering is beyond me.