Born Yesterday (1950)

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

Fmovies: 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.

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.

Born Yesterday fmovies. 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.

"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.

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.