Born Yesterday

BORN YESTERDAY (PG)

D: George Cukor

Columbia (S. Sylvan Simon)

US 🇺🇸 1950

102 mins

Comedy/Drama/Romance

W: Albert Mannheimer [based on the play by Garson Kanin]

DP: Joseph Walker

Ed: Charles Nelson

Mus: Frederick Hollander

Judy Holliday (Billie Dawn), Broderick Crawford (Harry Brock), William Holden (Paul Verrall), Howard St. John (Jim Devery), Frank Otto (Eddie), Larry Oliver (Norval Hedges)

Judy Holliday plays the quintessential dumb blonde in this 1950 adaptation of Garson Kanin’s stage play, winning an Oscar for her performance in an incredibly strong year for Hollywood’s leading ladies.

Holliday plays Billie Dawn, a former showgirl and trophy girlfriend of Harry Brock, a corrupt tycoon with ambitions to branch out into Washington D.C.’s politics.

Embarrassed by her lack of intelligence, Brock hires reporter Paul Verrall (William Holden) to educate her, but it backfires when a romance blossoms between them and she learns the depths of his shady dealings.

The plot is practically a retelling of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion with an American spin, but the three main performances keep the story fresh and director George Cukor has a proven track record in doing a sterling job with this type of material.

8/10