ridiculous rating

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's a long time since I reviewed Born Yesterday. This time through, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not just a message movie! It's actually thoroughly entertaining from go to almost last. I would have preferred a less obvious conclusion and a little less righteousness, but I seem to be in a minority of one. But I agree with everyone else about Judy Holiday. I thought Judy was absolutely wonderful. Bill Holden and Brod Crawford were also ideally cast, and even Howard St. John (pronounced "Sinjin") likewise delivered his lines with just the right touch. But it's Holiday's movie. Notwithstanding the fact that she played the role on Broadway no less than 1,642 times, she gives a fresh, vigorous and – dare I say it – enchanting performance! She is brilliant and thoroughly deserved all her multiple awards for Best Actress. This movie is available on an excellent Columbia DVD.

Back in 1950 Born Yesterday was a staggeringly huge box-office success. This Rom-Com really wowed its audiences with its apparent clever wit that had them all literally rolling in the aisles with peals of uncontrollable laughter.But, today, 63 years later - I found this film's somewhat contrived and predictable story to be repeatedly teetering on the very edge of being just a one-note joke that got mighty stale after just the first half-hour.At the start Judy Holliday's Billie Dawn character (in all of its crudeness and its cluelessness) was kind of cute and amusing - But, it certainly didn't take long for the loud-mouthed brassiness of her character to grate on my nerves like you wouldn't believe.It certainly seemed to me that the more Billie got educated (which seemed to happen at about warp speed) the more annoying and downright tiresome she became. And I also found that she proved, in the end, to be way too smart to have actually been as unbelievably dumb as she was initially perceived to be.I personally thought that Holliday was badly miscast as the Billie character. Not only did she lack any conviction in her overall performance, but, she was painfully deficient of any sexual appeal, as well.I think that this was the sort of role meant for an actress with the dynamic screen-presence of Marilyn Monroe, which Holliday obviously lacked.Besides Holliday not being able to cut the mustard in this comedy, I also thought that Broderick Crawford was a repulsive bore as the big-mouthed bully-of-a-billionaire and William Holden as the true-blue, little news-reporter was far too wishy-washy for my liking.All-in-all - Born Yesterday was just a so-so comedy that really baffles me in regards to it huge popularity back in its heyday.

George Cukor directed this comedy that stars Judy Holliday(Academy Award winner for best actress) as Billie Dawn, trophy wife of junkyard king(and millionaire) Harry Brock(played by Broderick Crawford) who has arrived in Washington D.C. in order to buy himself some political influence in order to increase his wealth and power. He is concerned about his "uncouth" wife, so hires a newspaper reporter(played by William Holden) to educate her. He succeeds, but discovers that she isn't as dumb as Harry thinks, and that not only does she disapprove of Harry's crooked ways, but that a romance has started between pupil and student... Funny comedy with good performances by the star trio, and witty script. Obvious to a point, and a little of Judy's accent goes a long way, but otherwise a memorable comedy.

In their purest forms, theatre and cinema work in completely opposite ways. A theatre production, with the limited scope of the stage, must convey action, place and meaning through its words. A motion picture, being a primarily visual affair, must make its images speak without getting bogged down in too much dialogue. How then to translate a stage play to the screen without giving the script a complete overhaul? Enter director George Cukor. Cukor was undoubtedly the finest director when it came to theatre adaptations, and the studio trusted him well enough to turn him loose on barely adulterated material. He plays some of his neatest tricks in the first twenty minutes. During William Holden's interview with Broderick Crawford, the screen is filled with various flunkies rushing about doing Crawford's business. These are not merely here for background detail – the camera actually follows them more than it is does Holden and Crawford. It's a lively and cunning way of distracting us from Crawford's words – it isn't really important that we memorise every fact about this character, more that we get an impression of what he is really about. However in the following scene with Judy Holliday, everything is still and uncluttered, focusing us entirely on her and what she has to say.This is not to put down Garson Kanin's play. Born Yesterday is a beautifully structured piece, wonderfully simple and direct in its delineation of characters and situations. It describes Billie's blossoming as a genius at a credible pace without ever duplicating a moment, with every scene having a slightly different thrust. It's also a refreshingly mature and non-patronizing story of a female emancipation. Feminist purists may point out that Billie is arguably liberated by her male tutor, but she is nevertheless undoubtedly an independent actor in control of her own life, possessing of natural intelligence that was waiting to be given form. Besides, the tale of a stereotypical blonde bimbo getting one over on the chauvinistic boar she lives with is too good to resist.And what makes Billie's story work best of all is her portrayal by real-life blonde intellect Judy Holliday. At first glance Holliday is a graceless, squawking menace, in a similar vein to the Jean Hagen character from Singin' in the Rain. But while Lena Lamont is unquestionably a villain, Holliday makes Billie an engaging and above all likable individual. More than that Holliday skilfully brings out the humanity and touching realism in the caricature. While Holliday subtly feels out her performance, Broderick Crawford is more an actor of gesture and mannerism, filling the space with his larger-than-life presence. Next to these two, William Holden is almost a little bland in his steady professionalism, but this doesn't matter, as it's not his character who is required to shine.When we see a stage to screen adaptation, even a good one, its roots are usually obvious in the long passages of dialogue and lack of scene changes. Born Yesterday however moves with such pace and draws us in so successfully, you could be forgiven for thinking it was written directly for the screen. It is one of Cukor's best and the finest record one could hope for of the seldom-seen talents of Judy Holliday. It also holds its own in a year of so many fine dramas, and deserves to be remembered alongside All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard.