Comment l'esprit vient aux femmes

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.

"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.

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

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!!!!!!