Born Yesterday (1950)
Directed by George Cukor

Film Review

Judging by the result, George Cukor was in his element when he directed this adaptation of the popular play Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin, a huge hit on Broadway which made its lead actress Judy Holliday into a star.  You would think Holliday was the obvious person to play the archetypal dumb blonde in this film, but no, the powers that be at Columbia spent three years looking around fruitlessly before finally realising that the only person who could play the part was Miss Holliday.

Born Yesterday is essentially a variation on the famous George Bernard Shaw Pygmalion play, which George Cukor would later return to with My Fair Lady (1964).  It is also an effective satire on the shadier side of capitalism, with messages that are just as relevant today.  Broderick Crawford plays the bullying nouveau riche Harry Brock as a kind of Neanderthal Edward G. Robinson, funny but menacing, although he only just manages to hold his own against the scene-stealing Judy Holliday.  The highlight of the film is the hilarious scene where these two are playing gin rummy, with all the sophistication, restraint and self-awareness of two pigs from the lowest stratum of porcine society rolling about in mud.

The film was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, but the only win was for Judy Holliday in the Best Actress category - she managed to beat off stiff competition from the likes of Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson.  This success came at a price - Holliday would be typecast for the rest of her career and made just eleven films, preferring stage work.   She died tragically young from throat cancer in 1965.   Her performance is Born Yesterday is the effervescent high point of her career, and an absolute joy to watch.

Film Synopsis

Not content with having made a fortune through his scrap metal business, Harry Brock arrives in Washington DC intending to expand his empire with the help of one or two corruptible congressmen.  Harry is of the class who believes anything and anyone can be bought, if the price is high enough.  He is accompanied by his crooked lawyer, Jim Devery, and his ditsy mistress, Billie Dawn.  Billie's naivety makes her Harry's most valuable asset - she is all too willing to put her name to documents to conceal his involvement in dodgy deals with the government.  Harry may not be one of life's sophisticates but even he is appalled by Billie's ignorance and lack of social skills.  To turn his girlfriend into a more socially acceptable example of womanhood Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall as her private tutor.  Under Paul's influence, Billie soon acquires a broad knowledge and learns to think for herself.  It turns out that Billie is not so stupid as she appeared - and this creates no end of problems for Harry...