Born Yesterday

George Cukor, USA 1951, 103 minutes

George Cukor's biting, satirical comedy along the lines of George Bernard Shaw's classic Pygmalion, comes direct from the stage play of the same name and with many of the original leads. Judy Holliday excels in the role she made her own on stage as the downmarket girl who is taught about social airs and graces by a newspaper hack (William Holden) hired by her master/mentor (Broderick Crawford), a failing businessman threatened by the collapse of his empire. Naturally, Holliday and Holden fall in love, which upsets Crawford's own devious plans for the girl.

Holliday is delightful in the role that won her the Oscar, as we watch the layers peeling off from one scene to the next and laugh at her attempts to fit in with cultured society. Very much a gentle comedy at heart, this film also attempts to draw attention to some of the issues relevant at the time when self-made money was coming in, and the inherited wealth families were on the decline.

Comparisons with the director's own My Fair Lady will doubtless be made, but really the two films, though sharing similar subject matter, are very different. Whereas My Fair Lady is an all-singing, all-dancing, Technicolor affair, Born Yesterday owes much to its stage origins on Manhattan's Broadway. Where agreement can be reached is that both films are watchable, witty and a pleasure to watch.

"The most delightful `dumb blonde' to ever grace the screen ****" - Virgin

Review by Alan Smithee
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97