Born Yesterday (1950)
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Born Yesterday Movie Review
Born Yesterday is a 1950 romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford and William Holden. It’s a wonderful flick.
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“A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in“
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A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman’s girlfriend. Eventually, she becomes smarter and confident enough to leave her domineering husband. You can all get where the film is going very soon as it’s a predictable storyline for sure. However, it’s the execution and the journey that matters when it comes to romantic comedies and not the destination, and the journey here is lovely.
The beginning was a bit rough and it took me some time to get used to the protagonist’s screechy voice, but I quickly started to fall in love with her and the entire movie that plays out quite differently for both this genre and especially this time period. Unlike most studio pictures from the fifties, this one is rather contained in terms of characters (only three get the significant amount of screen time) and scope (there are many scenes here with just these two talking and discussing everything in detail).
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That is the main reason why I adored this film. Its willingness to let us into this woman’s inner world and start to care for care and root for her was amazing. The character development is truly excellent here and so is the movie’s examination of the power of knowledge and how important it is to know as many things as you can and constantly improve yourself mentally. It’s important not just for the sake of knowledge, but for the person to go through life and interact with people more forcefully and with more confidence. It’s truly a beautiful message that resonated with me strongly.
But let’s get back to these characters and the actors playing them. Billie Dawn is an instantly iconic 50s heroine. It’s impossible not to love her despite her very screechy voice. She’s both innocent and quite adorable in her smile and her limited understanding of things. Her progression into a more confident, more intelligent woman was portrayed with great care and was thus believable in its entirety.
Paul is this very likable, highly intelligent love interest for our protagonist and he’s so well portrayed by exceedingly pleasant William Holden. He’s excellent here and so is Broderick Crawford who was also greatly cast as this brute pig of a man who mistreats his wife so badly that she ends up leaving him for good. His performance is top-notch.
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Speaking of performances, one has to talk about the one thing that unfortunately plagues Born Yesterday to this day and that is its actress. Judy Holliday ended up winning the Oscar over two iconic performances from Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson in what many argue was an atrocious choice by the Academy. However, upon now seeing the movie, I wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment.
Judy is amazing here. She stole the show from both Holden and Crawford, which was not an easy feat as both are excellent here. Her turn in this great role is confident, believable, playful and very careful as you believe that this is the real person through and through. She’s truly magnetic in such a powerhouse performance that is the main reason to see this movie.
Born Yesterday is also very well paced, well scored and also superbly shot with some scenes being very cinematic and gorgeous in imagery. The direction from George Cukor is terrific and one of his best. The movie is also superbly scripted with such sophisticated, playful dialogue and phenomenal humor. The scenes where the two just talked and had fun were all incredibly romantic and beautiful.
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