On December 25, 1950, Columbia Pictures unveiled its adaptation of George Cukor’s “Born Yesterday” at its premiere in Los Angeles. The film went on to receive five nominations at the 23rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Best Actress award for Judy Holliday’s performance as Billie Twain. The original comment from The Hollywood Reporter is as follows:
born yesterday When the show first took Broadway by storm a few years ago, it hit the screen as bright, infectious and delightful entertainment. To turn what has become a Ferris wheel of stock and road shows into 104 minutes of joyous celluloid fun, Gower Street impresarios could start drinking champagne in Judy Holliday’s dainty slippers. She’s just brilliant, without the triumphant performance of Billie Dawn, the honey-haired chorus girl who toppled a mad tycoon from power, born yesterday He will die tomorrow.
Adaptations of the original work and their physical appendages born yesterdayIt’s just a stage play, as S. Sylvan Simon’s work envisions it. Apart from some Washington street scenes, the action is completed in only a few interior scenes. There are minimal lighting changes, and sometimes some lines are lost due to poor mixing of the different vocal ranges of Miss Holliday and Broderick Crawford.
It can be seen that director Cook chose to use Miss Holliday in this case as a means to inject movement and vitality into static dialogue fragments. The fact that great lines from the show were retained was a huge help.
Even the shoddy production cannot hide the fact that the play is a great and entertaining piece of work. Its wit is sharp; its satire is profound.
born yesterdayBut that’s all Judy Holliday is. Cook gives her every leeway, making every possible laugh out of her deft walk, squeaky voice, and surprising misnomer. Her inner sincerity still shines through when she wakes up and decides to do some civic cleaning the best way she knows how – by becoming the prettiest chick to ever have five lines in a musical.
The storyline has not changed at all born yesterdayHarry Brock has risen to the top of the trash industry and now proposes forming an international cartel with the help of drunken lawyers and crooked congressmen. His fatal mistake was hiring journalist William Holden to provide his girlfriend with the necessary “culture” for her to be accepted in Washington. Instead, Holden instilled in her the concept of democratic action. She begins to realize that Harry is taking advantage of too many people and is a suitable client for a Federation meeting. Since most of his fortune was in her name, she could dismantle his empire with the simple act of abandoning him.
Broderick Crawford’s performance as Harry Bullock is a big letdown for an actor who won an Academy Award last year. Shockingly, it’s overplayed in its fondness for the choir and never convincing. Bullock’s performance requires some shouting, but not to the extent of Crawford’s, especially on screen. The reporter was more moved by Holden’s sincerity than the actual writing of the script. Howard St. John’s corrupt lawyer commands sympathy from the start, showing admirable restraint in his drunken moments. Frank Otto is excellent as Harry’s henchman. Larry Oliver, Barbara Brown, Grandon Rhodes and Claire Carleton are competent in supporting roles.
Production design is by Harry Horner and cinematography is by Joseph Walker. Charles Nelson’s editing succeeds in emphasizing the laughs in just the right places. — Staff signature, originally published November 17, 1950.
