Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

kijii This is Judy Holliday's most famous movie, and it is also the one that she for which she won an Oscar. Yes, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) and Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) are a bit over-the-top, playing one of the most famous mobsters-moll couples in the movies. And, you would probably never have thought of putting William Holden in such a bookish idealistic role as Paul Verrall. But even today--especially today--this is a feel-good movie with a post-war patriotic sub-theme. Who would not want to stand up and cheer when a power-grubbing mobster "gets his" when he tries to buy a Washington politician by using his "dumb" moll as a foil his own corruption and gets caught in his own trap? I personally loved the Washington, D.C. tour, especially the Jefferson Memorial which was dedicated, by FDR, on the exact day I was born. And, I personally met and talked one-on-one to Broderick Crawford, even though it was only in an elevator for 2 minutes. It's kind of nice to know that you once had a private, but brief, conversation with the Best Actor Oscar winner for "All the King's Men" (1949).

Dalbert Pringle Back in 1950 Born Yesterday was a staggeringly huge box-office success. This Rom-Com really wowed its audiences with its apparent clever wit that had them all literally rolling in the aisles with peals of uncontrollable laughter.But, today, 63 years later - I found this film's somewhat contrived and predictable story to be repeatedly teetering on the very edge of being just a one-note joke that got mighty stale after just the first half-hour.At the start Judy Holliday's Billie Dawn character (in all of its crudeness and its cluelessness) was kind of cute and amusing - But, it certainly didn't take long for the loud-mouthed brassiness of her character to grate on my nerves like you wouldn't believe.It certainly seemed to me that the more Billie got educated (which seemed to happen at about warp speed) the more annoying and downright tiresome she became. And I also found that she proved, in the end, to be way too smart to have actually been as unbelievably dumb as she was initially perceived to be.I personally thought that Holliday was badly miscast as the Billie character. Not only did she lack any conviction in her overall performance, but, she was painfully deficient of any sexual appeal, as well.I think that this was the sort of role meant for an actress with the dynamic screen-presence of Marilyn Monroe, which Holliday obviously lacked.Besides Holliday not being able to cut the mustard in this comedy, I also thought that Broderick Crawford was a repulsive bore as the big-mouthed bully-of-a-billionaire and William Holden as the true-blue, little news-reporter was far too wishy-washy for my liking.All-in-all - Born Yesterday was just a so-so comedy that really baffles me in regards to it huge popularity back in its heyday.

ckent24 The movie adaptation of the stage play, "Born Yesterday", is a gem of a movie that many people might not know about. William Holden gives an excellent performance as Paul Verrall, a newspaperman hired by a tycoon to tutor his fiancée. Broderick Crawford plays Harry Brock, the tycoon. But the movie is stolen by Judy Holliday in an Oscar winning performance as Billie Dawn. Playing the ditsy blonde fiancée of Harry Brock, she gives a wonderfully comic performance that is truly amazing. Having played the character of Billie Dawn on stage, she was almost not cast in the movie, and I can't imagine anyone giving quite as wonderful of a performance as her. This is one of my favorite movies with two of my favorite actors. Judy Holliday and William Holden have wonderful chemistry together. And while it is classified as a comedy drama, I think it leans more towards drama with some comedic touches here and there. I highly recommend this movie, and I think it is one you will watch again and again.

writers_reign If nothing else this movie would be a fitting and durable memorial to a wonderful actress. Judy Holliday was one of a rare group of actresses who exude warmth even as they crack wise, people like Celeste Holm, Eve Arden, Virginia O'Brien. For once all the elements are top drawer; Garson Kanin worked without credit on this adaptation of his own hit (it ran four years) Broadway play, reluctantly Columbia imported the female lead and lived to give thanks (Paul Douglas played the male lead on Broadway and Gary Merrill the third person in the triangle in what was a much smaller role on stage), whilst I wouldn't have objected if they'd hired Paul Douglas along with Holliday I can do without the wooden Merrill and William Holden takes what is essentially a foil and invests it with charm whilst Brod Crawford grabs the male lead by the scruff of the neck and acts the bejeezus out of it. A certified classic.