A millionaire thug visits Washington DC to make a shady deal with a crooked congressman. He worries that his dumb showgirl girlfriend (Judy Holliday) will embarrass him and screw things up, so he hires the pest reporter (William Holden) teach her something. Will love … yes, love will bloom.
Judy Holliday appeared in the Broadway version of the story but studio execs weren’t interested in taking a chance on an unproven commodity. But Katherine Hepburn beefed up her role in Adam’s Rib (basically the same character) to demonstrate that she could handle it. It worked, she got the role, and won the Oscar, Marisa Tomei style.
A very surprising element is how racy the script is by 1950’s standards. In the first scene between Holliday and Holden’s Billie and Paul she asks if he is a gigolo. Later she outright propositions him. Stage adaptations seemed to be able to get away with this sort of thing. See The Moon is Blue. Seriously, it’s pretty good.
Here again we have the trope where a smart person throws a couple books and big words at a dummy and transforms them into a deep thinker. We suspend our disbelief because despite Billie’s amusingly poor diction, we sense that she is smarter than that. Also, unlike My Fair Lady, the romance is plausible.
Born Yesterday is smart and witty, and the principles give excellent performances. I wanted to like it more than I did, and I don’t know what stopped me. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. Maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe it was the clunky conclusion. I may watch it again, if for no reason than to see if it grows on me. As for now, AMRU 3.5.
“Are you one of these talkers - or would you be interested in a little action?”
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