Born Yesterday

Released Dec 26, 1950

1h 43m

Comedy

Drama

List

97%

38 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Brassy blonde moll Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) hits Washington, D.C., with her unscrupulous millionaire sugar daddy, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), and his sleazy lawyer, Jim Devery (Howard St. John), who has been pressuring Harry to marry Billie by pointing out that a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. In an effort to make Billie more socially acceptable, Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden) to smarten her up -- and sparks soon fly between the pair.

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Critics Consensus

Marrying screwball romance with political satire, Born Yesterday is a substantive romp with a ferociously smart performance by Judy Holliday as an uncouth bombshell.

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Penelope Houston

Sight & Sound

Born Yesterday is lifted above the average by Judy Holliday's performance.

Mar 23, 2020

Full Review

David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

A good story and cast suffer from an overly theatrical adaptation from the Broadway play.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 23, 2020

Full Review

Age Staff

The Age (Australia)

The script is lively, dialogue is quite witty, acting generally is good and the comedy is sufficiently high to survive the rather sentimental message.

Mar 23, 2020

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...uniformly compelling, captivating performances...

Rated: 3/4

May 5, 2021

Full Review

Red Kann

Motion Picture Daily

Miss Holliday is simply wonderful. So much is this the fact that, when the plot does not require her presence -- fortunately, not often -- the film slows down.

Jan 26, 2021

Full Review

Christopher Kane

Modern Screen

The story's unimportant. What's important is Judy Holliday, building out of her own gorgeous talent a character who is exciting, funny, tender and pitiful all at once.

Jan 14, 2021

Full Review

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John G

Judy Holliday is what it's all about - funny and charming alternately. Her fiance thug is over-played. The tour of monuments and institutions In DC comes across well.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/05/24

Full Review

Alec B

Both Holden and Holliday are great (no surprises there) but it's also a little too self important for what is a pretty silly plot.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

Full Review

William R. P

Is that that woman's real voice? It's painfully annoying

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

07/05/23

Full Review

David F

This film about a dumb blonde engaged to a con man scrap dealer who undertakes an education at the urging of her fiance who has made her an officer of his many many criminal entities is the ultimate air-head comedy. It feels like the inspiration for "Legally Blonde", "The House Bunny", and countless other similar films. At times it is very funny and it does teach the important lesson not to underestimate anybody or judge a book by its cover. While it mostly unfolds in a couple of hotel room suites in Washington D.C. where the con man has come to corrupt a Congressman, there are a handful of wonderful on location scenes filmed in the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Library of Congress.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/23

Full Review

Mark A

If for no other reason watch this for Judy Holiday's performance. Brilliantly written and acted.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/16/22

Full Review

laurent b

One of the best american classic comedies ever ! Judy Holliday is incredible and won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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George Cukor

Director

Judy Holliday

Emma "Billie" Dawn

William Holden

Paul Verrall

Broderick Crawford

Harry Brock

Howard St. John

Jim Devery

Frank Otto

Eddie

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Synopsis

Brassy blonde moll Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) hits Washington, D.C., with her unscrupulous millionaire sugar daddy, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford), and his sleazy lawyer, Jim Devery (Howard St. John), who has been pressuring Harry to marry Billie by pointing out that a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. In an effort to make Billie more socially acceptable, Harry hires journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden) to smarten her up -- and sparks soon fly between the pair.

Director: George Cukor
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 26, 1950, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 43m

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