7.6/10
7,951
75 user 47 critic

Born Yesterday (1950)

A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette.

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(play), (screenplay)
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Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 10 nominations. See more awards »
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Cast

Complete credited cast:
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...
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Frank Otto ...
Larry Oliver ...
Barbara Brown ...
Anna Hedges
Grandon Rhodes ...
Sanborn
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Helen

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Storyline

Uncouth, loud-mouth junkyard tycoon Harry Brock descends upon Washington D.C. to buy himself a congressman or two, bringing with him his mistress, ex-showgirl Billie Dawn. Brock hires newspaperman Paul Verrall to see if he can soften her rough edges and make her more presentable in capital society. But Harry gets more than he bargained for as Billie absorbs Verall's lessons in U.S. history and not only comes to the realization that Harry is nothing but a two-bit, corrupt crook, but in the process also falls in love with her handsome tutor. Written by Paul Penna <[email protected]>

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Judy's Oscar Winning Role! See more »

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Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Details

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Release Date:

February 1951 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Rak Etmol Nolda  »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

To help build up Judy Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib (1949) was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part in Born Yesterday (1950). See more »

Goofs

In the final scene of the movie Billie and Paul are pulled over by a motorcycle cop. There are three shots, one of them driving to the curb, one of them talking to the officer, and then driving away. The officer who talks to them is obviously much older (and bigger) than the thin young man in the first and third shots. See more »

Quotes

Billie Dawn: You're just not couth!
Harry Brock: Yeah? Well, I'm as couth as you are!
Billie Dawn: [with a sneer] Hmmmm...
See more »


Soundtracks

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36, 2nd movement
(uncredited)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Played at the outdoor concert
Also played on the phonograph
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Ms. Dawn Goes To Washington
25 December 2004 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

A brilliant Judy Holliday performance is the main attraction in this witty, brisk adaptation of Garson Kanin's Broadway success. As a gangster's moll who gradually awakens to her civic responsibility, Holliday expands her dumb-broad persona from her previous film with Cukor, Adam's Rib, into a character who's sweet, memorable and surprisingly tough.

Born Yesterday is a suitable companion piece to Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, a much more self-consciously "important" film that imparts similar messages about political corruption and the responsibility of individuals to require ethical governance. The message is arguably more powerfully imparted here - filtered through the perspective of the selfish, spoiled and barely-literate Ms. Dawn - than in the film focused on Jimmy Stewart's eloquent (and intimidatingly ethical) Mr. Smith, an "everyman" who is vastly morally superior to most audience members.

William Holden is relaxed and charming as the Henry Higgins-ish newspaper man tasked with opening Billie's eyes and Broderick Crawford is suitably broad and menacingly raspy as her corrupt, vulgar boyfriend. However, the movie is all Holliday's from the opening scenes, which play on the audience's lack of familiarity with the actress by presenting her as a refined, statuesque beauty in an extended sequence until, at last, she squawks out her first lines in nearly impenetrable, helium-voiced Brooklynese to hilarious effect.

A richly deserved Best Actress Oscar for the newcomer Holliday, despite formidable competition from grande dames Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard).


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