Before Don Johnson, Melanie Griffeth, and John Goodman made their 1993 movie “Born Yesterday,” a version was filmed starring William Holden and Judy Holliday. This film was made in 1950 in black and white, and is a cleaner, yet louder, movie,
William Holden is a journalist named Paul Verrall. He has been assigned to interview self-made millionaire Harry Brock about his success in the scrap metal business. When he goes to the hotel to meet with Brock, he’s taken aback by Brock’s bossy attitude and loud temperament. He’s also taken aback by Brock’s fiancé, a pretty blonde by the name of Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday). Billie used to be a showgirl and Brock rescued her from that life, gave her everything, and keeps her like a pet on a chain. But now that they’re staying in a swank hotel in Washington D. C. and he’s trying to cozy up to senators and congressmen, Brock realizes Billie isn’t cut out for this kind of life. They’re mingling with intelligent people now, and Billie isn’t the smartest of the bunch. Brock asks Paul to tutor Billie and get her presentable for public, and Paul agrees.
At first, it would appear that Billie is a hopeless case. She just doesn’t “get” certain things. But because she’s so innocent and has a fresh spin on things, she’s also refreshing. Paul finds himself falling for her, just as she falls for him. But getting away from Brock isn’t going to be so easy.
For years now, he’s been asking Billie to sign papers. She’s a partner in his business, a silent partner, and she’s never cared what she’s signing or what it all means. But after spending time reading quality literature, learning about our system of government and what our founding fathers stood for, she wants to make sure that she’s doing the right thing. When Brock brings her a paper to sign, she reads it and discovers that he’s forming a cartel. She refuses to sign, but he hits her. She runs to Paul and together they come up with a plan to bring Brock to his knees.
This movie had its good side and its bad side. On the good, it was funny, and it was so nice to see Billie get the education she deserved to have and to see her self-esteem start to grow. On the other hand, there was a lot of yelling and there were also long scenes that didn’t have much of anything going on. If my internal film editor were allowed to come out and have free reign, I would have loved to turn down the volume on the yelling and to snip out probably a good fifteen minutes worth of film that just simply wasn’t needed.
This movie wasn’t rated.
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