On B List of Movie Reviews

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Born Yesterday (1950)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 5/16

5/16: In 1950, Born Yesterday's Judy Holliday beat out Gloria Swanson of Sunset Boulevard for the Best Actress Academy Award.

Yes, it's shocking. But why? Everybody knows Gloria Swanson's performance as Norma Desmond is unforgettable, magnetic, and timeless. An icon in film noir, she defined the word femme fatale and was crazy as far as crazy went. She still stands the test of time and is part of film history. Two of her quotes are forever classics: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" and "I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn? Unbelievable. Nobody knows who she is today. As for Born Yesterday, it's an okay film but is definitely not a comedy. However, I like it better than Educating Rita with Michael Caine and Julie Walters.

The best performance award goes to Broderick Crawford as the restless fast-talking, ball-busting Harry Brock who won't stop giving orders to people around him. He reminds me of Paul Douglas who ironically played the same character for the stage version. On the other hand, William Holden is great. So is Judy Holliday who's fun and quirky. They have nice chemistry together with no bad scenes between these two.

All in all, Gloria Swanson should have won the Oscar, not Judy Holliday.

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