Born Yesterday

Director: George Cukor George Cukor

Overview

"The Columbia DVD release of Born Yesterday isn't swimming in meaningful extras because the film itself is so entertaining. The DVD chapters feature allows viewers to go directly to the movie's many comedic set pieces (nobody plays gin rummy like Judy Holliday). There is no faulting the DVD transfer, so don't be bothered that Born Yesterday doesn't come in a letterboxed version. The picture was made before the widescreen process was widely available, so its original aspect ratio actually conforms to the average TV set. The print transfer is clean and clear, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is in the original monophonic sound. Since the key members of the cast and crew who helped make Born Yesterday such a comic triumph are no longer with us, it makes having a commentary track pretty difficult. Peter Bogdanovich really knows his George Cukor movies and always offers insightful DVD audio commentaries; perhaps he can do one for a future release. Holliday deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar for Born Yesterday and her work here has aged extremely well. Viewers who have any doubt of this can compare her inspired performance with Melanie Griffith's work in the pointless 1993 remake."

Product Details

Release Date:	02/15/2000
UPC:	0043396014398
Original Release:	1950
Rating:	NR
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[monaural, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	2:20:00
Sales rank:	16,460

Special Features

Digitally mastered audio and video; Production notes; Interactive menus; Audio: English [mono]; Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai; Vintage advertising; Talent files; Theatrical trailer; Bonus trailers; Scene selections

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Judy Holliday	Billie Dawn
Broderick Crawford	Harry Brock
William Holden	Paul Verrall
Howard St. John	Jim Devery
Frank Otto	Eddie
Larry Oliver	Norval Hedges
Barbara Brown	Mrs. Hedges
Grandon Rhodes	Sanborn
Claire Carleton	Helen
Smoki Whitfield	Bootblack
Helen Eby-Rock	Manicurist
William Mays	Bellboy
David Pardoll	Barber
Mike Mahoney	Elevator Operator
John Morley	Native
Charles Cane	Policeman
Paul Marion	Interpreter
Ram Singh	Native
Friedrich Hollaender	Composer
Frederick Hollander	Composer

Technical Credits

Albert Mannheimer

George Cukor	Director
Albert Mannheimer	Screenwriter
S. Sylvan Simon	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Born Yesterday is remembered today primarily for Judy Holliday's Oscar-winning comic performance. At its release, though, it was considerably more controversial, generating protests that proclaimed the film Communist-sympathizing for suggesting that American politics could be corrupt. The core of the story is largely borrowed from George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with Broderick Crawford as the authority figure who hires William Holden to tutor the coarse but good-natured Holliday. The film's emphasis is humor, not politics, with Crawford's character intended primarily as Holliday's foil rather than as any sort of serious social commentary. Certainly, crooked politicians were nothing new to motion pictures, but the film was released into an era of Anti-Communism when even the smallest criticism of the U.S. government was perceived as serving the Communist cause. So strong was this mood that Holliday was investigated by the FBI -- and cleared via a personal message from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to studio chief Harry Cohn. Audiences today will likely wonder what all the fuss was about, particularly the reaction of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who thought Holliday's Best Actress Oscar was an immoral disgrace.