Born Yesterday

George Cukor - 1950
Cukor's direction keeps it simple, with some nice depth images. Perhpas the most distinctive thing are the very, very long takes. There is one scene at the card table where, not having a stopwatch on me, I wouldn't be surprised if the take had lasted more than one hundred seconds.
Thematically, we have on the surface a theme that seems a constant (the main?) referent for Cukor; class. There is a slight tendency to 'brin g the proles up', but it is clear Cukor is uneasy with this. He constantly strives, and indeed often succeeds, in avoiding being patronising. The film does uphold traditional values, but at least it generally picks good ones, and, all in all, it really is a very charming success.