Born Yesterday (1951 George Cukor)

One of Woody Allen's favourite actresses, Judy Holliday, is fantastic in this simply filmed play as the dumb blonde girlfriend of thuggish scrap metal millionaire Broderick Crawford; she falls in love with her tutor William Holden. Cukor was always a great actor's director.

Gin rummy scene (mostly one long take) is splendid. She won the Oscar.

Garson Kanin wrote the play, which was adapted by Albert Mannheimer. It has a most satisfying conclusion. It's also referenced in an episode of The Sopranos, prompting comparisons between Crawford's character and Tony Soprano.

Howard St John plays the permanently inebriated crooked lawyer, who at one point says "Considering I've been dead for the last 16 years, I'm in remarkably good health".

Film is always credited as being a 1950 production but the date on the titles is clearly '51.