35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
gladys glover -- Gladys Glover -- GLADYS GLOVER!, October 16, 2002
Would that I could give this enticing and sadly neglected film a "6" just to encourage people to experience it. "It Should Happen to You" has it all: wit, a sizzling star (Judy Holliday), a fast-paced, slightly dizzy plot, a great director...and a chance to see Jack Lemmon very early in his screen career.
It's Manhattan in 1954 and Judy Holliday plays Gladys Glover, a lower-middle-class career girl who's been hunting a decent job for ever so long until she decides she might as well blow her emergency budget and take a chance on a one-shot approach. Soon a gigantic billboard appears above Manhattan's Columbus Circle: "Gladys Glover" is all it says. In a typical Holliday movie role, much like "Born Yesterday," Our Gal Gladys has street smarts and common sense, plus great intuition and a refusal to be cowed by the conventional "We've never done it that way before" approach. Early on she's established as a handsome heroine if not the most erudite thing in the world.
So after the first billboard causes a stir, our Gladys negotiates cut rates for more gigantic attention-grabbing placards strategically placed in the busiest parts of Manhattan. Clever as a fox, that one, and as in most of her movie parts, Holliday plays this one full-out; it's impossible to take one's eyes off her when she's on-screen. And like her namesake, that saturation advertising makes Gladys' name impossible for any New Yorker to ignore.
Complications ensue when the ads don't generate employment -- but they do generate romantic attention in the form of bumbling-but-lovable co-star Jack Lemmon -- and media attention just at the point when "celebrity" had come to mean "the art of being famous by being famous." Gladys inaugurates events, waves to crowds, and just generally does a good job of staying well known for being so well known. In fact, she's in fatal peril of falling in love with the media-generated image of herself.
And then that one-step-too-many: Gladys joins the panel of a serious TV discussion show for the topic of child-raising, of which she knows nothing. Her blurted response to a question about the facts of life (which I won't reaveal here) is a classic one-liner, a true early sound-bite: ad-lib, concise, funny, and extremely ignorant. One tavern TV regular moans, "I guess today that's all you need."
Leave it to Lemmon (Lord help him!) to explain to disillusioned Gladys the difference between brazenness and bravura, betweeen ignorance and common sense. It's not unlike the "Born Yesterday" situation where the mentor-and-boyfriend-to-be has to smarten up the dumb fox, but in this case we can see the well-meaning/insecure/ slightly neurotic Lemmon persona in the making; he certainly has his work cut out for him. Despite Gladys' stellar human qualities, Lemmon's character has to deal not only with Gladys' strong and somewhat star-struck personality but also with a non-human antagonist: the growing power of modern media to bewitch, distract, and -- or so Cukor hints -- steal Gladys' personality.
"It Should Happen to You" has something for everyone. I wish it were a little cheaper, to encourage people to take a chance on it, but I think the vast majority of those who do will love it. You can count on the indelible Judy Holliday, just as brilliant as in her other 40s-50s screen roles ...
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
IT SHOULD HAPPEN MORE OFTEN AT COLUMBIA STUDIOS!, January 15, 2004
"It Should Happen To You" is the delightful, bubble-headed comedy about Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday), who decides that all one really needs to be famous is a gigantic billboard advertising her name in New York. Well, the trick works and before long Gladys has to choose between the affections of a rich businessman (Peter Lawford), who's romance is predicated on getting Gladys to sell him her advertising space, or a genuine romance with her simple-life boyfriend (Jack Lemmon). As Gladys, Holliday is once again in rare form, delivering the kind of light-hearted, idiotic, yet tender comedic touch that easily made her the darling of such classics as "Born Yesterday" and "The Solid Gold Cadillac". The film is great fun and absorbingly original from start to finish!
TRANSFER: It should happen more often over at Columbia that they give DVD consumers such a nice looking print of their classic films. This film has a wonderfully smooth look to it, with deep blacks and a nicely balanced gray scale. The contrast levels seem to be subdued somewhat. There are rarely traces of film grain and NO digital artifacts or anomalies. The audio is mono but nicely done.
EXTRAS: Sorry - it's Columbia. You get a couple of trailers and that's all!
BOTTOM LINE: I don't know whether Columbia's finally realizing that DVD consumers want pristine versions of their classics on DVD, or if this film simply aged well in their studio vaults - either way, "It Should Happen To You" is a movie that should definitely find its way into your DVD library!
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jack Lemmon's First Film (in memoriam), July 16, 2001
I recently saw this movie again, shortly before Lemmon's death a few weeks ago. It was his first film and he displayed in it a budding talent that would only grow by leaps and bounds in the decades ahead. Lemmon plays the earnest, documentary film maker suitor for Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday). He meets her in Central Park one day while shooting footage for his next film. He is instantly taken with her but she is oblivious to him because she is so taken with making a name for herself, even if there is no accomplishment beyond the fame of her name. Hence, she rents a billboard in 1950s Columbus Circle New York that advertises solely her name. Shortly, wolfish Peter Lawford is after her, trying to get both her billboard and her virtue. Her head gets radically swelled by all these new developments and she neglects Lemmon. Lemmon and she have several wonderful romantic scenes together. One is where he plays the piano in a bar while they sing together "Let's Fall In Love." (Playing the piano like this was actually Lemmon's favorite pasttime in his private life.) Another scene is when he films a documentary for her that tells her what is wrong with their relationship. It is both funny and sad at the same time. Then there is the scene at the zoo where Lemmon very ably apes a monkey, while shooting another documentary, while a plane from Gladys buzzes overhead. Lemmon was very lucky in one respect. For his very first outing in film, he was in a movie directed by the fabulous George Cukor and written by the famous romantic comedy team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. Not every beginner is given such a lofty start but he certainly proved worthy of it. I've read that Lemmon came from an investment banking family in the East and, although that fits his easy grace and manner, one also wonders how he ever fit in as a person with any of them! I've seen this movie several times and loved it each and every time. Truly, this was when they knew how to make romantic comedies and I'd like to see its like being made more frequently nowadays.
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