Directed by George Cukor, the movie opens with Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) coming to Washington with his showgirl girlfriend Emma "Billie" Dawn (Judy Holliday). He's there to influence politicians (with cash), and her foolishness quickly embarrasses him - although he's no charmer himself. He hires reporter Paul Verrall (William Holden) to educate Billie, a process that's much more effective than anybody expected.

Holliday is unpleasantly convincing as the uncouth and uneducated Billie, and manages to play her improbable transformation reasonably well. I found I disliked pretty much every character in the movie, although I think you're meant to like Paul Verrall, and eventually Billie. She takes her education and starts "doing the right thing," but I found too much of the old Billie in her (and wouldn't have believed it if there was less - a bit of a Catch 22). So - a fairly good movie that I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about.