It Should Happen to You

"It Should Happen to You" (1954) is an American comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Holliday alongside a twenty-nine-year-old Jack Lemmon in his first film appearance.

Gladys Glover arrives in New York with no plan and just enough money for something reckless. She rents a billboard on Columbus Circle and puts her own name on it. One billboard becomes ten, scattered across the city. Television finds the story irresistible. Gladys becomes famous — for being Gladys — and the documentary filmmaker who fell for her in Central Park quietly stops fitting into the picture.

Cukor had directed Hepburn and Garbo; he knew how to make a woman worth watching without reducing her to a punchline. Holliday is funny and sympathetic here at the same time, which is harder than it looks. Stream "It Should Happen to You" online on iFILM.