My Fair Lady (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
'My Fair Lady' (based on Pygmalion & directed by the great George Cukor) is a charming, beautiful, & amusing satire on the absurdity of rigid class distinctions in 1912 London. Rex Harrison plays Henry Higgins, a misogynistic phonetics professor who thinks that a person's way of speaking determines their place in society {ohhh kay}. He feels strongly about this, and so, bets his friend & fellow linguist Col. Pickering (British vet Wilfrid Hyde-White) that in 6 months ... he can transform coarse, cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) from a lowly street urchin into a woman who can pass for a duchess at an upcoming embassy ball. Higgins exclaims, "It's almost irresistible. She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty".
Eliza's grating accent & uncouth manners make Higgins's Frankenstein-like task quite the uphill climb, "A woman who utters such disgusting and depressing noises has no right to live. Remember that you're a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech. Don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon" & "If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you." {haha, love it}. Higgins is relentless in pushing Eliza. Along with cleaning her up, teaching her how to behave, & how to dress, he completely re-shapes her speaking skills. By depriving her of sleep & forcing her to repeat phrases like "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain," he hopes to ditch that ghastly accent of hers.
He tells her, "Think what you're trying to accomplish. The majesty & grandeur of the English language. The noblest thoughts that ever flowed through the hearts of men are contained in its extraordinary, imaginative, & musical mixtures of sounds. And that's what you've set yourself out to conquer, Eliza. And conquer it you will". Powerful stuff. Superb dialogue, there. But as mentioned, My Fair Lady's biggest joke is, perhaps, on London's upper-class twits. Higgins wins his wager, of course, & presents the new Eliza in Society - she's a huge success, & everyone wonders just who this charming woman is & where she came from.
Would merely refining her accent and dressing her up in gowns convert a low-class flower seller into a "lady"? Of course not. If all it takes for a woman to be considered well-bred is to look good in ball gowns, stand up straight, spruce up your demeanor, chitty chat about inconsequential things like the weather ... then it seems that anybody - even an unkempt flower seller - can pass as near-royalty. What does that say about the upper class's self-loving superiority? A lot.
You may love this film. You may like it. You may not. But no matter what, you can't deny its beauty. One of the most stunning scenes has Higgins taking Eliza to a racecourse {which looks very much so like a fashion show, haha}. 14-time Oscar-nommed cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. lets the camera linger on Cecil Beaton's sumptuous costumes & hats on display. They are, as people say, fabulous. The horse race is fun enough, but looking at the detail of the costumes is the highlight of the scene. The production design of this scene - and for the whole movie - is also superb. 'My Fair Lady' is just a great looking movie.
The dialogue in the film is also brilliant: brimming with satire & witty barbs (the verbal jousting btwn. Eliza & Prof. Higgins is a pure delight). The ensemble cast in excellent, including Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father; who sings the humorous "With a Little Bit of Luck" & "Get Me to the Church on Time". Gladys Cooper is delightful & funny as Prof. Higgins' mother. i.e, when she greets her son, "Why Henry, what a disagreeable surprise" {haha}. Jeremy Brett in a small role as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a love-sick, high-society suitor for the metamorphosed Eliza sings the breathtaking "On the Street Where You Live". All of Lerner & Loewe's songs are classics -- I'm reminded of Eliza's angry belt about the selfish, rude Higgins, "Just You Wait, 'Enry 'Iggins". Similarly, Higgins wonders aloud, "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?". And of course, there are the swoony songs, "I Could Have Danced All Night" & "Wouldn't it be Loverly".
Rex Harrison sing-talks his way through the lyrics ... but that's just fine. It's a marvelous performance. He delivers his lines of dialogue with relish & a 'snap' that is just wonderful. I loved hearing him sing in despair over the deterioration of the English language - "In America they haven't used it for years". And Audrey Hepburn is, of course, "loverly" as Eliza; her transformation from street urchin to elegant lady is something to see. It's hard to comment on her musical performance because she's basically lip-synching to Marni Nixon (a wonderful soprano who also dub sang for The King & I and West Side Story). So I can only comment on her acting - and it's great. That said, there was much controversy at the time of production about her being cast instead of Julie Andrews - who starred in the show on Broadway, but producer Jack Warner felt that she wasn't popular enough to be in the movie.
Now, I do not think that this musical is as superb as Mary Poppins, but it is still a wonderful movie any way you look at it. The songs, the direction, the performances, the dialogue, Eliza's transformation, the immaculate production design & costumes ... all wonderful. There is, of course, the subtext on London's upper crust. And there's also a feminist take: Eliza must make a decision whether to be with a younger man (Freddy) who she is attracted to & who seems to love her - or - to be with an older man (Henry Higgins) to ensure economic security & peace of mind to protect herself over anyone else. But even if you don't tap into those interesting themes, there are more than enough surface charms to get you through.
Eliza's grating accent & uncouth manners make Higgins's Frankenstein-like task quite the uphill climb, "A woman who utters such disgusting and depressing noises has no right to live. Remember that you're a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech. Don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon" & "If you refuse this offer, you will be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you." {haha, love it}. Higgins is relentless in pushing Eliza. Along with cleaning her up, teaching her how to behave, & how to dress, he completely re-shapes her speaking skills. By depriving her of sleep & forcing her to repeat phrases like "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain," he hopes to ditch that ghastly accent of hers.
He tells her, "Think what you're trying to accomplish. The majesty & grandeur of the English language. The noblest thoughts that ever flowed through the hearts of men are contained in its extraordinary, imaginative, & musical mixtures of sounds. And that's what you've set yourself out to conquer, Eliza. And conquer it you will". Powerful stuff. Superb dialogue, there. But as mentioned, My Fair Lady's biggest joke is, perhaps, on London's upper-class twits. Higgins wins his wager, of course, & presents the new Eliza in Society - she's a huge success, & everyone wonders just who this charming woman is & where she came from.
Would merely refining her accent and dressing her up in gowns convert a low-class flower seller into a "lady"? Of course not. If all it takes for a woman to be considered well-bred is to look good in ball gowns, stand up straight, spruce up your demeanor, chitty chat about inconsequential things like the weather ... then it seems that anybody - even an unkempt flower seller - can pass as near-royalty. What does that say about the upper class's self-loving superiority? A lot.
You may love this film. You may like it. You may not. But no matter what, you can't deny its beauty. One of the most stunning scenes has Higgins taking Eliza to a racecourse {which looks very much so like a fashion show, haha}. 14-time Oscar-nommed cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. lets the camera linger on Cecil Beaton's sumptuous costumes & hats on display. They are, as people say, fabulous. The horse race is fun enough, but looking at the detail of the costumes is the highlight of the scene. The production design of this scene - and for the whole movie - is also superb. 'My Fair Lady' is just a great looking movie.
The dialogue in the film is also brilliant: brimming with satire & witty barbs (the verbal jousting btwn. Eliza & Prof. Higgins is a pure delight). The ensemble cast in excellent, including Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father; who sings the humorous "With a Little Bit of Luck" & "Get Me to the Church on Time". Gladys Cooper is delightful & funny as Prof. Higgins' mother. i.e, when she greets her son, "Why Henry, what a disagreeable surprise" {haha}. Jeremy Brett in a small role as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, a love-sick, high-society suitor for the metamorphosed Eliza sings the breathtaking "On the Street Where You Live". All of Lerner & Loewe's songs are classics -- I'm reminded of Eliza's angry belt about the selfish, rude Higgins, "Just You Wait, 'Enry 'Iggins". Similarly, Higgins wonders aloud, "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?". And of course, there are the swoony songs, "I Could Have Danced All Night" & "Wouldn't it be Loverly".
Rex Harrison sing-talks his way through the lyrics ... but that's just fine. It's a marvelous performance. He delivers his lines of dialogue with relish & a 'snap' that is just wonderful. I loved hearing him sing in despair over the deterioration of the English language - "In America they haven't used it for years". And Audrey Hepburn is, of course, "loverly" as Eliza; her transformation from street urchin to elegant lady is something to see. It's hard to comment on her musical performance because she's basically lip-synching to Marni Nixon (a wonderful soprano who also dub sang for The King & I and West Side Story). So I can only comment on her acting - and it's great. That said, there was much controversy at the time of production about her being cast instead of Julie Andrews - who starred in the show on Broadway, but producer Jack Warner felt that she wasn't popular enough to be in the movie.
Now, I do not think that this musical is as superb as Mary Poppins, but it is still a wonderful movie any way you look at it. The songs, the direction, the performances, the dialogue, Eliza's transformation, the immaculate production design & costumes ... all wonderful. There is, of course, the subtext on London's upper crust. And there's also a feminist take: Eliza must make a decision whether to be with a younger man (Freddy) who she is attracted to & who seems to love her - or - to be with an older man (Henry Higgins) to ensure economic security & peace of mind to protect herself over anyone else. But even if you don't tap into those interesting themes, there are more than enough surface charms to get you through.