A few weeks ago I got to watch and review the movie “Gigi.” While watching it I just kept thinking to myself I wish that I was watching “My Fair Lady” instead since it felt like the same movie, but with less memorable music and set in Paris instead of London. Well now that I have reached 1964, I have also reached “My Fair Lady.” This the second of four musicals from the decade and is one where I have seen the stage musical and read the original “Pygmalion.” The only thing I haven’t seen was the movie.
“My Fair Lady” tells the tale of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins. Eliza is a poor beggar who speaks with just an awful sounding accent. Honestly after 15 minutes of her howling I wanted her to learn to speak well for myself and not for the character. She attempts to take lessons from Henry Higgins who has just met what appears to be the love of his life in Colonel Pickering. Higgins refuses to give Eliza lessons until Pickering makes a bet with him that he cannot pass her off at a royal party. Higgins accepts and the movie proceeds. The teaching of Eliza is both slow and quick. For a while it feels like no progress is being made, but being that this is a musical, a song is sung and suddenly she can speak better than almost anyone. Needless to say Higgins wins the bet and after a quick separation between the two they end up together at the end. Though it is implied to be romantic it is more of a friendly relationship than anything else. Probably because Higgins has already married Pickering.
From an acting perspective the movie thrives off of the interaction between Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. Both put in great performances, particularly Hepburn who has to play her character at several different levels. However, she does lose a few points for not signing the songs herself. Harrison plays Harrison, fortunately that fits the Higgins character. Interestingly even though Hepburn does not sing, Harrison refused to dub his singing making this the first use of a wireless microphone and requiring the conductor to conduct the music to his singing. The rest of the cast is filled out nicely but no one really stands out. From the production side the movie could use a bit more movie making. The smaller scenes with only a few characters were well shot however, the larger production numbers made it feel like I was watching the musical on stage and not as a movie. Musicals should try to focus on being a film and not a musical play, that is what separates the good films from the bad.
Overall “My Fair Lady” remains a classic. In fact a remake is currently in production for release sometime within the next year or two. It will be interesting to see how they approach it. I imagine an increase in the relationship between Eliza and Henry as well as better filming of the larger chorus numbers. The movie won’t be a great success but will probably do just as well as it did back when this film was released. I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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