A full appreciation of the greatness of this movie cannot be made succinctly. Too much went into making this film one of the five best musicals of all time, on both sides of the camera.
Basically, "My Fair Lady" is the story of an unwashed, unrefined flower girl who becomes the object of a bet when boisterous, arrogant, sexist Professor Higgins bets he can turn her into a proper lady in time for a big high-society party. But it becomes much more than that: the girl, Eliza, knows that she's just an item for them to bet over, and her pleas for respect go completely ignored... until she finally puts her money where her newly refined mouth is and points herself out the door.
Does Higgins really have feelings for her as a human being? Will the transformation be complete? Will there be songs all over the bloomin' place?
On that last one, anyway, yes. In fact, the soundtrack to "My Fair Lady" is deservedly one of the most famous in musical history, and it's rendered impressively. The only problem is in the casting of Marni Nixon to sing for Audrey Hepburn as Eliza-- Nixon is a great vocalist, but it doesn't quite match. And Hepburn's vocals (available on either of the American DVD releases), while not stunning, per se, certainly would have worked for her big cockney solo songs.
Six years after film critics made the comment that a real movie version of "My Fair Lady" was unnecessary due to "Gigi," director George Cukor, and the entire crew, and the cast proved them wrong. If more movies were given this much thought, style, charisma, and elegance today, I'd probably go to the theater a lot more.
Special praise must go to Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Gladys Cooper (who hilariously plays Higgins' mother), and Wilfrid Hyde-White, as well as Cecil Beaton (design), Andre Previn (musical direction), and Harry Stradling (cinematography).
Basically, "My Fair Lady" is the story of an unwashed, unrefined flower girl who becomes the object of a bet when boisterous, arrogant, sexist Professor Higgins bets he can turn her into a proper lady in time for a big high-society party. But it becomes much more than that: the girl, Eliza, knows that she's just an item for them to bet over, and her pleas for respect go completely ignored... until she finally puts her money where her newly refined mouth is and points herself out the door.
Does Higgins really have feelings for her as a human being? Will the transformation be complete? Will there be songs all over the bloomin' place?
On that last one, anyway, yes. In fact, the soundtrack to "My Fair Lady" is deservedly one of the most famous in musical history, and it's rendered impressively. The only problem is in the casting of Marni Nixon to sing for Audrey Hepburn as Eliza-- Nixon is a great vocalist, but it doesn't quite match. And Hepburn's vocals (available on either of the American DVD releases), while not stunning, per se, certainly would have worked for her big cockney solo songs.
Six years after film critics made the comment that a real movie version of "My Fair Lady" was unnecessary due to "Gigi," director George Cukor, and the entire crew, and the cast proved them wrong. If more movies were given this much thought, style, charisma, and elegance today, I'd probably go to the theater a lot more.
Special praise must go to Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Gladys Cooper (who hilariously plays Higgins' mother), and Wilfrid Hyde-White, as well as Cecil Beaton (design), Andre Previn (musical direction), and Harry Stradling (cinematography).