My Fair Lady
Starring
Audrey Hepburn ■ Rex Harrison
(1964)
The loverliest motion picture of them all!
| At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. The quintessential musical, My Fair Lady is a movie that everyone should watch at least once, if you can stop at just one viewing. I didn't start out liking musicals but I gradually changed my mind. Now I've seen quite a few of the old classics, from The Sound Of Music and The King And I to Singing In The Rain and South Pacific. The first time I watched My Fair Lady I honestly thought it was LONG and kinda boring. I have seriously revised my opinion since and it is now one of my more favorite musicals. This movie is a musical and costume extravaganza that is surprisingly humorous. I dare you not to laugh when Eliza shocks the stuffy upper class at Ascot by yelling at a horse to "Move your bloomin' a*se!" If you are an Audrey Hepburn fan, as I am, you will definitely love this movie. She was one classy lady and a wonderful actress, both of which shine through in this film. This is a musical you can sit down to watch with anyone in the family. At 170 minutes, though, it might take a BIG bowl of popcorn to keep the kiddos around. Mom and I have a few movies we kinda like to watch together and this is one of our favorites to do so. Watch it, enjoy it, and if you've seen it before you just might find yourself humming along with the familiar, 'loverly', lyrics. Note: The absolute most objectionable content in this movie is a few minor cuss words, in my opinion they are nothing to worry over in the slightest.  170 Minutes  | Principal Cast Audrey Hepburn...Eliza Doolittle Rex Harrison...Professor Henry Higgins Stanley Holloway...Alfred P. Doolittle Wilfrid Hyde-White...Colonel Hugh Pickering Gladys Cooper...Mrs. Higgins Jeremy Brett...Freddy Eynsford-Hill Theodore Bikel...Zoltan Karpathy Mona Washbourne...Mrs. Pearce Isobel Elsom...Mrs. Eynsford-Hill Filming Location(s) Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - Burbank, California Awards 1965 Academy Awards Best Picture - Jack L. Warner Best Actor in a Leading Role - Rex Harrison Best Director - George Cukor Best Cinematography, Color - Harry Stradling Sr. Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - Gene Allen & Cecil Beaton & George James Hopkins Best Costume Design, Color - Cecil Beaton Best Sound - George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD) Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment - André Previn 1965 Golden Globes Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy Best Motion Picture Director - George Cukor Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy - Rex Harrison 1966 BAFTA Awards Best Film from any Source - George Cukor (USA). 1966 Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) (USA). 1965 David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Production - Jack L. Warner Best Foreign Actress - Audrey Hepburn Best Foreign Actor - Rex Harrison 1965 Directors Guild Of America Road Show Musical Performance, Male - Rex Harrison 3rd place - Comedy Performance, Female - Audrey Hepburn 1964 National Board Of Review, USA NBR Award - Top Ten Films 1964 New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Film Best Actor - Rex Harrison 2nd place - Best Director - George Cukor 3rd place - Best Actress - Audrey Hepburn* *Tied with Barbara Barrie for One Potato, Two Potato (1964). Quotes Professor Henry Higgins: There even are places where English completely disappears; in America they haven't used it for years. Professor Henry Higgins: She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty. Eliza Doolittle: I ain't dirty! I washed my face and hands before I come, I did. Professor Henry Higgins: [singing] Women are irrational, that's all there is to that! Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags. They're nothing but exasperating, irritating, vacillating, calculating, agitating, maddening and infuriating hags! Colonel Hugh Pickering: Are you a man of good character where women are concerned? Professor Henry Higgins: Have you ever met a man of good character where women are concerned? Colonel Hugh Pickering: Yes, very frequently. Professor Henry Higgins: Well, I haven't. I find that the moment a woman makes friends with me she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damn nuisance. And I find that the moment I make friends with a woman I become selfish and tyrannical. So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so. Professor Henry Higgins: By George, she's got it! By George she's got it! Now once again, where does it rain? Eliza Doolittle: [sings] On the plain, on the plain. Professor Henry Higgins: And where's that soggy plain? Eliza Doolittle: [sings] In Spain, in Spain! Mrs. Higgins: Where's the girl now? Professor Henry Higgins: She's being pinned. Some of the clothes we bought her didn't quite fit. I told Pickering we should have taken her with us. Eliza Doolittle: Come on, Dover! Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin' arse! Eliza Doolittle: The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. |
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