An adaptation of the 1913 play “Pygmalion,” “My Fair Lady” was one of the vehicles that propelled Audrey Hepburn into super-stardom. We were used to seeing her as an elegant, refined lady, and in the first scenes of this film, we see her as Eliza Doolittle, the crass, dirty flower peddler who hangs out at the opera house to hit up the patrons for a few coins in exchange for her floral bundles. Her accent is the broadest form of cockney in the land, and when Professor Henry Higgins lays ears on her, he knows he must study her for his experiment with human language.
The professor (Rex Harrison) is an egotistical man and brags to his good friend, Colonel Pickering, that he could take this girl and make her into a true lady, just by teaching her how to speak properly. She overhears the bet and decides that she’s going to take him up on it. Showing up at his house the next day, she tells him that she wants to work in a flower shop, and wants him to teach her how to talk. He’s repulsed by her appearance and vulgarity, but because of his vanity, decides to do it if only to prove how very smart he is.
He takes the girl in and immediately subjects her to a bath. The poor housekeeper (along with several maids) is given this unpleasant task, and Eliza shrieks like a banshee the whole time. She also develops a cold, never having had a bath before. But no compassion is shown – lessons first, always.
The study sessions are long and arduous, and Eliza just can’t seem to understand what Professor Higgins is saying to her. Never a kind word, but criticisms pour out of his mouth. My favorite song in this entire musical is “Just You Wait, Henry Higgins,” when Eliza is imagining all sorts of terrible fates befalling the professor, and she doesn’t save him from any of them! But when he finally does give her some praise, her progress skyrockets. All she needed was some positive reinforcement.
This is a wonderful film, full of comedy and wonderful music. But I think you’ll hate the ending just as much as I do. She’s tried and tried to get the professor to see her as a woman and not as a pet, but right at the very end, he reverts to his old patronizing ways and she falls for it. Grrr! Why couldn’t he have changed just that little bit? She changed her whole life for him, and he never gave her an inch.
That small complaint out of the way, this is a movie you’ll watch over and over again. You’ll probably dance all night afterwards, too.
This film was rated G.
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