It's far too long at 170 minutes. The pace is too slow. Some of the songs are tedious (especially "On the Street Where You Live", the theme song for stalkers worldwide). Eliza's father (Stanley Holloway) should make his own movie, as his character doesn't quite fit in this one. Hepburn is more likeable as a squawking flower girl than as a robotic fashion model.
But despite all its faults, "My Fair Lady" is
still a good film. The costumes are excellent,
the script, sets and casting is good, and, with
the exception of lovesick Freddy (Jeremy Brett),
the main characters are both likeable and
credible. While songs come from an old fashioned
school of songwriting, blandly tailored to appeal
to the widest possible audience, the choreography
that supports them is good (My favorite has
Hepburn fantasizing an execution of Harrison).
"My Fair Lady" is based on the George Bernard
Shaw play "Pygmalion". Conceited linguistics
Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) makes a
bet with fellow blue-blood Colonel Pickering
(Wilfrid Hyde-White) that he can transform flower
girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) into a
lady. Hepburn becomes subject to Harrison's
relentless and degrading training methods, but at
least she gets to wear a wide variety of
expensive dresses. Hepburn is a success at a
ball, winning Higgins' bet, but the question of
Hepburn's future, and her relationship with the
insulting Harrison, remains to be settled.
For years, "My Fair Lady" could only be seen on
NBC. Eliza's exhortation "Move your bloomin'
arse" was dubbed to "Move your bloomin' legs",
thus demonstrating that even a G-rated movie
could not always get past network censors.
"My Fair Lady" is regarded as a dinosaur today; a
lavishly produced musical whose target audience
is middle-aged women and not their teenaged sons.
Of course, the film was more highly regarded in
its era. It won eight Oscars including Best
Picture, Director (George Cukor), Actor
(Harrison), Cinematography (Harry Stradling) and
Score (Andre Previn). It also won for sets,
costumes, and sound. Supporting actor nominations
went to garrulous Holloway and Gladys Cooper (She
played Harrison's mother, and was the fortunate
recipient of the film's best lines). (64/100)
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