My Fair Lady

I've had this saved on my dvr for some time, and was looking forward to seeing this classic, well loved musical. Rex Harrison is terrific in his defining role as Professor Higgins, and Audrey Hepburn is beautiful as the socially challenged Eliza Doolittle.

Now to the script: Professor Higgins makes a bet with a friend that he can transform the street beggar Eliza Doolittle into a socially graceful and desirable woman within six months. He takes her into his home and teaches her the proper way to speak the English language and to dress.

In the process, she (for some strange reason) falls in love with Professor Higgins, even though he is totally lacking in knowing how to treat women. He doesn't think he needs women and wonders why they can't be more like men (duh!!!!!).

Some of the songs are memorable and tremendous, with catchy choruses such as Wouldn't it Be Loverly, The Rain in Spain, Get Me to the Church on Time, and (my favorite) With a Little Bit of Luck. The ending is less than satisfying to say the least, but I suppose for that time, it was realistic. A good experience.

My Fair Lady (Two-Disc Special Edition)
This is truly a must-have edition of My Fair Lady for anyone who is interested in movie history. Not only is the movie itself one of the best of all times--beautiful music, witty dialogues, clever social critique, excellent actors--but the special features added to this two-disc special edition help us to gain new insight into the process of making the film and, later, recovering it so that future generations may be able to enjoy it too.

Saw this on Broadway...the DVD is wonderful as was the VCR...but I wish they had let Julie Andrews play her original role...Andrew Hepburn was lovely but Julie's voice was fantastic,

Audrey Hepburn is "THE FAIREST LADY" of all. She was a gem. My Fair Lady is a GEM on her crown of success in films. Breakfast at Tiffany's is the DIAMOND on the crown.

Dolfanrene

Even though the film "My Fair Lady" may seem a bit slow for our modern times, to those who enjoy musicals it will be a very pleasant experience to watch Bernard Shaw's amusing characters from Pygmalion singing while presenting us a satirical point of view of the distinction of social classes in England. Pygmalion is a play about a phonetician called professor Higgins and a linguist of Indian dialects called Colonel Pickering who make a bet that in a couple of months they can make a flower girl with a cockney accent, learn to be well-mannered and to speak as a duchess. With Higgins's overconfident attitude and Colonel Pickering's patience, they manage to transform the poor flower girl, Eliza, into a sophisticated lady.
The film has a different arrangement of scenes and dialogue lines from the original play "Pygmalion", but it catches the viewers interest by having a musical full of elegant costumes, humoristic lines and most importantly memorable and catchy songs played by a wonderful cast. This cast included Audrey Hepburn, who didn't really look like a low class flower girl in the beginning but appeared spectacular after the transition into a duchess. Her fine acting made the character come to life, brought spark to the play and provoked laughter to the audience quite a number of times. No one could have interpreted the new Eliza as charming, stylish and beautifully as Hepburn. Rex Harrison also does a fine job at playing his arrogant character, Professor Higgins. Higgins always treated Eliza with a terrible attitude but as the movie develops, the viewer catches the spark of love that always existed between Eliza and Higgins. This relationship makes it a romantic musical and makes the film distinct from the original Pygmalion. In "Pygmalion", Eliza marries Freddy, but in "My Fair Lady" the producers decided that Eliza comes back to Higgins to live as a couple happily ever after. This was a typical move for the producers since most audiences prefer happy endings.
To sum up, "My Fair Lady", is a must-see classical for musical lovers. Songs like 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely?', 'Why Can't the English Learn to Speak' and "The Rain in Spain", make the film come to live, and allow the characters to express themselves and develop in a particular and creative way instead of just having plain, old dialogues. The actors were fantastic, and had a lot of chemistry with each other, especially Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. The film could appear somewhat slow and dull for some people since it is old, but if you appreciate musicals and humor this is the movie for you.