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Movie and TV Discussion => Movie reviews => Topic started by: Barry on January 19, 2022, 03:31:35 PM
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My Fair Lady 4K
“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.”
First, the restoration is very good, but not great. The picture is fine, but often a bit soft in some areas. The sound is better than on the DVD and what I was used to, but it was often a bit distorted.
The acting is wonderful, Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle; Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins; Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle; Wilfrid Hyde-White as Colonel Hugh Pickering. Although, to me Hepburn is so beautiful she never looks like a flower girl. And the music and songs are wonderful.
Yet, he movie was always a bit hard to take, I first saw it when was about 15. Years later I saw it on Broadway with Rex Harrison. The story is an adaption of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. I saw the original movie and, several years ago, I saw Pygmalion on Broadway with Peter O’Toole as Prof. Higgins.
As a story, I liked Pygmalion better. Let me explain. Even as a child I hated the way Higgins treat poor Eliza. He was rude, self-centered, arrogant and oblivious to anyone else’s needs. In Pygmalion’s end, Eliza marries Freddy and Higgins is left alone and very happy. In My Fair Lady she abandons Freddy and return to Higgins, who is much older than her.
Rodgers and Hammerstein, the composers, said, way back when the movie was released, that Shaw would approve of this ending. However, in real life Shaw fought against the producers who wanted to change his original ending.
Recently My Fair Lady has been restaged and shown across the country. But they updated Shaw’s original ending and she does not stay with Higgins.
You simply could not make this 1960s movie today. Nor would you want to. In fact, to be honest, there are times when Higgins sounds gay by today’s standards.
PROFESSOR HIGGINS:
Why can't a woman be more like a man?
Men are so decent, such regular chaps;
Ready to help you through any mishaps;
Ready to buck you up whenever you're glum.
Why can't a woman be a chum?
Why is thinking something women never do?
And why is logic never even tried?
Straightening up their hair is all they ever do.
Why don't they straighten up the mess that's inside?