My Fair Lady (1964)

Director: George Cukor
Story: George Bernard Shaw, Alan Jay Lerner 
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White 
Music: Frederick Loewe (music), Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)
Time: 170 minutes
Bottom-line: Harrison’s and Hepburn’s scintillating performances, and their memorable characters, make this film a classic 

  This musical, along with The Sound of Music, is one of the best that Hollywood has seen. Starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, this multi-Oscar winner is based on the 1934 musical and the play Pygmalion written by George Bernard Shaw. Known for its memorable characters and some famous songs, My Fair Lady is an evergreen film that entertains people even today.

Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) is an ordinary flower girl living in the slums. One evening, Professor Henry Higgins (Harrison) meets her in the market and mocks her English. He openly says that he can pass her off as a duchess by teaching her proper English. His friend, Colonel Pickering (White) hears this. The next day, Eliza comes to Higgins’ house, asking him to give her classes so that she can work at the flower shop, where she is accepted only if she speaks proper English. Pickering challenges Higgins to train Eliza, and even pays for her coaching classes. Does Higgins, despite his sarcastic and misogynistic nature, give Eliza proper training? Does Eliza learn to speak the proper upper-class English? Watch the film to find out!

Eliza Doolittle, played by Hepburn. 

For all those who love the sitcom Frasier, this film is a must-watch. Rex Harrison’s character is perhaps the inspiration for the character of Frasier: always aware of class, sarcastic, and of course, someone who knows and speaks impeccable English. The Sound of Music is another musical from the 1960s, but I prefer this film to that, mainly because The Sound of Music has a very slow start, and gets interesting only after the entry of Von Trapp’s children. Here, the film is entertaining right from the first, mainly due to the acting of Harrison and Hepburn.

Hepburn as Doolittle, this time after Higgins
works on her

The comedy created by Eliza and Harrison in the market in the beginning shows the nature of the characters: Eliza, a poor fun-loving girl who doesn’t give a damn about how her English sounds, and Higgins: a connoisseur of the language, who has enough knowledge to find out where people have lived, just by listening to their English. Throughout the film, Eliza’s accent, her anger and hatred towards Higgins, the way she learns English; and the sarcastic, egotistic and callous nature of Higgins, his misogynistic attitude create lot of comic scenes with memorable dialogues. Higgins’ acting is simply brilliant. His expressions of mockery, his dialogues and his attitude towards Eliza (“squashed cabbage” as he calls her) make you laugh and also make you hate him the same time. Hepburn’s acting is equally good. Her put-on accent for the film, her expressions of anger and hatred, and then joy when she learns to speak English are splendid. I am shocked that she wasn’t even nominated for the Academy Award for this performance, which I find better than her performance in Roman Holiday.

Harrison as Prof. Henry Higgins

The story is fast paced, as I said. When it comes to a musical, if the songs are good, then the film is mot boring; if the songs are bad, then the film is slow. In My Fair Lady, most of the songs are superb. The song ‘Wouldn’t it be Loverly?’ tells about the simple nature of Eliza. The song Just you Wait brings out the anger of Eliza against Higgins; but the best part of the song is after it ends. Eliza dreams as though Higgins is dead and shouts in joy, but Higgins shows up in front of her. Their expressions when they see each other, and Higgins’ attitude when he doesn’t care about the fact Eliza hates him, and says “A…” (asking her to continue practicing) to her will surely make you laugh. The song I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face is also good, and Harrison’s acting during this song is first-class. Within the five minutes of the song, his expression changes so many times that you are not sure whether how he feels. His expression after the song is over (which is also the last scene of the film) has all emotions put into one. On the other hand, the songs featuring Eliza’s father (Holloway) are mainly fun-filled ones, with comic lyrics. However, I didn’t like any songs that feature Jeremy Brett (who plays Eliza’s boyfriend). Most of the other songs sung by either Higgins or Eliza, like I could have Danced All Night, and Why Can’t the English Learn to Speak? are also good to listen to: the former because of the tune and the latter because of the lyrics.

Harrison, Hepburn, and Wilfrid Hyde-White
as Colonel Pickering

To sum up, George Cukor’s My Fair Lady is a film that brings the best of both Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. The songs are brilliant: some being funny, others sad, and others melodious. First-rate acting by both the leads, lots of memorable and comic dialogues and a simple but entertaining story make this film one of the best musicals in Hollywood.

My rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95%