My Fair Lady

The 1964 musical, My Fair Lady has had a pretty fun history. Starting off life as a very well received stage play titled Pygmalion written in 1913 by George Bernard Shaw which took inspiration from the Greek myth of the same name about a man who falls in love with his own sculpture, it would then be turned into an incredibly popular Broadway production in 1956 starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, becoming a multi-Tony award-winning success and spawned several future revivals which made it one of the longest running musicals of its time. Warner Brothers would then purchase the films rights to the story in 1962, which led to a 1964 film adaptation starring mostly the same cast except for changing out Julie Andrews with Audrey Hepburn, with this rendition usually being the one most audience are aware of initially. Each version has been widely accepted and applauded and each has their own unique components in order to stand out, but the film is held in very high regard within cinematic history,  arguably creating the ‘’identifiable’’ chick-flick movie, being a critical and commercial success as well as the second highest-grossing movie in 1964, and managing to win over 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. While it might appear to be light and frilly on the outside, this old girl survived several decades and didn’t stop just on the stage. In 1910s London, a Cockney accented flower-seller named Eliza Doolittle (played by Audrey Hepburn) wishes for life off the streets and dreams of owning her own floor shop one day. She goes to the home of scholar of phonetics, Professor Henry Higgins (played by Rex Harrison) and asks him to teach her how to speak properly after he humiliated her previously for her supposedly lower-status way of talking. Initially wanting nothing do with her, Higgins is eventually convinced after he enters a bet with Colonel Hugh Pickering (played by Wilfrid Hyde-White) that he can turn her into a proper lady and present her before the King and Queen at an upcoming embassy ball which they will be attending. Forced to improve her speech through Higgins’ ruthless and demeaning training, Eliza is slowly transformed into something more along the lines of a ”proper” lady but finds that it hasn’t changed Higgin’s opinion of her. As their time together progresses, they have to discover whether they can get along without wanting to kill the other.  One of the staples of the genre as well as a classic from the cinematic ages, My Fair Lady could’ve been simple-minded and even irritating (which is probably how it would be portrayed in modern day given the nature of the genre it is placed in), but it offers up a surprising amount of good material that, despite subject matter that feels a little sexist (and still remains as much sometimes throughout), will have you coming back for more.

One of the most difficult things about adapting a musical into movie isn’t just what to keep in and what to take out, but also how to make it feel distinctly different from what was already presented, as unlike other mediums like books or radio dramas, theatre is also a visual format, so a movie would need to go out of its way to present something that feels familiar enough to be comparable, but also looks different enough in lay-out, editing and pacing from the original source. The director for the film, George Cukor, has had past experience with musicals like Les Girls and the 1954 film version of A Star is Born, and has consistently presented a tone that has a jovial theatricality to it, but can still present something that looks, sounds and feels cinematic, so he’s able to get the best of both worlds, with visuals and performance that feel movie-quality and writing and production value that can feel like a stage show. The film is actually surprisingly fast in its pacing and has such a subdued yet kinetic energy that it does a very nice job grabbing its audience and keeping them amused throughout the almost three-hour running time (which definitely isn’t a small feat for a premise so lovey-dovey and casual). The premise is one that can offer plenty of comedic possibility but could also work on an emotional level as it offers up some fun new ideas that people might not have even considered when originally watching. Its explanation and dissection of the British language and the various levels in which it is viewed and judged is strangely fascinating, and a cockney accent being viewed as a definable element of class is also a nice detail. It’s a story that doesn’t feel like it’s placed within a specific genre; it has the workings of a romance, but is also clearly a musical with bombastic showy song sequences, there is social commentary laced throughout that makes it feel like a message movie, the focus on Eliza makes it feel like a character piece, it has decent comedy, etc. It cleverly interjections multiple different tones and styles in a way that offers something for everybody, and since the script written by Alan Jay Lerner doesn’t contain a lot of pointless cliches, it isn’t always easy to predict where it’s heading. While most of the film is done very effectively and strangely without getting dull despite how little actually occurs in the story, the ending feels like a massive slap in the face (which seems to have been an issue ever since Pygmalion). Not only does it feel incredibly regressive for its story as well as anti-climactic (and pretty misogynistic at that), but it is also just an overall bad ending which doesn’t provide any feeling of conclusion or satisfaction, leaving the audience with an empty feeling that ends the film on a sour note

The characters for the story are all pretty well set-up since they already came from two pre-existing sources and most of them don’t need to be updated between versions as their motivations remain pretty timeless. They have a sense of realism to them especially with through their hopes and desires, but also this cartoony edge that makes their over-dramatic moments feel a little more exaggerated and their joyful moments feel noticeably more enjoyable, it’s played up to a level that never goes too far and helps out in the long run. This tone spreads out to the side characters as well, with people like Stanley Holloway, Gladys Cooper, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Mona Washbourne all demonstrating this. Eliza Doolittle is a solidly entertaining lead and pretty ahead of her time considering when the character was created, as having a woman living off the streets personally pull herself out of that space and say she wants to improve herself and become a sensible lady of society, is one that can easily connect with a lot of people and the progression from gutter rat to duchess, while a bit rushed, is still engaging and is a role that people would happily get behind. While it is unfortunate Andrews as prevented from returning due to the studio wanting a higher profile star in the movie space, Audrey Hepburn does do a pretty good job in the role, being able to pull off both the cockney-spewing street vendor and the elegant lady very effectively. She brings both a regal quaint appeal and an energetic comedy energy to the character which makes her feel real and very likeable. On the other hand, Henry Higgins is pretty unlikable throughout the whole movie, and even if intentionally, it isn’t handled correctly. The character feels like he is intentionally unlikable and written as the harsh cold-hearted uppity teacher in the beginning who will eventually be turned around by the lead come the film’s end, when in reality, he only gets worse as the film goes on, but the audience is told they are supposed to like him now. Rex Harrison is doing a great job with the lines, and he’s got enough charm and quick-wit zingers to make him work from an acting standpoint, but in terms of how the character is handled, it’s a bit confused.

The film’s production design handled by Gene Allen and Cecil Beaton is extremely well done, so much so that it even won an Oscar against the similarly delightful Mary Poppins (ironically starring Julie Andrews after being turned away from this picture). A lot of the locations put on display are very nicely designed and presented, showcasing a nice balance between the dirtiness of the streets and the cleanliness of the ritzy buildings. Both are given a lot of character, constantly switching between the two allows for some nice variety and prevents one from getting too much attention, and each is given a positive and negative attribute to highlight. While the streets are grimy and obviously don’t feel the most professional, it is also full of life and energy through the inhabitants speaking in a very shouty but characterful manner, and the sophisticated areas are grand and elegant which is assisted by the decadent set decoration by George James Hopkins and costume design by Beaton and Michael Neuwirth, but are also lacking in energy and spontaneity so they feel a little stiff and rigid. The songs written by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner work in a different sense from other musicals and feel a bit more down-to-earth as opposed to other musicals. They range from elegant and soft, to rapid and more talk-heavy, and that balance could be a bit distracting, but they are handled in a clever way. The slower songs feature very nice singers (even Marni Nixon who dubbed for Hepburn) and have more distinct melodies, while the faster songs have less refined singing and can sometimes have very similar melodies, but are allowed to be witty, quick and even pretty funny. The movie in general is quite funny, with some very energized performances and some great comedic timing and delivery. It gives the movie a better sense of fun and light-heartedness without it coming across as forced or undeserved.

My Fair Lady doesn’t seem like a movie that has a lot of layers to it from a surface-level appearance, but much like the main lead, it proves it is capable of being more than meets the eye. Despite how old the story is, the film has lasted the test of time, and the formula has been redone several times over with multiple new renditions that prove how long-lasting it is. It’s true the film has its nit-picks, and the ending really is the only bad thing about it, but everything else is more than worth checking out in order to get something respectable, intelligent, funny, and even kind of inspiring. It does its job very well and proves to the world that chick flicks don’t always have to be one-note, and that the truly great ones know how to shine. My Fair Lady has enough great performances, wonderful song numbers and funny moments to make you want to dance all night.