My Fair Lady

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after Cary Grant wisely turned down the movie job, and Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer Jack Warner felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Andrews instead made Mary Poppins, for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: Por
• Features:
  • cc
  • Audio commentary
  • Vintage featurettes, footage and audio
  • Alternate Audrey Hepburn vocals
  • Posters and lobby cards with Rex Harrison radio interview
  • Comments on a lady
  • Trailers

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Actor - 1964 (Rex Harrison)
•     Won Best Adapted Score - 1964 (Andre Previn)
•     Won Best Color Art Direction - 1964 (George James Hopkins, Cecil Beaton, Gene Allen)
•     Won Best Color Cinematography - 1964 (Harry Stradling)
•     Won Best Color Costume Design - 1964 (Cecil Beaton)
•     Won Best Director - 1964 (George Cukor)
•     Won Best Picture - 1964 (Jack L. Warner)
•     Won Best Sound - 1964 (George Groves)
•     Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay - 1964 (Alan Jay Lerner)
•     Nominated Best Editing - 1964 (William H. Ziegler)
•     Nominated Best Supporting Actor - 1964 (Stanley Holloway)
•     Nominated Best Supporting Actress - 1964 (Gladys Cooper)

• American Film Institute

•     Won 100 Greatest American Movies - 1998

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Best Film - Any Source - 1965 (George Cukor)

• Directors Guild of America

•     Won Best Director - 1964 (George Cukor)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Won Best Director - 1964 (George Cukor)
•     Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1964 (Rex Harrison)
•     Won Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - 1964
•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pictu - 1964 (Stanley Holloway)
•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com - 1964 (Audrey Hepburn)

• National Board of Review

•     Nominated Best Picture - 1964

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Actor - 1964 (Rex Harrison)
•     Won Best Picture - 1964

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Audrey Hepburn - Eliza Doolittle
       Rex Harrison - Prof. Henry Higgins
       Stanley Holloway - Alfred P. Doolittle
       Wilfrid Hyde - White - Col. Pickering
       Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Higgins
       Jeremy Brett - Freddy Eynsford-Hill
       Theodore Bikel - Zoltan Karpathy
       Mona Washbourne - Mrs. Pearce
       John Holland - Butler
       Alan Napier - Ambassador

• Director:

  George Cukor

• Producer:

  Jack L. Warner, Herman Levin

• Screenwriter:

  Alan Jay Lerner

• Play Author:

  George Bernard Shaw

• Cinematographer:

  Harry Stradling

• Musical Arrangement:

  Alexander Courage

• Composer (Music Score):

  Frederick Loewe, Andre Previn

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Andre Previn

• Editor:

  William H. Ziegler

• Production Designer:

  Cecil Beaton, Gene Allen

• Set Designer:

  George James Hopkins

• Costume Designer:

  Cecil Beaton, David Berman

• Makeup:

  Gordon Bau

• Special Effects:

  Linwood G. Dunn

• Choreography:

  Hermes Pan

• Lyricist:

  Alan Jay Lerner

• Book (Musical):

  Alan Jay Lerner

• Still Photographer:

  Bob Willoughby

REVIEW:

• My Fair Lady is one of the screen's joyous achievements, an elegant musical filled with adult characters who think before they speak. Exquisitely produced by Warner Bros, it represents the zenith of the movie musical as an art form and as popular entertainment. Rex Harrison leads an impeccable cast, and, yes, that's Marni Nixon singing for Audrey Hepburn, but Hepburn is perfectly cast otherwise. The major star of the film is perhaps set designer/costume designer Cecil Beaton, whose visual contributions immediately impacted European and U.S. fashion trends. One of the best-looking movies ever made, My Fair Lady took eight Oscars, including Best Picture. Hepburn failed to be nominated in the Best Actress category, which was won by Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, in what many observers saw as backlash against Andrews' not being cast in the movie after originating the role of Eliza on stage. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi