Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Audrey Hepburn Was Probably The Best Choice.
MY FAIR LADY is a musical adaptation of Bernard Shaw's play PYGMALION. It enjoyed a long and successful run on Broadway with Julie Andrews starring as Eliza Doolittle. Julie was replaced by Audrey Hepburn for the movie. This was of course a major change which was met with much skepticism. Audrey turned in a superlative performance although her singing voice was provided by Marni Nixon. Rex Harrison in the role of Professor Higgins proved to be as good in the film as he was on the stage. Stanley Holloway was superb as Alfred P. Doolittle. The movie walked off with most of the Academy Awards in 1964 winning Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Director (George Cukor), Color Cinematography, Color Art Direction, Sound, Adapted Musical Scoring and Color Costume Design. Nominations were also received for Best Supporting Actor (Stanley Holloway), Best Supporting Actress (Gladys Cooper), Adapted Screenplay and Editing. Ironically Julie Andrews won the Oscar for Best Actress in that same year for her appearance in MARY POPPINS. Some of the more interesting DVD features are the commentary by Marni Nixon and the alternative versions of two songs using Audrey Hepburn's own voice.
Rating: - A musical masterpiece
"My Fair Lady" is the legendary director George Cukor's crowning achievement. Every element of this movie works, from its sumptuous photography by veteran cameraman Harry Stradling, to the glorious costumes and sets created by Cecil Beaton. The music is incomparable. Frederick Loewe's melodies are lovely and infectious and Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics are every bit as witty and touching as the dialogue originally written by playwright George Bernard Shaw for "Pygmalion". "My Fair Lady" is the musical version of "Pygmalion".The transformation of the illiterate, unwashed Eliza Doolittle into the breathtaking "Fair Lady" of the film's title is inspiring to see. This is one of Audrey Hepburn's best roles, and she is perfection as Eliza Doolittle. She is thoroughly convincing as the Cockney flower girl who transcends her humble roots to end up dancing with a prince at an embassy ball. Hepburn expertly translates Eliza's tenacity, vulnerbility, intelligence, and grace into a beautiful and timeless performance. Yes, it's true that Julie Andrews (who created the original Eliza on Broadway) was bypassed for this role. However, this was purely a business decision made by studio head Jack Warner. He did not want to risk such a lavish, expensive production on a relative newcomer such as Andrews was at the time. So he went with the safe bet, Hepburn, as Eliza Doolittle. Audrey was an established star with a great track record. But Andrews soon recovered from this disappointment to make two blockbusters of her own, "Mary Poppins" and "Sound of Music". Not a bad trade-off I'd say. Anyway, I enthusiastically recommend that you buy "My Fair Lady" on DVD or VHS. It is one of the best musicals ever written for stage or screen. You'll see what I mean.
Rating: - By George, they've got it!
So says the stuffy, but tough, Professor Henry Higgins (Best Actor Oscar-winner Rex Harrison) as the tired, but enchanting, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) manages to speak proper English. Winner of 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, MY FAIR LADY proves that there is still plenty of life in musicals. Created by British playwright George Bernard Shaw under the original title, "Pygmalion," we look into the lives of a phonetics teacher as his quest of turning a Cockney flower girl into a beautiful woman of Edwardian England. Distributed by Warner Bros., produced by studio head Jack L. Warner, directed by "woman's director" George Cukor (Best Director), this film was a winner from the start! With a cast of British players including Stanley Holloway (Best Supporting Actor nominee) as Eliza's sneaky father Alfred P. Doolittle, Gladys Cooper (Best Supporting Actress nominee) as Higgins's snooty society mother Mrs. Higgins, Wilfrid Hyde-White as the kind Colonel Hugh Pickering, Mona Washbourne as the gentle Mrs. Pearce, Theodore Bikel as the bothersome Zoltan Karpathy, and the handsome Jeremy Brett as the lovelorn Freddy Eynsford-Hill. The musical numbers are, of course, fantastic! From "Wouldn't It Be Lovely" to "With A Little Bit O' Luck" to "Just You Wait" to "I Could've Danced All Night," you find yourself singing and dancing along with the characters. The numbers rival those of other Oscar-winning musicals such as AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, THE KING AND I, GIGI, and WEST SIDE STORY. Though, Hepburn was dubbed by "Hollywood's favorite dubbed" Marni Nixon (who also dubbed Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I, Leslie Caron in GIGI, and Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY) , you still feel the passion given by those being dubbed. The serene look on Hepburn's face when she sings "I Could've Danced All Night," for instance, is a wonderful example of forgetting the dubber and concentrating on the person on screen, namely Hepburn. The other dubbed actor is Jeremy Brett (Freddy), dubbed by Bill Shirley. Whoever Bill Shirley is, he is wonderful (with a rippling Butterscotch voice to boot). Rumor had it that Audrey Hepburn was an excellent singer, though Jack Warner must not have had enough confidence in her to pull it off. That is very much like the casting of Eliza herself. Played on Broadway by incomparable Julie Andrews (who won an Oscar that same year for MARY POPPINS, her revenge in a way), people were against Hepburn playing Eliza. According to Warner himself, he didn't want an unknown actress playing a film role. I think that was dumb on Warner's part, especially since Andrews won an Oscar and, of course, starring in next year's Best Picture winner THE SOUND OF MUSIC! But, Hepburn did a great job -- though the accent was a bit shaky in the beginning. In conclusion, with 13 nominations and 8 wins, MY FAIR LADY brought out a classical film that inspired and touched people everywhere. And don't forget the film's competition: Stanley Kubrick's DR STRANGLOVE, Walt Disney's MARY POPPINS, Michael Cacoyannis's ZORBA THE GREEK, and Peter Glenville's BECKET. A major boost for Warner Bros. sagging weight at the box office and a major stepping stone for the Hollywood musical! Awards: BEST PICTURE (Jack L. Warner), BEST DIRECTOR (George Cukor), BEST ACTOR (Rex Harrison), BEST COLOR ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION (Gene Allen, George James Hopkins, and Cecil Beaton) and BEST COLOR COSTUME DESIGN (Cecil Beaton, creating a first in film history by winning both categories in one night), BEST COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY (Harry Stradling), BEST MUSICAL ADAPTATION (Andre Previn), and BEST SOUND (George R. Groves).
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