My Fair Lady (1964) Review

Title: My Fair Lady
Year: 1964

Director: George Cuckor
Country: UK

Language: English

My Fair Lady was adapted for the Silver Screen from the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, which was itself based upon the 1913 stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. It was director by George Cuckor, the screenplay was written by Alan Jay Lerner and the film starred Audrey Hepburn at the height of her career. It won eight Academy awards, most notably for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. 

A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor (Rex Harrison)  agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl (Audrey Hepburn) and make her presentable in high society.

Many people on the set of My Fair Lady presumed that Julie Andrews would be given the leading role, Disney even offered to halt the production of Mary Poppins to make a new schedule for Andrews, but producer Jack L. Warner had not even considered her. Even though Audrey Hepburn was his first interest she was told that her voice was not strong enough to carry the picture, so the majority of her singing (with the exception of a couple songs) was dubbed by Marni Nixon. This is unfortunate, as I feel musicals should only be cast with actors who can do their own singing and/or dancing. It may have also kept Hepburn from receiving her own Best Actress Oscar that year. 

My Fair Lady does an incredible job at integrating narration and music, as it moves the story quite smoothly. Even though the picture is 3 hours long, the songs, which include "I've Accustomed to Her Face" and "I Could Have Danced" manages to keep the audience entertained. They are incredibly helpful in establishing characters, contributing to the mood, adding exposition, and creating a powerful atmosphere of fantasy. Few movie musicals use the power of music this well. 

As it's based on a stage play, some camera blocking and shot compositions are fairly troublesome. The stark class division and treatment of the poor is treated a bit too lightly for my taste, but other than that those qualms there is very little negative to say about the picture. My Fair Lady is a bonifide classic that deserves to be regarded as one of the best musicals ever made.