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My Fair Lady ReviewsRating: 5 - ONE OF THE GREAT ENTERTAINMENTS This is a splendid example of a splendid movie. "My Fair Lady" gives richly to its audience through its gorgeous sets and costumes, vibrant and exhilirating music, crisp and memorable performances, and perfectly stylized direction. Stylized enough to win the picture a rare eight Academy Awards including 1964's Best Actor, Best Director, and the coveted Best Picture. George Cukor directs the prodution with a trademark flourish and wit that makes it an even greater pleasure to watch. Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison, in his Oscar-winning role) meets up with a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (a perfectly endearing and charming Audrey Hepburn). Higgins makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) that within six months he could pass the grubby Cockney off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball. Eliza cannot resist Higgins' offer, and he tutors her in the proper manner of society and speech. There are some genuinely great scenes with Hepburn and Harrison during several unorthodox speech exercises, which are very witty. The golden songs are spectacular and still popular today, such as "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and "The Rain In Spain" and "I Could Have Danced All Night" among them. And the film is absolutely a motherlode of beautiful scenes: Hepburn and her Cockney friends dancing to "Loverly", Hepburn, Harrison, and Hyde-White's joyous rendition of "Rain in Spain", the Ascot scene featuring a perfectly delicious Hepburn, the Embassy Ball scene where Hepburn is believed to be a foreign princess, and the unbearably romantic final scene between Hepburn and Harrison are worth every cent. Every scene is beautifully painted in glorious Technicolor, adding only another splash to this elegant spectacle. "My Fair Lady" is a timeless entertainment, a film that should be seen at least once... and I guarantee you that if you do see it once, it won't be enough! Rating: 5 - 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.
My Fair Lady |
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