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“A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and mela...
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“A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and melancholy prospects of decay, it should give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world."...R Palmer
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My Fair Lady, a mammoth musical extravaganza, was produced by Warner Brothers in 1964, in 70mm wide screen. The story was adapted from Pygmalion (1912), a play by George Bernard Shaw. Director George Cukor has presented a sumptuous, dazzling and delightful musical romantic comedy with enchanting and cheerful songs. It had won eight Academy Awards. This classic was restored in 1994, to its original charms and the sound track changed to digital.
The first frame of the film is of the Convent Garden Opera House, London with beautiful and colourful flowers around, and the high-class operagoers are leaving the theatre, while it starts to rain. Eliza Dolittle (Audrey Hepburn), a Cockney flower seller dashes with a youthful Freddie Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett) and loses her coins. She talks in her horrible accent. Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) presents her some coins. An onlooker, Professor Henry
Higgins (Rex Harrison), a specialist in Phonetics the science of speech, is listening to the girl. He states with contempt that she is an "incarnate insult to the English language" and ridicules her saying she is a "squashed cabbage leaf". Higgins continues saying...
" A woman who utters such disgusting and depressing noise has no right to be anywhere, no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible. Don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon".
Bernard Shaw has always raised his voice against class discrimination of the bygone era and the above discharge of words by Higgins is a proof of how accent determined the class of a human being during those days.
Higgins ventures that Eliza can be transformed into a stylishly speaking lady within six months. He tells Colonel Pickering that his knowledge of different dialects will help him and he will lead Eliza to the Embassy Ball dressed like an aristocratic duchess. Eliza gets scrubbed off her dirt. Higgins gives her training how to speak and dress well and teaches her very presentable and charming manners. Devoid of sleep, Eliza refines her accent by repeatedly saying sentences like "The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly In The Plain". Higgins compels Eliza attain proficiency in the brilliant and splendid English language. The music and dancing of these situations are delectable.
The story of My Fair Lady is well knit and the characters are dominant. All the songs are outstanding and the melody refreshing. The song, "I could Have Danced All Night", sung by Marnie Nixon is the best and is still very popular without losing its glitter. Audrey Hepburn, in one of her best ever performances, has excelled in dancing and she has given a real life characterization of Eliza. She deserved accolades to her acting talents in transforming herself from an ordinary flower girl to an aristocratic, beautiful and well-mannered lady. George Cukor has steered well in the captain's seat. Rex Harrison is Professor Higgins from head to toe. He delivers his dialogue with a stunning accuracy and sings well, too, proving his versatile talents. No wonder, he got the Academy Award for the best actor that year.
The humour in the dialogue is very conspicuous. Colonel Pickering questions Mr Dolittle (Stanley Holloway), Eliza's father, "Have you no morals, man?" to which Dolittle says "Nah. Can't afford none. Neither could you, if you were as poor as me". As a suitor to Eliza, Jeremy Brett (the later Sherlock Holmes) has acted well in the picturization of the song "On the Street Where You Live". Wilfrid Hyde-White as Colonel Pickering and Dame Gladys Cooper as Higgins' mother have done justice to their rolls. Stanley Holloway as Eliza's father earns applause in the songs "With A Little Bit Of Luck" and "Get Me To The Church On Time", sung by himself. He is very amusing in his singing and dancing.
My Fair Lady is a work of art. The Ascot and Embassy ball sets and costumes are stunning and brilliant. The dancing in the Embassy Ball is colourful with melodious orchestral music. The Hungarian "impostorologist", as Colonel Pickering puts it, is very humourous and foolhardy.
So..Get your partner and waltz around, and be prepared for a dance with "My Fair Lady"...I bet...You Can Dance All Night.......
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Music / Performing Arts, Comedy - Director: Trevor Nunn, Geoffrey Posner - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, Parental Guidance - Starring: Duncan Preston, Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Victoria Wood, Jim Broadbent
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director", George Cukor (The Women,The Philadelphia Story), ... more
transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Sh...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
By George, they've got it! Newly transferred from elements painstakingly restored in 1994, ... more
the film version of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady is lavish, lovely and the acclaimed recipient of eight 1964 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best D...
Advantages: The DVD looks and sounds terrific...every element falls into place beautifully... Disadvantages: those who hate Romeo & Juliet probably wont bother to give it a chance...
eve6kicksass 23.09.2003 (23.09.2003)
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