"My Fair Lady" is often regarded as the most outstanding musical ever written, and certainly the greatest of the 1950s. Based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play "Pygmalion," the story revolves around Professor Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons to pass as a lady. Throughout the narrative, despite his cynical nature and struggle to understand women, Higgins becomes emotionally attached to her. The plot draws inspiration from a Greek myth in which Pygmalion wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl." When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue and found that its lips felt warm. The Goddess Aphrodite granted Pygmalion's wish, bringing the ivory sculpture to life as a woman. Similarly, Doolittle undergoes a transformation. This storyline has also influenced other works, including "Pretty Woman," "Pinocchio," and various short stories and operas. The musical features a story (book and lyrics) by Alan Jay Lerner, with music composed by Frederick Loewe. Its score includes some of the most famous songs in American musical theater, such as "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?", "With a Little Bit of Luck," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," and "On the Street Where You Live. This film won eight Academy Awards in 1964, including Best Picture. It stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a spirited, working-class street vendor from London, and Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins, who tries to transform Eliza into a sophisticated lady through his tutoring. One minor criticism is that Hepburn cannot sing, so all her songs are dubbed, except for one brief stanza where she begins to sing quietly. It leaves one to wonder how wonderful the performance would have been if Julie Andrews, the original choice for Eliza, had been cast in the role. It's definitely a great and must-have addition to any home’s music collection. Read more
Super Classic!! They Should take some pointers from this kind of Quality production!! Read more
I enjoyed this movie and am glad that it was rentable. I am not sure I would want to own it, as I do not think I will watch it again, but I did enjoy renting it. A movie like this would never be possible to make today. First, because of the story line and the script would never be approved to be made by any studio. I liked how it told the story though because we can not erase history and it tells what life may have been like at the time it was cast to be in high society. The acting was good and the story line was original, I did not know what was going to happen or where the story was going. It was funny and the cinematography of the way they filmed it was also really neat. The equipment they used to film this had I believe a short window as you see few films this old that are filmed this well and the new equipment can not capture the colors and look that the equipment used to make this movie did for it. That is a art in and of itself. The movie as a whole was like a fairytale or dream in that it captures what takes you to another world, another time or a parallel universe in which a story like this was told. A film like this is rare, very rare. If you take offense to a story line that is politically incorrect you will likely not enjoy this movie and it may trigger you, but if you can watch it from history and observe and not allow another time and another world to trigger you, then this is a wonderful movie. I am not sure I would allow younger kids to watch this though, this is not like Mary Poppins or the Sound of Music, it is for a older audience. Read more
This is one of those movies that we watch from now and then. Great movie. If you haven't seen it and want to see some of the classic musicals, this is a good choice. Read more
Great movie! Read more
Last week I watched “My Fair Lady” for perhaps the 50th time since I first saw it in a theater way back in 1965. This film has always ranked very high on my “Top 10” list of favorite movies, and places an extremely close second to “The Sound of Music” on my list of favorite musicals. I have watched “My Fair Lady” in many home video formats: Betamax and VHS tape cassettes, DVD, and Blu-ray. When I watched this film last week, there was one major difference: I was watching the 50th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray, which is an all-new 4K restoration of the film. The difference between it and all previous versions I’ve seen was so dramatic that it seemed like I was watching the movie for the very first time. For those not familiar with “My Fair Lady,” the film is based on George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion,” Set in early 20th century London, it’s a musical comedy about a lowly flower girl named Eliza Doolittle, who has a chance encounter with a linguistic professor named Henry Higgins. Professor Higgins makes a bet with a friend that he can teach Eliza to speak such perfectly proper English that he can pass her off as royalty at an embassy ball. “My Fair Lady” stars Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, and Wilfrid Hyde-White. It has some of the best acting and most entertaining musical numbers I’ve ever seen in a movie. I always found earlier home video editions of “My Fair Lady” disappointing. Video quality always seemed grainy and colorless, and showed many of the flaws and anomalies inherent in the aging source material. The versions on Betamax and VHS videocassette were particularly bad. Later releases on DVD and Blu-ray were better, although they still showed many of the same flaws. What was needed was a complete restoration. When the 50th Anniversary Edition was released in 2015, it was immediately evident that “My Fair Lady’s” restoration team had done things right. The new 4K scan shows astounding video quality from the very first frame! Colors are perfect, images are sharp and detailed, and film grain is natural but unobtrusive. I didn’t see any banding, crushing, dirt, speckles, or other anomalies anywhere. The lossless DTS Master Audio soundtrack completely filled my viewing space with gorgeous 5.1 surround audio. The 50th Anniversary edition of “My Fair Lady” is a two-disc “combo-pack” that contains the 4K restoration of the film on one Blu-ray disc, and a plethora of bonus features on the other. If you’ve never seen “My Fair Lady” in true high definition/surround sound, or if you’re simply looking to upgrade to the 4K restored version, this 50th Anniversary edition is the one to get. Most highly recommended. Read more
