Search - My Fair Lady

At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw comedy Pygmalion. Outside Covent Garden on a rainy evening in 1912, dishevelled cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) meets linguistic expert Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison). After delivering a musical tirade against "verbal class distinction," Higgins tells his companion Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that, within six months, he could transform Eliza into a proper lady, simply by teaching her proper English. The next morning, face and hands freshly scrubbed, Eliza presents herself on Higgins' doorstep, offering to pay him to teach her to be a lady. "It's almost irresistable," clucks Higgins. "She's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty." He turns his mission into a sporting proposition, making a bet with Pickering that he can accomplish his six-month miracle to turn Eliza into a lady. This is one of the all-time great movie musicals, featuring classic songs and the legendary performances of Harrison, repeating his stage role after Cary Grant wisely turned down the movie job, and Stanley Holloway as Eliza's dustman father. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza on Broadway but producer Jack Warner felt that Andrews, at the time unknown beyond Broadway, wasn't bankable; Hepburn's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961). Andrews instead made Mary Poppins, for which she was given the Best Actress Oscar, beating out Hepburn. The movie, however, won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Harrison, and five other Oscars, and it remains one of the all-time best movie musicals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audrey Hepburn - Eliza Doolittle
Rex Harrison - Prof. Henry Higgins
Stanley Holloway - Alfred P. Doolittle
Wilfrid Hyde-White - Col. Pickering
Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Higgins

1965	Best Film - Any Source (winner)	British Academy of Film and Television	George Cukor
1964	Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com (winner)	Golden Globe	Rex Harrison
1964	Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or C (nominee)	Golden Globe	Audrey Hepburn
1964	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominee)	Golden Globe	Stanley Holloway
1964	Best Director (winner)	Golden Globe	George Cukor
1964	Best Actor (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Rex Harrison
1964	Best Adapted Screenplay (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Alan Jay Lerner
1964	Best Color Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	George James Hopkins
1964	Best Color Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Cecil Beaton
1964	Best Color Art Direction (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Gene Allen
1964	Best Color Cinematography (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Harry Stradling
1964	Best Color Costume Design (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Cecil Beaton
1964	Best Director (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	George Cukor
1964	Best Editing (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	William H. Ziegler
1964	Best Picture (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Jack L. Warner
1964	Best Adapted Score (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Andre Previn
1964	Best Sound (winner)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	George Groves
1964	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Stanley Holloway
1964	Best Supporting Actress (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Gladys Cooper
1964	Best Actor (winner)	New York Film Critics Circle	Rex Harrison

Fans of Hollywood musicals in general and Audrey Hepburn in particular will be interested in the Warner Home Video DVD edition of My Fair Lady. George Cukor's lavish screen adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe hit stage musical gets the definitive treatment it merits. One of the DVD extras even helps clear up a debate about whether leading lady Hepburn deserved to have her singing voice dubbed by Marnie Nixon during post-production. The film's restoration team found two scenes that feature Hepburn doing her own singing; these scenes show that Hepburn's style was much more in sync with co-star Rex Harrison's own conversational singing than Nixon's highly professional operatics. Too bad Hepburn didn't live to see this release; she was deeply hurt by being dubbed. While fans of the film will be happiest with the peerless anamorphic widescreen transfer, this DVD edition also features an old "making of" documentary and a warm, informative commentary track by the film's restoration team. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide

These movies have the touch and feel of My Fair Lady...
22	South Pacific (NR)
8	High Society (NR)
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3	Pygmalion [Criterion Collection]
94	Aladdin [Collector's DVD Gift Set] (G)
2	Never on Sunday (NR)
3	Private Lessons [25th Anniversary Edition] (R)
1	Lady for a Day (NR)
3	Pocketful of Miracles (NR)
3	Educating Rita (PG)
2	The Mambo Kings (R)
36	The Graduate (PG)
4	Out of the Blue [Collector's Edition] (R)
25	Funny Face (NR)
4	Easter Parade [Special Edition] (NR)
11	Born Yesterday (PG)
14	Lucas (PG-13)
13	A Hard Day's Night (G)
83	Grease [Widescreen] (PG)
1	Dance, Girl, Dance (NR)
These movies feature My Fair Lady...
S	50 Years: The Best of Hollywood
1	Hollywood Musicals of the 60's
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3	O Lucky Man [Special Edition] (R)
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2	Let's Make Love [Diamond Collection] (NR)
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7	Holiday (NR)
S	The Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2 (NR)
4	War and Peace (PG)
1	Forever and a Day (NR)
2	Lust for Life (NR)
1	Ten Little Indians (NR)
6	The Sea Hawk (NR)
2	The Nun's Story (NR)
33	Sabrina (NR)
2	Unfaithfully Yours [Criterion Collection]
9	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (NR)
1	Camille (NR)
These movies cover the same subjects as My Fair Lady...
62	Breakfast at Tiffany's (NR)
12	Camelot (G)
1	Flower Drum Song [Special Edition & Widescreen] (NR)
4	The Little Prince (G)
17	Paint Your Wagon [Widescreen] (PG-13)
3	Pygmalion [Criterion Collection]
S	My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs (NR)
?	Opera Stars Sing Broadway
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5	Born Yesterday (NR)
11	Born Yesterday (PG)
3	Educating Rita (PG)
25	Funny Face (NR)
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83	Grease [Widescreen] (PG)
30	The King and I (G)
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