{"id":10315,"date":"2019-09-06T16:08:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T20:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=10315"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:11:16","slug":"my-fair-lady-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=10315","title":{"rendered":"My Fair Lady-1964"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Fair Lady-1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director George Cukor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #938<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Reviewed September 6, 2019<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Winner of the Best Picture Academy Award (it would not have been my choice), My Fair Lady (1964) is a good adaptation of the stage version, which is, in turn, based on the famous 1913 stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.<\/p>\n

The musical’s central negative aspect is its casting choices. Hepburn and Harrison have only mediocre chemistry, and Hepburn does not sing.<\/p>\n

However, the film is enchanting and filled with lavish sets, colorful costumes, and earnest songs, making it entertaining for the whole family.<\/p>\n

The iconic Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) and Henry Higgins (Harrison) are household names to every fan of the musical genre.<\/p>\n

Set in London, the sophisticated and arrogant Professor Higgins, a scholar of phonetics, is intent on proving that the tone and accent of one’s voice determine one’s lot in society.<\/p>\n

As an experiment, he chooses flower saleswoman Eliza, with her horrid Cockney accent, and is determined to crown her duchess at a ball.<\/p>\n

Unaware of his scheme but soon to find out she has been had, romance eventually blooms as the song “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” becomes essential.<\/p>\n

My Fair Lady is quite the epic, with a runtime of two hours and fifty-two minutes, which is lofty for a film.<\/p>\n

The misty London setting adds layers of mystique and atmosphere, and the cinematography drizzles with color and pizzazz, making the overall content look fantastic.<\/p>\n

Because of the film’s length and magnificent trimmings, the production looks like a spectacle, reminiscent of the elegant extravagance of the 1950s and 1960s, when musicals made into films were grand and robust.<\/p>\n

It’s no wonder it won Best Picture, Best Director, and many other awards. Hollywood loves this film.<\/p>\n

When dissected and analyzed, social and class systems are a large part of the film amid the cheery singing, dancing, and big-screen bombast.<\/p>\n

Social status and hints of socialism pepper the production, rising way above the fluff it could have been if just a “boy from the good side of the tracks meets girls from the wrong side.”<\/p>\n

Eliza’s father, Alfred (Stanley Holloway), a waste collector, is also an opportunist. He sings his story during “With a Little Bit of Luck.” The differences between the “haves” and the “have-nots” are evident.<\/p>\n

Since the chemistry is limited, I never bought Harrison and Hepburn as a romantic duo.<\/p>\n

The teacher\/student angle somewhat works, though it’s always bothersome, but Henry’s self-assured behavior and superior attitude make him tough to root for.<\/p>\n

The controversy surrounding the film includes the decision to dub nearly all of Hepburn’s singing with another singer’s voice. This devastated the actress and cost her an Academy Award nomination. Her snub is especially jarring, given the dozen other nominations it received.<\/p>\n

The story is heartwarming and follows the like-minded theme of a hero rescuing a damsel in distress.<\/p>\n

Hints of Cinderella (1950) and even Pretty Woman (1990) glisten, with only a hint of male chauvinism that does not ruin the experience or reduce the film to a dated guy film, as with Pretty Woman.<\/p>\n

“I’m an Ordinary Man” describes how women ruin men’s lives and is not the most progressive or female-friendly of all the numbers.<\/p>\n

My Fair Lady (1964) is a film from the past that begs to be viewed on the big screen so that all its qualities can be enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Like Lawrence of Arabia (1963), it is best viewed in a wide-angle, enormous theater setting to ensure that all its aspects are noticed and enjoyed.<\/p>\n

It’s a Hollywood film done tremendously well. Young viewers would be wise to be exposed to this film to delight in the cinematic treats.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations<\/strong>: 8 wins<\/strong>-Best Picture (won)<\/strong>, Best Director-George Cukor (won)<\/strong>, Best Actor-Rex Harrison (won)<\/strong>, Best Supporting Actor-Stanley Holloway, Best Supporting Actress-Gladys Cooper, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation or Treatment (won)<\/strong>, Best Sound (won)<\/strong>, Best Art Direction, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Cinematography, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Costume Design, Color (won)<\/strong>, Best Film Editing<\/p>\n

Golden Globe Nominations: 3 wins-<\/strong>Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy (won),\u00a0<\/strong>Best Director-Motion Picture-George Cukor (won)<\/strong>, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy-Rex Harrison (won),<\/strong> Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role-Musical or Comedy-Audrey Hepburn, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture-Stanley Holloway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Fair Lady-1964 Director George Cukor Starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison Scott’s Review #938 Reviewed September 6, 2019 Grade: A- Winner of the Best Picture Academy Award (it would not have been my choice), My Fair Lady (1964) is a good adaptation of the stage version, which is, in turn, based on the famous 1913 … Continue reading My Fair Lady-1964<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,42,12087,49,192,47,396,188],"tags":[5629,580,4967,483,3945,12426,9967,12367,8605,9483,490,5628,12427,5630],"class_list":["post-10315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1964-films","category-bestpictureoscar","category-best-picture-musical-or-comedy-golden-globe-winners","category-comedies","category-dramas","category-musicals","category-musical-comedy","category-musicdramas","tag-alan-napier","tag-audrey-hepburn","tag-bill-shirley","tag-george-cukor","tag-gladys-cooper","tag-jeremy-brett","tag-john-mitchum","tag-marjorie-bennett","tag-marni-nixon","tag-mona-washbourne","tag-rex-harrison","tag-stanley-holloway","tag-theodore-bikel","tag-wilfrid-hyde-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10315"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24090,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10315\/revisions\/24090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}