MY FAIR LADY

WARNER BROS., 1964 | COLOR (TECHNICOLOR)/SUPER PANAVISION 70, 170 MINUTES

DIRECTOR: GEORGE CUKOR PRODUCER: JACK L. WARNER SCREENPLAY: ALAN JAY LERNER, BASED ON HIS MUSICAL PLAY, FROM THE PLAY PYGMALION BY GEORGE BERNARD SHAW SONGS: FREDERICK LOEWE (MUSIC) AND ALAN JAY LERNER (LYRICS) CHOREOGRAPHER: HERMES PAN STARRING: AUDREY HEPBURN (ELIZA DOOLITTLE), REX HARRISON (PROFESSOR HENRY HIGGINS), STANLEY HOLLOWAY (ALFRED P. DOOLITTLE), WILFRID HYDE-WHITE (COLONEL PICKERING), GLADYS COOPER (MRS. HIGGINS), JEREMY BRETT (FREDDY EYNSFORD-HILL), THEODORE BIKEL (ZOLTAN KARPATHY), MONA WASHBOURNE (MRS. PEARCE), ISOBEL ELSOM (MRS. EYNSFORD-HILL)

A phonetics professor wagers that he can transform a Cockney flower seller into a lady.

The biggest Broadway musical up to 1964 became the costliest and most publicized movie musical. A glorious show, a dazzling production, a cartload of Oscars, and a little bit of controversy. Quite a package.

Anybody could have predicted that a film of My Fair Lady would be a hit. On Broadway, it was such a smash that there were jokes about how hard it was to get tickets, and it was a show many people deeply loved. With its dazzling score, and star performances, and spot-on adaptation of Shaw’s Pygmalion, it was so effective that even the romanticized ending fit in well. In an age of high-ticket Broadway adaptations this was, by far, the biggest—so much so that almost no musical had ever cost the $5.5 million Jack L. Warner spent simply to acquire the film rights. When all was said and done it was, at $17 million, one of the two most expensive films yet made in the United States. (The Greatest Story Ever Told was the other.) The magnitude of these figures ensured that the filmmakers would play things safely, if grandly, and take as few chances as possible.

No one, it was concluded, could be Higgins other than Rex Harrison, and since he was not considered a major film star, the casting of the female lead became a major consideration. Call it “Who’s Eliza?” or “Audrey versus Julie,” it was the most fraught wrangle to hit film since Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra scandals. Julie Andrews, the definitive Eliza onstage, had never appeared in a feature film. By contrast, Audrey Hepburn was a huge movie name, if few people’s first conception of a Cockney guttersnipe. In the end, Warner went with the bankable star, while Andrews played Mary Poppins. She won an Oscar while Hepburn was not nominated, and My Fair Lady was a big hit that made most people extremely happy.

It might be said, with both irreverence and respect, that the film of My Fair Lady could be considered something of a footnote after all the commotion with the money, casting, headlines, success, and awards. What can definitely be noted is that, for many people, My Fair Lady stands at the pinnacle of shows put on film, with awe-inspiring detail and care going into loving re-creations of all its grand stage moments. Everything is pretty much where and as it should be. Audiences continue to thrill to the gorgeous soundtrack and swoon over the stunning production and that central romantic clash. Given all the circumstances, it was probably inevitable that the filmmakers would opt for a careful, painstaking approach to the material, and the reception given the film (in 1964 and later on) has certainly made this decision justifiable.

“I Could Have Danced All Night”: Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

Isobel Elsom, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White

My Fair Lady is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all musicals, and the passion it engenders has sometimes prompted spirited discussion regarding its cinematic incarnation. In any case, it’s an indisputable fact that, for millions, it remains one of the great movie musicals, eye-popping, truly loverly, and quite close to ideal.

Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison

WHAT’S MORE

George Cukor had directed literally dozens of classic movies before winning an Oscar for My Fair Lady. With Little Women (1933), Dinner at Eight, Camille, Gaslight, Adam’s Rib, Born Yesterday, and the 1954 A Star Is Born as just a few of the items on his résumé, it’s not unfair to say that his Fair Lady prize qualifies as a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Publicized as it was, the Audrey/Julie controversy would have been far more fraught had not the two ladies themselves been such, well, ladies. In fact, they became friends, and neither ever spoke disparagingly of the other. Eventually, Andrews later recalled, Hepburn admitted that she shouldn’t have played Eliza. “Julie, you should have done the role,” she said, “but I didn’t have the guts to turn it down.” Small comfort is comfort nevertheless.

Rex Harrison