Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 31 December 1938 by Loew's Inc. A Gabriel Pascal Production, made at Pinewood Studios (England), presented in the U.S. by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in England by J. Arthur Rank through General Film Distributors, in Australia by G-B-D. New York opening at the Astor, 7 December 1938. London opening at the Leicester Square Theatre, 6 October 1938. U.S. release: 3 March 1939. Australian release: 22 December 1938. 96 minutes. Cut to 89 minutes in the U.S.A.SYNOPSIS: Professor teaches Cockney girl to pass for an aristocrat.NOTES: Prestigious Hollywood award, Writing Adaptation, Dalrymple, Lewis and Lipscomb only (unopposed). Also won for Best Screenplay, Shaw (defeating Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters and You Can't Take It With You). Also nominated for Best Picture (You Can't Take It With You), Best Actor, Leslie Howard (Spencer Tracy in Boys Town)), Best Actress, Wendy Hiller (Bette Davis as Jezebel).Number 3 on the Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics (preceded by Goodbye Mr. Chips and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington).Britain's top money-making picture of 1939. Re-issued in the U.K. in 1944, 1949 and 1953. Re-issued in Australia in 1954.Third film version of Shaw's play, preceded by a German movie directed by Erich Engel in 1935 with Jenny Jugo as Eliza and Gustav Grundgens as Higgins, and a Dutch movie in 1937 screenplayed and directed by Ludwig Berger with Lily Bouwmeester as Eliza and Johan de Meester as Higgins. Re-made as the musical, My Fair Lady, in 1964.COMMENT: There is just one thing wrong with Pygmalion. The script is delightfully witty and effervescent, so full of rich humor that no matter how many times you hear it, the dialogue is still fresh and scintillating. The acting of course is absolutely first-rate. Howard and Harrison were both born to play Higgins. They're both so wonderfully self-centered, so scrumptiously patronizing to us lesser mortals. And this Pygmalion has the advantage of Wendy Hiller, so infinitely superior a Cockney to that emaciated little Belgian girl, Audrey Hepburn (whose acquaintance with the East Side of London was limited to an occasional chat with Cary Grant). Mind you, Miss Hepburn is a whiz as the Lady Fair, but Miss Hiller is so skilled an actress, she's thoroughly convincing both before and after.The fact that Miss Hepburn is so obviously a grand mademoiselle in superficial disguise, robs "My Fair Lady" of all element of surprise and suspense. As for Dad Doolittle, Wilfrid Lawson and Stanley Holloway are just about equal. Stanley is such a cheerily obvious layabout and Wil has such a winning way with his vowels, it's virtually impossible to prefer one to the other. Of course, no such dilemma exists with Colonel Pickering. Wilfrid Hyde-White leads Scott Sunderland by a mile; — but the part is not so large in this version so it doesn't really matter all that much.In addition to the inspired casting of Hyde-White, My Fair Lady has it all over Pygmalion in the area of color photography and production values. Stradling's black-and-white lighting seems dim and lackluster by comparison. So do the sets and costumes. And we certainly do miss the songs. Nonetheless, that's no reason to deprive today's viewers of the Shaw-approved version — and especially of the company of Howard, Hiller and Lawson. One would expect that such an enormously popular movie would be constantly aired on TV, but that is far from the case. Yet, so popular was the movie that Penguin Books issued a mass-market paperback of the screenplay in 1941. It was reprinted many times. Not only was it the first screenplay to be published as a mass- market paperback, it is the only such publication to be commercially successful. A similar edition of the "My Fair Lady" stage play failed dismally.

Brucey D Now, I will own up to liking 'My Fair Lady' but all those songs are not what made this story successful (as a stage play) in the first place. It isn't clear what GBS would have made of it (he'd died by then), but I could guess; possibly he is rotating subterraneously to this very day.However this version of his story was made with his (almost full) approval, and differs only in detail from the stage play. In point of fact most of the changes that were made for the film he considered improvements to the original stage play, and he recommended that they be incorporated in any future stage productions.Leslie Howard is naturally excellent as the somewhat brusque, snobbish, and occasionally pompous professor; Alfred Doolittle and Colonel Pickering are spot-on too, but the make or break character in this film is of course Eliza herself.Wendy Hiller may not have been first choice for this role in the film (it was her second film role ever), but she had already played Eliza on stage with much success. I have to say I think she is rather wonderful in this film, and I would echo the comments of other reviewers that it is lamentable (for us film lovers anyway) that she concentrated on the stage at the expense of the silver screen.Now, one of the issues with this story (on stage or screen) is that the East End accents etc need to be toned down in order that they are intelligible to those who are not familiar with them. Often those with a thick accent amongst themselves have a different voice to speak to strangers with; they are familiar with the problem. For the stage or screen it is a fine line to tread; what remains may be representative in some respects, (eg sentence construction) but is otherwise perhaps not the same thing at all. The mangled vowel sounds have to be intelligible but remain obviously distinct and 'wrong'. Hiller and Lawson (as Doolittle) do this very well.GBS wrote "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him". It is over a century since GBS wrote this play and it is remarkable that not only does it hold true that local accents prevail, but also that the same local accents prevail; the dialect of 100 years ago (despite lack of constraint at least and more often downright condemnation from experts in grammar, dictionaries etc) remains largely unchanged.And of course the social distinctions that go with accents also still remain. GBS's "hate or despise" is a bit strong but no-one is entirely immune to making snap judgements about people based on the way they speak, rather than the thing it is that they are trying to say. 'Twas ever thus, I suspect.GBS's dialogue is as sharp as a razor here; short lines are often pricelessly pithy, full of barbed comment on the class war. A good example is the exchange between Higgins and Alfred; " ... have you no morals, man?!" - " I can't afford 'em, guvnor...". There are many others.One thing GBS didn't like was the ending to the film, which differs from the play. Being hopelessly sentimental at heart, I quite like it.This is, and I suspect will remain, a definitive version of this story. It is possible that the whole premise of the story will one day no longer be relevant, but I can't see that happening anytime soon.Top marks from me.

SimonJack George Bernard Shaw won an Oscar for his screenplay of "Pygmalion," which he further adapted from his own stage play that had been a huge success. The later musical hit of 1964, "My Fair Lady," was fashioned from this highly successful and popular film production. Other movies have been attempted, but all fall short of this original. Nor can any other musical attempt top the original musical rendition. This film won the Oscar for best screenplay and was nominated for the top three awards – best picture, actor and actress. "Pygmalion" and its stars were up against huge competition that year. I think Leslie Howard's Professor Henry Higgins was as good as Spencer Tracy's Fr. Flanagan in "Boys Town." And, Wendy Hiller's Eliza Doolittle was as good or better than Bette Davis's "Jezebel." The supporting cast of "Pygmalion" were all very good. Most notable were Wilfrid Lawson as Alfred Doolittle, Marie Lohr as Mrs. Higgins, and Scott Sunderland as Col. Pickering. This is a wonderful movie that all should enjoy. It's a good companion to the more popular 1964 musical. But before or after watching that film, watch this original movie version of Shaw's play as well. It is the prototype for all renditions put on film. One would be hard pressed to find better acting for this story anywhere.

Tad Pole . . . that "Eliza Doolittle" is driven back to Leslie Howard's self-styled modern Pygmalion, Professor of Phonetics Henry Higgins. This despite the fact that the future "Ashley Wilkes" (Leslie Howard) uses the "D-word" a dozen times more than Clark Gable's Rhett Butler would the following year in GONE WITH THE WIND. (That's because England was about a dozen times more "free" than America back in the 1900s.) Eliza's wavering between misogynist "confirmed bachelor" Henry and Freddy's Mr. Giggles is understandable, since Oscar-winning screenwriter George Bernard Shaw included an "afterword" about 50 pages long with the book version of his original PYGMALION stage play explaining why he thought Freddy--NOT Henry--must wind up with the flapper version of Galatea, Eliza. Emerson said a foolish consistency is the "hobgoblin" of little minds, which excuses Shaw's ambivalence. Bernie had a great big brain--so vast that he's the only screenwriter in movie history to have a Nobel Prize on his mantle. When you watch PYGMALION, you'll realize Shaw handed Lerner and Lowe the musical openings and half the actual lyrics to their eventual 1964 "Best Picture" screen musical remake of this story: MY FAIR LADY.