**Part of the Best Picture Project**

Before My Fair Lady was a musical, it was George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, a play in which Professor Henry Higgins molds a "guttersnipe" woman into a well mannered lady who can speak the English language properly. Yes, this is basically She's All That meets The King's Speech.

But what makes Pygmalion feel fresh to this day is just how well acted it is. Leslie Howard (sharing a director's credit) is fantastic as Higgins, a wise cracking intellectual that is always keen to make criticism of someone. Wendy Hiller is also great as Eliza Doolittle, believably going from acting like a lower class woman to becoming a lady of class.

The film has a lot…

After enjoying Wendy Hiller so much in I Know Where I'm Going and reading Cinebro's review of this film, I had to try it.

I have seen My Fair Lady a zillion times, and so I had a hard time at first accepting Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller as Higgins and Eliza. But about the time that she comes to his house to buy lessons, I was sold. Leslie Howard is terrific as the self-absorbed professor who bulldozes everyone in his path but thinks he is treating all people fairly. So nice to see him play something other than Ashley Wilkes. Hiller acts suitably cockney, and she transforms into a lovely Miss Doolittle. She's tall and regal and has lovely…

Film #28 of Cinebro's "You Maniacs! You Blew it Up!" Challenge

I imagine it must be pretty miserable to adapt a beloved play to the screen. The way I see it, there are only two ways that it could be successful: either you add a distinctively cinematic twist on the proceedings (what's up, Kenneth Branagh? Piss off, Baz Luhrmann) or you pray that your actors are strong enough to make you forget that the audience likely knows the stodgy old material backwards and forwards. With "Pygmalion," Anthony Asquith chose the latter route to a severe degree. Seriously, this is one of the least cinematic adaptations that I've ever seen. But it still works anyway.

It's ultimately successful mainly because Leslie…

Of all the brilliant characters from the 10's, 20's, 30's, and 40's that have been utterly lost to modern audiences, Leslie Howard's in Pygmalion is the most tragic. Professor Henry Higgins is as radiant as Stanley Kowalski, as decidedly clever as Tony Stark, and as enduring as Han Solo. Interwoven in the very fibers of this film is the very real science of phonetics, and the screenwriter's understanding of the subject is wholly on display. Behind this study of speech and sound is a deep and resounding love for people, and the way they communicate, and this too is just as readily on display. Weaving science and artistry is a practice all but lost in this age of subjectivism that…

Pygmalion is based off of the George Bernard Shaw play of the same name but more commonly known is the remake: My Fair Lady. Both versions are about a linguist who bets that he can pass off a cockney English girl as a duchess at an upcoming party.

In my opinion Pygmalion is superior to its 1964 remake. My main reasons being that it is an hour and 14 minutes shorter than My Fair Lady (along with being more effective) and I prefer the cast of Pygmalion. Don’t get me wrong, I do like My Fair Lady and I missed a couple of the songs but let’s be honest, not all of the songs are winners. The exclusion of the…

Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is a modern retelling of a Greek myth about a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. He asks Venus to give it life and has his wish granted. In this modern version the low class flower girl Eliza Doolittle is metaphorically "brought to life" by a phonetics professor, Henry Higgins, who teaches her to refine her accent and conversation in social situations. Yes, most people know this as the musical My Fair Lady (1956) but before all that there was this wonderful British film from the 30s.

I actually liked this better than My Fair Lady. It has a much clearer feminist undertone and Eliza Doolittle is more…

Some of the best films have been those that have adapted screenplays from other films or books. Not to say that original scriptwriting in the filmmaking business is awful, but a tried and tested script is usually the producer’s delight–he knows that the plot has been successful, and doesn’t mind spending money on something that seems to be a ‘safe investment’.
Pygmalion, released in 1938, is one such film. Adapted from the George Bernard Shaw’s play, it tells the story of a phonetics professor who bets that he can refine the Cockney accent of a plebeian girl, to such an extent that she can pass off as a Duchess. In today’s time, when, as movie-watchers, we’ve been subject to the…

Film #28 of Cinebro's "You Maniacs! You Blew it Up!" Challenge

I imagine it must be pretty miserable to adapt a beloved play to the screen. The way I see it, there are only two ways that it could be successful: either you add a distinctively cinematic twist on the proceedings (what's up, Kenneth Branagh? Piss off, Baz Luhrmann) or you pray that your actors are strong enough to make you forget that the audience likely knows the stodgy old material backwards and forwards. With "Pygmalion," Anthony Asquith chose the latter route to a severe degree. Seriously, this is one of the least cinematic adaptations that I've ever seen. But it still works anyway.

It's ultimately successful mainly because Leslie…

65 out of 100
Almost a bit too slight in the middle, the actual winning of the bet lacks any heft, but espeically by the end Howard and Hiller (who is really fantastic here) have developed such a weird mean chemistry with each other. It's all like a very dry British version of a screwball comedy.
Added in retrospect: Frankly most of my enjoyment comes less out of the story and more out of how well directed it is which gives me something compelling to grab a hold of whenever my interest feighns a bit from the story or the comedy. It's feels like a step towards the deep focus dramas that David Lean would end up directing before doing…

After enjoying Wendy Hiller so much in I Know Where I'm Going and reading Cinebro's review of this film, I had to try it.

I have seen My Fair Lady a zillion times, and so I had a hard time at first accepting Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller as Higgins and Eliza. But about the time that she comes to his house to buy lessons, I was sold. Leslie Howard is terrific as the self-absorbed professor who bulldozes everyone in his path but thinks he is treating all people fairly. So nice to see him play something other than Ashley Wilkes. Hiller acts suitably cockney, and she transforms into a lovely Miss Doolittle. She's tall and regal and has lovely…