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My Fair Lady
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Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Find all by Warner Home Video
Directed By: George Cukor
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1
Theatrical Release: December 31, 1969
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $19.98
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Starring: Harry Stradling Sr., Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Cecil Beaton, Frank Flanagan
Lerner and Loewe's musical version of 'Pygmalion' about a Covent Garden flower girl who becomes a lady.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: G
Release Date: 8-DEC-1998
Media Type: DVD
User Submitted My Fair Lady Reviews
August 3, 2008
A Movie to Cherish
Years ago I saw the original Broadway stage version with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. This film version is more complex, with more in-depth characterization, and is impeccably filmed with many imaginative and original touches. Audrey Hepburn was an attractive Liza, but her singing was done by Marnie Nixon, and her cockney speech at the very beginning of the movie was needlessly incomprehensible. It was a classic Hollywood mistake not to use Julie Andrews in the screen version.
Harrison is brilliant as Henry Higgins, and the supporting cast is first-rate. The musical numbers are well-structured with a flair and zest which shows George Cukor's taste and sensibilities. The movie deservedly won eight Oscars.
The widescreen, letter-box version I found annoying as I usually do. The movie's sumptuous sets seemed to lose out by this process.
The movie is enlightening about the British class system which persists to this day. Higgin's mansion is artfully rendered, and the scenes in which the servants sing are captivating.
This film captures the spirit, the style, and the genius of the musical and provides us with an archival record of the show.
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June 7, 2008
Among the Top-3 Best Hollywood Musicals of All Time!
This musical won 8 Oscars including Best Picture and it is richly deserving of the accolades. The cast is superb and the songs are all standards destined to be appreciated over the years. I've watched this film many times over the years and I never get tired of watching it and in fact I'm looking forward to the next screening. No fan of musicals should be without this dvd in their collection.
The dvd itself is also a treat as it has been restored pretty well. Picture quality-wise it isn't perfect but it's still very good given the state of the severely deteriorated original master and is still a lot better than many other "restored" older films that I've seen. Also widescreen format is the best way to view this film and this is the format in which it is presented here on this dvd. There is a nice short making-of documentary included and the biggest plus of this dvd version is the excellent sound quality that comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. I've seen other films with this feature but they don't sound as good but it is clear here that a lot of effort went into vastly improving and getting the most out of the 5.1 format.
Excellent sound quality and very good picture quality make this dvd great value for money. I wonder what other improvements we can expect from the upcoming Blu-ray version? As far as standard dvd versions go though, this version is very, very good.
Recommended.
June 5, 2008
audrey hepburn
I am a huge Hepburn fan, she has such a way when you are watching her you forget....everything else around you! the films I do own breakfast at tiffany's roman holiday, sabrina, funny face, One that is vastly different is The nun's story... she is quite deglamorized in that one! she truly was a talented beauty of her time AND YES, my fair lady made me laugh!!!
May 13, 2008
Family fare
I had seen My Fair Lady as have most people and enjoyed it. We went to the recent stage play and I wanted to see again Audrey and Rex. It was great. I recommend it to all who love to be uplifted when they see a movie.
May 10, 2008
One of those movies where there is a reason it's a classic
Sadly, I had never seen this movie before purchasing it here. And this comes from a girl who adores Audrey Hepburn! But the moment the score began I was hooked at this humerous, enchanting tale of an very unusual Cinderella and Fairy Godmother. The music is perfect, suited to every emotion felt by every character, making for a bright, fun, and touching musical experience. The setting is grand, even for the streets of London (though it is probably not a good thing to romanticize poverty) but in the guise of the theatre it works perfectly. The direction is different, slightly wild, and dare-I-say incredibly imaginative. The very motions of the actors are brilliantly thought-out. The acting is spot on, especially by the great Audrey who rids herself of charm to play the most obnoxious street urchin you will ever meet. Even as she rises through the process of becoming a proper lady she never quite loses that earthy charm. It's a touching story full of vivid, wild characters and plenty of heart. As for the second disk, the geek in me loved the features that added plenty of trivia to my first "My Fair Lady" experience.
April 29, 2008
BRILLIANT MUSICAL SATIRE OF BRITISH SOCIAL CLASS SYSTEM IS NOT AS "LOVERLY" AS IT SHOULD BE IN FILM VERSION.
"My Fair Lady" is one of the greatest musicals of all time. Lerner & Loewe's score never violated the wit, elegance, and sophistication of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion." The songs enhance the story; lifting it up into the heavens! The 1964 film version won eight Oscars; including "Best Picture." Cecil Beaton certainly deserved the Oscar for his sumptuous costume design. But "Fair Lady" is about more than clothes and glamour. It is a brillant satire of the British social class system. All the great scenes and songs are intact in the film version. Still, the viewer is likely to feel emotionally detached from the fascinating relationship between haughty Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) and Cockney Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn).
The film version loses its true sense of purpose in all the splendour of the visual design. There is very little impetus. "My Fair Lady" has been preserved here as a museum piece. I keep waiting for a spark of excitement and pace that seldom materializes. Everything is terribly static. The film is obviously shot entirely in a studio. I wish Warner Brothes had put out even more money so director George Cukor could have shot at least some of the film on location in London-- as Robert Wise did in New York City (partially) for "West Side Story" (1961) and Austria/Germany for "The Sound Of Music" (1965). Cukor won the "Best Director" Oscar for "Fair Lady," but this is far from his best work. That would be his masterpiece "A Star Is Born" with Judy Garland in 1954; or almost any of his films with Katharine Hepburn (see 1938's "Holiday" or 1949's "Adam's Rib"). So it is easy to see that Cukor had, indeed, earned his long-overdue Oscar by 1964.
Rex Harrison also earned an Oscar for recreating his Tony-Award Winning stage role. But he is merely "walking through" the role of Higgins here. Similarly, Stanley Holloway, recreating his stage role as Alfred P. Doolittle, looks tired. I'm comparing Harrison & Holloway with their own much more inspired performances on the "Fair Lady" Broadway and London Cast Albums.
Jack Warner did not invite Julie Andrews to re-create her Broadway and London stage triumph as Eliza Doolittle, leaving Audrey Hepburn to deal with the inevitable critical slings and arrows. Audrey was not allowed to sing the songs herself. Why somebody at Warner Brothes didn't transpose the songs into a different vocal range for Audrey is beyond me! A look at Audrey's own performances of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and "Show Me" (on Disc 2) clearly demonstrates that she sang with more expression and deeper understanding of Eliza Doolittle in her own thin, whispery voice than Marni Nixon's soprano. Every time the voice switches from Audrey's own unforgettable voice into Marni Nixon's "California Cockney", I am disturbed, dismayed and lost! The documentary on Disc 2 features an interview with Marni Nixon, who comes off as EXTREMELY DEFENSIVE, desperately seeking to "Justify" herself in this instance, I am not finding any fault with Audrey or blaming her at all. Indeed, the film comes alive whenever Audrey is on screen. The great irony is that ("Just You Wait, Jack Warner, Just You Wait!!") Julie Andrews achieved great cinematic success, in short order, with "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound Of Music." And Audrey and Julie, both very "fair ladies," became good friends just a few years later.
Sad to admit, but I feel that, as cinema, the story is better served in the outstanding 1938 B&W film version of "Pygmalion," starring the superb Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard. If you want the glorious Lerner and Loewe songs, I highly recommend the 1959 London Cast Album in Stereo starring Harrison, Holloway, & Julie Andrews.
April 19, 2008
Excellent sound (played at the correct speed)!
After reading all these reviews, there's nothing else left to say about the story or the acting. Definitely everyone on this planet adores 'My Fair Lady' - it's a classic! Now, about this DVD edition (the first one): The restoration job is great. The quality of picture and sound is excellent. If you care about the soundtrack, the US edition has the right pitch. Most European movie releases do not use the right pitch. Dialogs and music (or songs) are played at a higher speed so they don't sound natural and the European DVD edition of 'My Fair Lady' is no exception. However, the US DVD edition maintains the correct sound and the audio part is exactly like on the movie soundtrack CD.
March 24, 2008
I adore this film, forever.
I've noticed in reading the reviews already posted that most people want to debate the casting of the film, and that's fine. Others want to debate whether or not George Bernard Shaw would be angry at the ending (which he actually did pen for the 1930s version of Pygmalion.)
That's all fine.
But here is my honest opinion of the film, and it's romantic plotline. First of all, it's beautiful. The scenery, the costumes, and the music. But the ambiguity of the Higgins/Eliza "sort of romance" has always been one of my favorite things about this film. Why? Because the one thing good ol' George Bernard Shaw got right about this script (be it his original theatrical ending or the film ending) is that it shows us the different types of love between men and women. Not all love is eros and passionate. It is more subtle.
At the age of 10, I found this ending incredibly frustrating. Now as I approach my mid-twenties, I find it real and heartfelt. Perhaps, Higgins and Eliza remain platonic. Or, maybe Higgins and Eliza decide to marry? Maybe she does run off and marry Freddy. This sort of thing is best decided by the individual. But one thing is certain, they are most wonderfully in love, be it conventional or unconventional.
And that's just loverly.
March 15, 2008
My Fair Lady
My Fair LadyMy wife appreciated this DVD as a valued favourite addition to her library.
March 12, 2008
"I'm a good girl I am!"
The first time I saw this movie I fell in love with it and Audrey Hepburn!
Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) is a poor flower girl on the streets in London. Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is a phonetics teacher who bets he can speak her to teach like a duchess. I never liked him that much - I always thought he was mean to her. She goes through the grueling hours of voice lessons and ends up making her debut as a lady at the horse show before going to the ball. She looks so dazzling and stunning at the ball scene, but I love her dress when she sings "The Rain In Spain." (I have tried that marbles in the mouth quite a few times). I love the music "I Could Have Danced All Night," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "Show Me," "On the Street Where You Live" and "Without You." Although most of the songs were dubbed for Audrey, she did do some of the singing.
This is definitely a "loverly" classic!
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