My Fair Lady (DVD)

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Warner Bros. studios continue their extraordinary series of two-disc special edition classics with this re-release of "My Fair Lady" on DVD. It's appropriate that the film celebrate its fortieth anniversary in the best possible audio and video presentation and that it be accompanied by as much supplemental material as feasible. In terms of its picture quality, this new set is probably as good as it's going to get until high definition comes along, and in terms of its extras, the set contains about as much on the subject as anyone could want. It's a potent combination.

"My Fair Lady" is, of course, one of the best and most popular stage musicals of all time. It has what so many other musicals do not have--an intelligent script, great acting, clever dialogue, and an endless stream of memorable tunes. While its filmed rendition might be open to minor reservations, its DVD transfer leaves few doubts. It was restored in 1994, and its technical merits are nearly flawless. The film won eight Oscars in 1964 for Best Picture (Jack L. Warner), Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Director (George Cukor), Best Art Direction (Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton, George James Hopkins), Best Cinematography (Harry Stradling, Sr.), Best Costume Design (Cecil Beaton), Best Music (Andre Previn), and Best Sound (George Groves). No self-respecting film library can be without a selection of musicals, and no selection of musicals should be without "My Fair Lady."

With book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, the story is based on George Bernard Shaw's popular 1913 stage play, "Pygmalion," which in turn was based on the classical myth about the sculptor who fell in with the statue of a maiden he created, brought to life by the goddess Aphrodite. The musical stage play was an instant success on Broadway in 1956, coming to the screen in 1964 under producer Jack L. Warner and director George Cukor.

The plot centers on the idea that the way things appear is not always the way they are; or, conversely, if you can change the way things appear, it makes them the way they are. In the story it is phonetics professor Henry Higgens' proposal that he can take any lower-class citizen off the streets of London and pass him or her off as a cultured gentleman or lady simply by teaching the person to speak properly. Of course, it was Shaw's satiric dig at society that we judge people on how they look and sound, not on who they really are. The object of the professor's interest in this pursuit becomes Eliza Doolittle, a poor, largely uneducated flower girl. Taking her under his wing, he makes a bet with his friend and colleague, Col. Hugh Pickering, that he can successfully introduce her into high society within six months. Needless to say, Eliza winds up teaching Professor Higgens as much about life and about himself as he teaches her about how to be a proper lady. The story is endlessly engaging and has as much appeal today as it did when Shaw first conceived it.

Rex Harrison reprises his stage role as Higgens, the part for which he will forever be remembered. Harrison was already an established star when he accepted the role in the musical, and it is one he seemed born to play. When Warner Bros. initially asked Cary Grant to do the movie role, Grant turned it down, saying if Harrison didn't get the part he'd never do another film for Warners. Harrison is so convincing one would think he were the Professor in real life. I rather expect his fans thought he was, too. Shaw's play leaves the final relationship of the Professor and the flower girl ambiguous, but the musical is more romantic and hints at something more serious. It is a tribute to Harrison that audiences hardly notice the age difference between the two characters, although the twenty-one-year span is almost exactly what Shaw had in mind. Higgens' most notable songs are "Why Can't the English?," "I'm an Ordinary Man," "The Rain in Spain," and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

The part of Miss Doolittle went to Audry Hepburn, and therein lies the movie's major point of contention. Julie Andrews had made the role her own on Broadway and record albums, and for audiences who had seen or heard her, it was inconceivable that anyone else should get the part. But the studio felt otherwise, unconvinced that Ms. Andrews had the necessary drawing power they thought the film needed and also a little wary of Ms. Andrew's photogenic qualities. So they went with what they considered a sure thing in superstar Audry Hepburn, causing not a little bitterness on the part of theatergoers everywhere. Meanwhile, Ms. Andrews went on to do "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" in the next year and half; and while Ms. Hepburn was not even nominated for "My Fair Lady," Ms. Andrews won the Best Actress Oscar for "Poppins."

None of which is to suggest that Ms. Hepburn's portrayal of Eliza is anything but delightful and charming. Yet the controversy was not to end there. In spite of her insistence that she do her own singing, Hepburn's voice was dubbed over by uncredited singer Marni Nixon, who had previously done the singing dubs in the movie versions of "West Side Story" and "The King and I." Again the studio got its way, and again there was a degree of bitterness involved, this time on the part of Ms. Hepburn, who had apparently been assured she could do the vocals herself and had even rehearsed for and filmed several of them. But it's all history now, and we will never know what more Ms. Andrews might have done with the role or, except for two songs mentioned below, what Ms. Hepburn might have done with the rest of the singing. Eliza's most celebrated songs include "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "Just You Wait," "I Could Have Danced All Night," and "Without You," among others.