It seems as fresh today as when it was made.
Finally, there's Anthony Asquith's superb direction, which along with the cinematography never allows the action to flag for more than a few seconds at a time. Asquith moves the whole affair along at a healthy clip in spite of Shaw's play being quite "talky." The camera sweeps gracefully about the rooms, with shots coming at us in close-up, quick pans, moderate and distance locations, and varying angles, all combining to produce a style that puts to shame most static, prosaic modern efforts. And Asquith finds great poignancy in the play's ending, perhaps more so than George Cukor did in the musical account, especially when Eliza finds she can't go home again.
The time frame of the movie has been updated from the play's 1912 to the movie's time of production, 1938, a concession that probably wasn't necessary. Yet it's a film that has lost nothing with age. It seems as fresh today as when it was made.
Video:
The Criterion people tell us on the box that the film was transferred to DVD from the "35mm composite fine-grain master (made from the original negative).... The image was further enhanced by utilizing the MTI Digital restoration system to remove thousand of instances of film dirt and scratches." This may be so; nevertheless, the first two or three minutes of the opening credits are filled with flecks and occasional thin vertical lines. After that, the flecks, scratches, and lines are more intermittent, never a distraction, but present. One wonders about the efficiency of a restoration system that doesn't remove all of the problems on a film. But I suppose I'm quibbling. The film looks quite good most of the time, crisp and sharp except at what may be the ends of reels, where it fades out somewhat.
Audio:
The monaural audio, remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack, evidences some slight degree of background hiss and noise but is otherwise fine for conveying dialogue clearly.
Extras:
There's not much else to report on, though. Criterion provide a booklet essay by film critic David Ehrenstein and only sixteen scene selections. Nothing more. I liked the menu animations, however, with stills from the film fading in and out, and I enjoyed the film music that goes with them.
Parting Thoughts:
Shaw was not too keen on the idea of yet another film rendering of "Pygmalion." By 1938 several attempts had already been made, and in Shaw's eyes they had failed miserably. But when he was given the opportunity to write the screenplay himself and to choose his leading lady, Ms. Hiller, the rest became screen history.
The movie was directed largely by Asquith, but he was ably assisted by star Leslie Howard. The finished product was nominated for three Academy Awards--Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard), and Best Supporting Actress (Hiller). "Pygmalion" stands today as not only the best movie adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play, but as one of the most enduring social comedies of all time. The intervening years have not faded this flower.
The time frame of the movie has been updated from the play's 1912 to the movie's time of production, 1938, a concession that probably wasn't necessary. Yet it's a film that has lost nothing with age. It seems as fresh today as when it was made.
Video:
The Criterion people tell us on the box that the film was transferred to DVD from the "35mm composite fine-grain master (made from the original negative).... The image was further enhanced by utilizing the MTI Digital restoration system to remove thousand of instances of film dirt and scratches." This may be so; nevertheless, the first two or three minutes of the opening credits are filled with flecks and occasional thin vertical lines. After that, the flecks, scratches, and lines are more intermittent, never a distraction, but present. One wonders about the efficiency of a restoration system that doesn't remove all of the problems on a film. But I suppose I'm quibbling. The film looks quite good most of the time, crisp and sharp except at what may be the ends of reels, where it fades out somewhat.
Audio:
The monaural audio, remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack, evidences some slight degree of background hiss and noise but is otherwise fine for conveying dialogue clearly.
Extras:
There's not much else to report on, though. Criterion provide a booklet essay by film critic David Ehrenstein and only sixteen scene selections. Nothing more. I liked the menu animations, however, with stills from the film fading in and out, and I enjoyed the film music that goes with them.
Parting Thoughts:
Shaw was not too keen on the idea of yet another film rendering of "Pygmalion." By 1938 several attempts had already been made, and in Shaw's eyes they had failed miserably. But when he was given the opportunity to write the screenplay himself and to choose his leading lady, Ms. Hiller, the rest became screen history.
The movie was directed largely by Asquith, but he was ably assisted by star Leslie Howard. The finished product was nominated for three Academy Awards--Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard), and Best Supporting Actress (Hiller). "Pygmalion" stands today as not only the best movie adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play, but as one of the most enduring social comedies of all time. The intervening years have not faded this flower.
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