Warner Brothers produced the most expensive musical romantic comedy, My Fair Lady, in 1964. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (1912), George Cukor, a veteran showman, directed this brilliant, fascinating and opulent film in Technicolor with bewitching and joyous music and universally loved tunes. It was honoured with eight Academy Awards for the Best Picture, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Director, Best Colour Cinematography (in wide screen 70mm, by Harry Stradling Sr.), Best Colour Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Score (Andre Previn) and Best Colour Costume Design.
In 1994, this epic was restored returning the colours to the original splendour and the sound track was transformed into digital format. The movie is a feast to the eyes and a pleasure to the ears. As the title credits roll down with the musical overture, the camera blots the alluring close-ups of spring flowers of the Convent Garden Opera House, London. Opera-goers of the high-class society, glamorously dressed, are leaving after the performance, when it starts to rain and they run helter-skelter. A Cockney flower vendor, Eliza Dolittle (Audrey Hepburn), collides with a young Freddie Eynsford-Hill (Jeremy Brett) and she starts to talk in her ghastly accent about the loss of her coins. Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) gives Eliza some coins watched by Professor Henry Higgins( Rex Harrison) who is an expert in Phonetics, the science of speech. He is constantly in search of British dialects. Hearing Eliza’s words Higgins accuses her as an incarnate insult to the English language and calls her a ’’squashed cabbage leaf’’ and he tells her ’’A woman who utters such disgusting and depressing noise has no right to be anywhere, no right to live. Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech, that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible, Don’t sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon.’’
Rex Harrison has excelled in the delivery of the above, as the satiric words echo Bernard Shaw’s revolutionary message of class discrimination of yesteryears that accent is the yardstick for class in society. A betting ensues as Higgins boasts that he will transform Eliza, the girl from the gutters, into a beautifully speaking lady and will take her to the Embassy Ball, aristocratically dressed, presenting her as a Duchess. Eliza agrees. She gets cleaned up and Higgins trains her how to behave in society and what to wear. He totally revamps her language skills and deprives her of even sleep and gives her astute training. By asking her to repeat phrases like ’’The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain’’, Higgins pushes Eliza to be proficient, true to the magnificence and splendour of the English language. The musical representation of this scene is a jewel in Cukor’s crown and a marvel in orchestration and choreography.
My Fair lady has a beautifully woven story and compelling characters. It has got more than a dozen songs, all of them most striking and pleasant to hear. The best of them is ’’I Could Have Danced All Night (sung by Marnie Nixon). Its melody is enchanting and Audrey Hepburn’s acting and dancing skills have given life to Eliza, which was one of her best performances in her career. She is so radiant that her transformation from an unwashed Cockney flower girl to a courteous lady, of high class manners and enviable beauty, is a telltale of her acting talents and a demonstration of George Cukor’s flawless direction.
Rex Harrison has lived the roll of Professor Higgins. His delivery of speech is versatile, and his singing vies with the former. His dialogue has a punch with appropriate breaks and an inimitable accent. The dialogue has a satiric humour. Colonel Pickering asks Mr Dolittle ( Stanley Holloway) , father of Eliza, ’’Have you no morals, man?’’ and he answers, ’’Nah. Can’t afford none. Neither could you, if you were as poor as me.’’
The supporting cast has done equally well. Jeremy Brett has shown his nascent talents as suitor of Eliza with one of the best songs ’’On the street where you live’’. Wilfrid Hyde-White has done a wonderful job as Colonel Pickering and Dame Gladys Cooper has delightfully shone as Higgins’ mother. Stanley Holloway as Eliza’s father has acted and sung very well. The songs and revelry of With a little bit of luck and Get me to the church on time illuminate his acting capabilities. My Fair Lady has extravagant set designs and lavish costumes. The portrayal of the Ascot scenes and The Embassy Ball are true examples of the mammoth sets and glamorous costumes. You would love to waltz around your room as Eliza dances and majestically exchanges partners to the mesmerizing orchestra at the Embassy Ball.
The interior design of Higgins’ and his mother’s residence show how plush was the middle class those days. I had watched this movie at Regal, Kanpur , many nostalgic years back. I recaptured all its beauty at my home theatre with the DVD, two days back, and I bet I must have danced all night ..Why couldn’t you also? Meet The Fair Lady ..You will not be disappointed ’’Happy Meeting’’