{"id":42903,"date":"2019-03-01T14:55:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T21:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42903"},"modified":"2020-11-28T09:50:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T16:50:35","slug":"my-fair-lady-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42903","title":{"rendered":"My Fair Lady (1964)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Poster-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-42904\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Poster-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Poster-93x128.jpg 93w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Poster.jpg 727w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA Cockney flower-girl (Audrey Hepburn) receives phonetics lessons from an arrogant professor (Rex Harrison) who claims he can make her acceptable for &#8220;high society&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Audrey Hepburn Films<\/li>\n<li>Battle-of-the&#8211;Sexes<\/li>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Class Relations<\/li>\n<li>Cross-Class Romance<\/li>\n<li>George Cukor Films<\/li>\n<li>Mentors<\/li>\n<li>Musicals<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptations<\/li>\n<li>Rex Harrison Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary notes that this &#8220;film version of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/My_Fair_Lady\">Lerner and Loewe&#8217;s musical adaptation<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pygmalion_(play)\">[George Bernard] Shaw&#8217;s <em>Pygmalian<\/em><\/a> &#8230; copped eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director&#8221;, but he argues that &#8220;seeing it today is extremely disappointing&#8221; &#8212; and I agree. As Peary writes, &#8220;Even the best songs have become&#8230; tiresome&#8221; and &#8220;the musical numbers are the film&#8217;s major problem&#8221; due to both terrible &#8220;postproduction dubbing&#8221; and lack of &#8220;any large production numbers&#8221;. Peary further argues that director George Cukor &#8220;wrongly chose to keep scenes intact from the stage version, losing what potential the cinema has for heightening the theatrical experience&#8221;. Even more problematic are the ill-conceived lead characters: as Peary writes, &#8220;Shaw was known for creating strong, intelligent women characters, and Cukor was known for directing similar women in his films. Then why does Hepburn&#8217;s Eliza come across as such a pushover, happy to give up  her freedom for life with a dull man who has treated her badly?&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Peary&#8217;s assessment is spot-on. However, while he argues in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> that &#8220;Harrison was the best thing about <em>My Fair Lady<\/em>,&#8221; I disagree: Harrison&#8217;s lack of any singing range whatsoever beggars belief about his casting, and while his chauvanistic characterization may (sadly) be true-to-life, he&#8217;s so unlikable he fails to elicit any sympathy. Hepburn&#8217;s transformation, meanwhile, doesn&#8217;t ring true in the slightest: she&#8217;s initially a shrewish nag, yet once her lessons with Harrison are done, she&#8217;s become someone entirely different. Yes, I know that &#8220;transformation&#8221; is the entire point of the play &#8212; but we should be seeing more hints poking through of her prior mannerisms than merely some Cockney grammar slip-ups. Worst of all, of course, is that we most certainly do NOT want Hepburn to fall for Harrison, yet we know this is what the story is leading us towards. The lesson is all wrong; this film has dated terribly, if it ever somehow managed to ring true. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lovely cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography-1024x431.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"269\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-42905\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography-1024x431.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography-768x323.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Cinematography.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine costumes and sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes-1024x431.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"269\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-42906\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes-1024x431.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes-128x54.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes-768x323.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/My-Fair-Lady-Costumes.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though most film fanatics will be curious to check it out for its historical relevance as an Oscar winner. <\/p>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058385\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1964\/10\/22\/archives\/screen-lots-of-chocolates-for-miss-eliza-doolittle-my-fair-lady.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s1107lady.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/myfa.html\">Greatest Films Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/84310\/my-fair-lady#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;What am I fit for? What have you left me fit for?&#8221; Synopsis: A Cockney flower-girl (Audrey Hepburn) receives phonetics lessons from an arrogant professor (Rex Harrison) who claims he can make her acceptable for &#8220;high society&#8221;. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Audrey Hepburn Films Battle-of-the&#8211;Sexes Character Arc Class Relations Cross-Class Romance George Cukor Films Mentors Musicals Play Adaptations Rex Harrison Films Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary notes that this &#8220;film version of Lerner and Loewe&#8217;s musical adaptation of [George&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42903\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42903"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55473,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42903\/revisions\/55473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}