My Fair Lady -- 1964

My Fair Lady

(1964)

Rated: PG
My Rating: 4 Stars

George Cukor

Audrey Hepburn
(Marni Nixon, singing)
Rex Harrison
Wilfrid Hyde-White 
Stanley Holloway
Gladys Cooper
Jeremy Brett

Dazzling. This movie is eye candy. Although set in Edwardian London, this definitely has the 1960's flavor.The music is gorgeous. The acting is absolutely phenomenal. But what is even more amazing is the singing.

For those of you who haven't watched it, I hardly want to tell you anything about this film because I don't want to ruin it for you. For those of you who watched it, I want to express my opinions of this film because I adore it. How am I to walk this line? :-)

Mrs. Higgins: However did you learn good manners with my son around? 
Eliza Doolittle:  It was very difficult. I should never have known how ladies and gentlemen really behaved, if it hadn't been for Colnel Pickering. He always showed what he thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a common flower girl. You see, Mrs. Higgins, apart from the things one can pick up, the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a common flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me like a common flower girl, and always will. But I know that I shall always be a lady to Colonel Pickering, because he always treats me like a lady, and always will. 

Summary:

When Eliza Doolittle first met Henry Higgins, she despised him. When Henry Higgins first met Eliza Doolittle, he thought she wasn't human. But fate threw them together into an adventure of their lives and changed them forever.

Eliza Doolittle met Master Higgins through her work. She was a flower seller from the slums and found herself face to face with him after someone warned her he was taking notes when she spoke. Fearing he was an officer of the law, she wept unashamedly at his feet, begging him for a little understanding. He laughed at her and assured her he was no policeman, only a professor interested in speech. He could train her to speak properly, he claimed, and pass her off as a Duchess with the proper intonation of words.

Well, Eliza wasn't interested in being the Duchess but she did want to work in a flower shop. It was her dearest dream (next to the room somewhere with a fire and chocolate and someone dear and tender to rest his head in her lap). But with her Lisson Grove Lingo, it was out of the question. So, humbling herself, Eliza marched to Henry Higgins vast abode and demanded he teach her how to speak proper. She would pay him of course.

Henry Higgins was surprised at her boldness and laughed maliciously. A shilling a lesson! Of all the gall. As if he would even dream of teaching her of all people. Go back the streets, he told her. She would never be any better than the trash she was. Being a human being, such insults are unbearable and Eliza marched out of the room vowing to never lay eyes on the man again.

Had it not been for some words of remonstration and some chocolate, Eliza would have lived her days out in the slum she was born in... unloved, uneducated, unfulfilled...

What I liked:
1: The acting was 99% well done.
2: The singing was amazing. The songs are meaningful and catchy..
3: I love the story... it really resonates with the viewers. Somehow we can appreciate Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle in spite of themselves. ;-)
4: The humor is very laughable. :-)
5: Costumes were lovely! I adore her clothing... so outrageous. Beautiful.
6: Nice, clean romantic element.
7: Reality. It's unfair and cruel. But it's reality.
8: Henry Higgins is an amazing character. Definitely not the typical 'hero' I found him annoying but so laughable...
9: How much of a satire the story is. They make fun of life and everyone in it. But at the same time, it's a gentle mockery for we all can see ourselves in the characters.

Professor Higgins: Women are irrational, that's all there is to that! Their heads are full of cotton, hay, and rags. They're nothing but exasperating, irritating, vacillating, calculating, agitating, maddening and infuriating hags! 

What I didn't Like:
1: Innuendos. Lots of undertones. It's amazing how many there are. :-P Nothing terrible but kind of annoying. In a sense, they were realistic. In another sense, for how prudish the film was in other ways, some of the undertones seemed off color.
2: Some of the scenes (for instance, weeping hysterically..) were kind of... whatever. Lol.
3: "With a little bit of luck, you'll never have to work.." 'nuff said. ;-)

Professor Higgins: I've learned something from your idiotic notions, I confess that; humbly and gratefully. 

Things to Know:
1: A little language.
2: Eliza's father is seen in a bar with women of ill-repute and is having his last binge before getting married.