On M List of Movie Reviews
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My Fair Lady (1964)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
6/15
6/15:
My Fair Lady...the winner of eight Oscars including Best Picture.
What the fuck were they thinking in 1964? Truth be told, it was the year of slim pickings. I looked at the contenders, and
none of them stood out. As a matter of fact, My Fair Lady feels like a representative of the Old Hollywood
Establishment. Losing money left and right, the studios tried hard to protect it but were eventually washed away by the imminent wave
of independent pictures that finally tore down the Hays Code.
My Fair Lady took home the honors by virtue of having a long run on Broadway which consisted of 2,717
performances, not counting the additional 2,281 performances in London, with many revivals thereafter. It was the play that made
Julie Andrews' career. However, since she wasn't considered to be famous enough, she never made the cut for the film version.
Instead, the role went to Audrey Hepburn, whose movies were thought to be flop-proof, despite not being able to sing worth a lick.
Hence, as according to Audrey Hepburn, 90% of her songs were dubbed by Marni Nixon.
During the same year, Julie Andrews debuted in Mary Poppins that saw her win the Oscar for Best Actress.
Punished for the dubbed songs, Audrey Hepburn wasn't nominated. I suppose Julie Andrews must have
felt good that night for giving the middle finger to everybody associated with My Fair Lady.
Originally cast in the Broadway show, Rex Harrison reprised his role for the film version and therefore won the Oscar. I
guess it's the Academy's silly way of paying him back for his hard work. I'm going to be fair and say
he was a great actor, but I'd rather see him in dramas. His performance in My Fair Lady isn't for me. Plus,
Rex Harrison was too old to play Audrey Hepburn's love interest.
The idea of using Eliza Doolittle for his social experiment leaves me feeling icky. So is the ending for two reasons:
Higgins is at least 30 years her senior and Eliza is happy and willing to be his slave. Already too old for the part, Audrey
Hepburn needs to eat more food because she must have been somewhere between 75 and 90 pounds. I can see a lot of bones on her body
frame. Audrey Hepburn's on-screen transformation from a guttersnipe to a grand lady at the ball is no surprise because she
had been like that way in the previous films.
My Fair Lady validates the reasons why I hate musicals. It's long, boring, pretentious, theatrical, and slow-paced.
The story is so stupid that I can't believe such rubbish had been sold on the stupid people. Infantile and silly
are the lyrics; sometimes, they have nothing to do with the story. Most of it takes place
on a sound stage, especially the "Horse Race" scene. George Cukor's Oscar for his directorial achievement is
undeserved. He only succeeded in directing a filmed theatrical play that was already terrible in all aspects.
All in all, Hollywood needs to learn how to keep film and theater separate.