Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)

My Fair Lady (1964): Dir. George Cukor.  Written by: Alan Jay Lerner.  Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.  Music by Frederick Loewe.  Based upon the musical of the same name, itself based upon the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.  Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Gladys Cooper.  Unrated.  Running time: 170 minutes.

Based upon the blockbuster stage musical, My Fair Lady broke the bank just by acquiring the rights to film it.  As an adaptation of a stage musical, itself based upon the 1938 film Pygmalion (itself a film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play!), the film nonetheless succeeded with star power and English charm to spare.  If only the filmmakers had tried to approximate some level of depth or insight amidst the gallivanting.

The movie begins when pompous English professor Henry Higgins bets an acquaintance that he can make a “proper” lady out of Cockney girl Eliza Doolittle, simply by altering her speech patterns.  After lengthy lessons in pronunciation, Higgins appears to succeed…but at what cost to himself, and what cost to Eliza?

The film has a fantastic setup and premise, mostly thanks to Mister Shaw.  But watching the product onscreen, we can’t help but feel we’re getting a truncated, inoffensive retelling of that play (and we are!).  The songs by Lerner and Loewe add little more to the proceedings than ad nauseam reiterations of established character traits.  In one case, the film devotes two entire numbers to Eliza’s father, a minor character in every sense of the word.  It’s handsomely staged, but to what purpose?

Like the other musical movies we’ve seen from screenwriter/lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, his stories don’t offend, but they’re so unabashedly hokey.  Adapting the Shaw play, he sidelines most of what made that play so fascinating, turning the characters into cut-outs and refusing to explore the larger social implications of “remaking” a person.  Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn certainly seem capable in their roles, but they’re given little opportunity to stretch their ranges.

My Fair Lady doesn’t represent the worst that movie musicals have to offer, but it does represent drawn-out fluff.  Do yourself a favor and read Shaw instead.

Next film: The Sound of Music, 1965