My Fair Lady
Year: 1964
Dir: George Cuckor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison

Behind-the-scenes drama preceded the on-screen drama when Warner Brothers decided to go for the movie- adaptation of Alan Jay Lerner’s musical My Fair Lady, (which in turn was adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion). The studio had decided to spare no efforts to make it an extravagant spectacle and at the time of its release, it was to be the most expensive musicalHollywood had ever made. Since Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews were acting in the already- popular theatrical version, they were assumed to be the main contenders for lead roles. But the studio wanted big names and thus they decided on casting Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn instead. Grant refused point-blank and practically forced the studio to sign-up Harrison and so Hepburn- Harrison became the lead pair.

On screen, it is a story of a leading English phonetic expert Prof. Henry Higgins (Harrison), who accepts a challenge from his friend and a fellow expert Col. Pickering. The task is to convert a poor, illiterate, Cockney- accented flower-woman Eliza Do- Little (Hepburn) into a statuesque prim and proper lady- fit to mingle with the high and mighty of the high-brow society. With his teachings and techniques, Higgins achieves the target in the stipulated six months time but remains painfully oblivious to tender romantic emotions budding in his student’s heart. Hurt by her mentor’s unemotional approach, the lady leaves his house to return to her roots. What happens next?

Director George Cukor deliberately keeps away from mushy syrupy romance as well as socio-political undertones and places his trust in intelligent, witty humor to carry the film. Rex Harrison’s suave and cynical loner Higgins is role played to clinical perfection. Harrison somehow manages to convert the Higgins’s arrogant and inconsiderate misogynist attitude into his charm and emotional appeal. Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Do-Little is brilliant as usual. Her transformation from a strong and totally uninhibited street-smart girl into a sophisticated yet emotionally vulnerable lady is a fantastic performance.

Lavish production-values (Just see the colourful Ascot race sequence!) and delightful songs (Why Can’t the English, Wouldn’t It Be Loverly, Just You Wait and You Did It) add even more luster to this priceless film. Eight Oscars for the film surprisingly did not include a Best Actress Oscar for Hepburn. The insiders claimed that it was because Marni Nixon dubbed her songs in the film and also because the studio had snubbed Julie Andrews for the role!