Pygmalion (1938)

Shaw's play in which a Victorian dialect expert bets that he can teach a lower-class girl to speak proper English and thus be taken for a lady.

Directors:

Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard

Writers:

George Bernard Shaw (play), George Bernard Shaw (scenario and dialogue),

Stars:

Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leslie Howard	...	Professor Henry Higgins
Wendy Hiller	...	Eliza Doolittle
Wilfrid Lawson	...	Alfred Doolittle
Marie Lohr	...	Mrs. Higgins
Scott Sunderland	...	Colonel George Pickering
Jean Cadell	...	Mrs. Pearce
David Tree	...	Freddy Eynsford-Hill
Everley Gregg	...	Mrs. Eynsford-Hill
Leueen MacGrath	...	Clara Eynsford Hill
Esme Percy	...	Count Aristid Karpathy
Violet Vanbrugh	...	Ambassadress
Iris Hoey	...	Ysabel, Social Reporter
Viola Tree	...	Perfide, Social Reporter
Irene Browne	...	Duchess (as Irene Brown)
Kate Cutler	...	Grand Old Lady

Storyline

The snobbish & intellectual Professor of languages, Henry Higgins makes a bet with his friend that he can take a London flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, from the gutters and pass her off as a society lady. However he discovers that this involves dealing with a human being with ideas of her own.

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Plot Keywords:

bet | language | gutter | professor | english | 

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Taglines:

He picked up a girl from the gutter - and changed her into a glamorous society butterfly ! . . . See Wendy Hiller, new star discovery, in this amazing role !

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pigmalión

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$350,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gabriel Pascal Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Wide Range System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of Stephen Murray.

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Quotes

Prof. Henry Higgins: Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf, you disgrace to the noble architecture of these columns, you incarnate insult to the English language, I could pass you off as the Queen of Sheba!

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Connections

Version of My Fair Lady (1964)

User Reviews

Superb Shaw

Shaw's brilliant play is expertly filmed by Howard and Asquith. Howard is perfectly cast as the snobbish Professor Higgins and is matched by Hiller, in her second film, as Eliza Doolittle. The fine supporting cast includes Sunderland, Lawson, and Lohr, who's terrific as Mrs. Higgins. It is difficult to make a bad film of this work, given Shaw's witty dialog, but film performance is different from stage performance, with film calling for more subtlety. The love-hate relationship between the professor and Eliza works wonderfully because Howard and Hiller provide the right combination of humor and humanity. Howard's role here is in sharp contrast to the wimpy Ashley the following year in "Gone with the Wind."