Amazon.com Essentials:
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor (The Women, The Philadelphia
Story), transformed Audrey Hepburn into
street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version
of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play
Pygmalion,
My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins
(Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who
draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The
letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the
pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual
stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really
star wattage that keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs
as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night."
Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life
portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined
suitor. --Tom Keogh
