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Film Description
Snobbish Professor Higgins has a wager with his friend Colonel Pickering that with the right instruction he can pass off cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (here played by Wendy Hiller) as a lady among high society. Taken under his wing Eliza is given rigorous coaching in elocution and manners in preparation for the ultimate test, her appearance at an ambassador’s reception.
Later adapted as ‘My Fair Lady’, George Bernard Shaw’s wonderful comedy of manners is given its finest screen outing in this 1938 production. Nominated for four Oscars, Shaw himself was one of the recipients of the award for best screenplay.
Upstaged by the colour and noise of My Fair Lady, Pygmalion is – rather like Eliza Doolittle herself – easily overlooked, though unlike its protagonist, it turns out t... more >
Upstaged by the colour and noise of My Fair Lady, Pygmalion is – rather like Eliza Doolittle herself – easily overlooked, though unlike its protagonist, it turns out there was really no need-for a makeover.
Shorn of the songs and the slapstick, Shaw’s satire on the English class system is brought to the screen in its purest
form, in an Oscar-winning adaptation penned by Shaw himself. Pygmalion remains the definitive film version of the tale, with many of its costumes, sets and even camera angles reproduced faithfully by the 1964 film.
Its cast, including Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller (both insisted upon by Shaw himself), is superlative.
Howard is outstanding as Henry Higgins, the overbearing professor of phonetics who is determined to transform a flower-girl into a duchess. Howard’s Higgins is less
mannered and more energetic than Harrison’s; his relationship with Hiller’s Eliza is touching without ever
being sentimental.
A massive success in its day – not least for being the first English film to utter a certain swear-word (I’ll let you
find out which) – it’s high time this classic British comedy was rediscovered for a new audience.
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"Was this the closest British Cinema got to Screwball perhaps." -
Shane Hyde on 29th January 2011
Henry Higgins places a bet with his pal that he can transform Eliza Doolittle from guttersnipe into princess. Its based on a Bernard Shaw play from 1912 but the story ... more >
Henry Higgins places a bet with his pal that he can transform Eliza Doolittle from guttersnipe into princess. Its based on a Bernard Shaw play from 1912 but the story goes back at least as far as Ovid's Metamorphosis and can be found in various forms in films like Trading Places, Pretty Woman and Educating Rita. Most people know the story as My Fair Lady, which came out in 1965. But this 1938 film is one of the best versions of the story and certainly the best adaptation of a Shaw play, and i think the reason for that rests mostly with Lesley Howard.
This version is no fairy story, it's a painful transformation for Eliza. Its also a very sharp comedy.
Higgins believes that language is key to social climbing but he is totally ignorant of his own lack of manners. It's a wonder that Eliza turns out so well with his example. He's an intellectual and a spoit brat who's always had his own way without ever considering the feelings of others.
This film is not as mad as Bringing up Baby but to my eyes it's a screwball comedy no less. Fast talking, very clever and bitterly funny. A battle of the sexes where its the acid tongue and barbed dialogue that counts.
I love the way that towards the end of the film the roles are beginning to reverse, the power is about to shift hands. Perhaps the film ends too soon? The cruelty could have gone further. Maybe not to quite as dark a place as Losey's The Servant. But it needs Eliza to become aware of her sexual power over Higgins, to taunt him and play the game a little longer. It's almost like a sado-masachistic relationship! < less
