Pygmalion - Criterion Collection

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This bold 1938 production of George Bernard Shaw's famous play about a linguist who turns a Cockney flower peddler into a princess was codirected by Anthony Asquith (The Browning Version) and star Leslie Howard, who brings a calculated coldness to the character of Henry Higgins. There's no My Fair Lady sugarcoating here: Higgins is a brute using language as a weapon of class war and patriarchal subjugation of women. He's a likable brute, mind you, but a bully nonetheless, and his molding of poor Eliza (Wendy Hiller) into a Cinderella story is not a pretty sight. Everyone in the cast is in perfect accord with this production's take on Shaw's tale, and while this Pygmalion is a fairly radical enterprise, it is also very funny and handsomely realized. Hiller and Howard have never been better, and the rest of the cast, including Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr, Scott Sunderland, and Jean Cadell, can't be improved upon. Edited by David Lean, who eventually directed Brief Encounter and Lawrence of Arabia. --Tom Keogh

Description

Cranky Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard) takes a bet that he can turn Cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller) into a "proper lady" in a mere six months in this delightful comedy of bad manners based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. This Academy Award-winning inspiration for Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady was directed by Anthony Asquith and star Howard, edited by David Lean, and scripted by Shaw himself. Criterion presents Pygmalion in a beautifully restored digital transfer.

Customer Reviews:

Better than with Audrey Hepburn.......2007-08-21

Much that I love Audrey Hepburn she seems to play a totally different role from the one played here by the great Wendy Hiller. I understand this was her screen debut. I can say the role is just for her. You can't help falling in love with this young woman. That is it, she plays a real woman who is young, but a woman. The drama is intensified because we can feel what she goes through, socially and emotionally in her relationship with her cold and reluctant lover.

There's more than simple comedy of contrasts here. The "unwilling" romance is accentuated here. There are the intricacies, and feelings of human beings whose God given power to love has been hindered by society's rules and etiquette, and has to break away by sheer power. Adorable film, adorable Wendy Hiller. One of the best old British classics I've seen.

Pygmalion.......2007-02-06

This particular version digitized and all is a great compliment to the industry. We used it in school in conjunction to studying the play by Shaw, Pygmalion. The students really enjoyed it and because of the great quality, they never lost interest as some might when a film is black and white. Since we have inclusion, we can honestly say that every student enjoyed the movie tremendously. I am so glad that we were able to obtain this particular updated version of Pygmalion.

A literary giant on the screen.......2007-01-19

I'm not sure why I'm making a comment on this obvious classic.Oh yea! Now I remember- How is it that so many recent reviewers can completely miss the difference between Fine Art and Pig fodder? The most recent high star rating given still misses the pupose of a review. It's to comment on the artistic quality,transfer and value,NOT to complain because you had to wait a whole 3 DAYS to watch it,(which,as my experience tells me is probably more to do with the delay in the carrier responding to the Pick-up notification than anything Amazon had done). But the comments from people who didn't like this masterpiece because they 'personally' didn't like the behaviors of certain characters is to TOTALLY miss THE WHOLE POINT OF FINE ART. It's not there to make you comfortable or to win your political vote, It's there to expose the human condition and challenge the theater goer,(movie watcher),to get up off your duff and change the world! Which both Higgins AND Eliza do without reserve in their own,imperfect,human but completely committed way. If one can stop judging the shortcomings of individual characters,one can much easier 'get the message'. Otherwise one tends to view art with pychological shields up which results in deflecting,hence,missing the playwright's message. Open your mind,then give it another go!

Great Shavian comedy.......2005-10-24

George Bernard Shaw wrote the screenplay based on his own very successful stage play of 1913, and he even took an Academy Award for it - and deservedly so. It's a crackerjack production, his best on screen.

Leslie Howard plays the overbearing Professor Higgins and Wendy Hiller is the Cockney flower girl transformed into a "lady." Both are perfect, and the whole thing is a lot better than the musical it became (MY FAIR LADY). It sparkles throughout, and the Shavian jabs at middle class society ("Marriage - it's the proper thing, but it's not natural") are wonderful and are just icing on an already rich cake. Definitely worth a watch.

The First Fair Lady.......2005-10-18

Before she ever sang "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", Eliza was selling
flowers in Covent Garden and crucifying the king's English. Wendy Hiller made her film debut as Eliza and is magnificent. She
was nominated for an Oscar. As Henry Higgins, Leslie Howard is
absolute perfection. The supporting cast is ideal. Alan Jay Lerner adapted Shaw's screenplay nearly word for word for MY FAIR LADY. In fact when Leslie Howard says "I've grown accustom to her face and appearance" we nearly add "it almost makes the day begin." The Criterion dvd is a superb transfer. Cathleen Nesbitt has a bit part in the Embassy Ball scene.
part at the Embassy Ball and you can also see Anthony Quayle in
a quick shot. One of the best. I watch this more than I watch
MY FAIR LADY.

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