my fair lady
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Warner Brothers studio in Burbank, California, never turned out a more brilliant, stunning film than Lerner-Loewe stage production of “My Fair Lady, ” that was presented by Herman Levin on Broadway. The picture sparkles with witty dialogue, titillates with droll situations, stirs the heart with its story of the metamorphosis of a London guttersnipe in a fine lady, and its romantic intervals glow with warmth and charm that fascinates the audience. The picture opened at the Criterion theatre last night before a house full of celebrities and socialites that came for sweet charity’s sake and stayed to cheer the performers and the makers of the film. Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, stars of the production, saw it for the first time last night. The hanging baskets of flowers in the lobby of the theatre and the floral decorations surrounding the cast and credits on the screen are symbols of the little flower-girl, Eliza Doolittle, that George Bernard Shaw wrote so bitingly and engagingly about in his play “Pygmalion. ” It was the Shaw dream that gave Alan Lerner the idea of making a musical production of the story. With Frederick Loewe as composer, he turned out an elegant stage show and one of the most successful musicals of all time in “My Fair Lady. ” The picture, lavishly produced by Jack Warner, was strikingly directed by George Cukor and acted with sheer enchantment by Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison, as the sharp-tongued, witty professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins; by Stanley Holloway, in the role he created on the stage; Wilfred Hyde White as Colonel Pickering and Gladys Cooper, Mona Washburn, Jeremy Brett, Theodore Bikel, Isabel Elsom and John Holland, to name a few of the performing artists in the film. While Audrey enacts the role of Eliza that Julie Andrews created on the stage, with superb skill and sings some of the lower notes of Loewe’s tunes, she is aided in the vocal department by the dulcet tones of Marni Nixon’s sweet soprano voice. Harrison, who created the role of Higgins on the stage, does his own singing, as do Holloway and Jeremy Brett. Making his American film debut in the role of Freddy, Brett gives full value to the enticing love ballad, “On the street Where you live. ” He has a fine, voice and is a good actor. A great share of the credit for the elegant quality of the film must go to Cecil Beaton, who designed the end-of-the-century costumes, the interior and exterior settings and the over-all production in great style. For those who’ve seen the stage show, “My Fair Lady” give complete satisfaction and those who will see and hear the musical for the first time will be enchanted by it. The songs that most people are familiar with by this time are all in the film. No new musical numbers have been added or were needed; the old ones are sufficient and any new musical material would have caused the picture to run overtime. As it is, it runs for three hours, including a 10-minute intermission. |
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