ThiefHott Too much of everything

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Wally-E Good things: Beautiful sets, decent songs, ok performances, Higgins is fairly funny, and an easy to follow story.Bad things: WAY too long, useless songs especially from the dad, Audrey Hepburn has one of the worst voices of all time in the fist half of the movie (I know this is on purpose, but my god), and Higgins is a huge ass.My biggest and worst complaint about this fine movie, is that the run time is bloated with useless musical numbers, this is a 1hr 50min movie tops, but because of Bollywood type musical numbers it (like a Bollywood movie) is bloated to 2hrs 50mins. I think it's perfectly fine, but with heavy flaws.

Charles Herold (cherold) One of the great struggles in theater is emotional truth versus emotional satisfaction. Witness George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which aimed for a true ending of emancipation but which was turned by various producers and rewriters into something less uncompromising to satisfy the audience's emotional desires.The musical My Fair Lady is Pygmalion with songs. An obnoxious linguist who believes class is not fundamental but is simply a matter of virtue signaling through things like language bets he can pass a flower girl off as a high-born lady. It's a virtuous belief, but the linguist is an obnoxious jerk. But as in the old movie, that jerkiness is sanded smooth with actorly charm. Which is why the ending bugs a lot of people, some of which will advise you to simply stop watching after "Without You," which would result in something close to what Shaw wanted.I don't disagree, and I think Shaw's idea that Charles Laughton would be an ideal Henry Higgins shows you how far afield Broadway and Hollywood have gone.The movie version of the musical also suffers from the casting of Audrey Hepburn. While the play is meant to show that language and a basic knowledge of social niceties is all that separates one class from another, Hepburn goes through a complete character change from feral child to conflicted and elegant lady. From clips I've seen of Broadway originator Julie Andrews singing some of the songs, I suspect she would have done better at making Eliza the same person and keeping the changes to grammatical ones while making Eliza cannier at first and flintier at last.It's also unfortunate that Hepburn's songs were dubbed. Her singing, as heard on youtube, was okay, and while Marni Nixon was the better singer, it seems unfair to insist on perfection from Hepburn while allowing Harrison to talk through his songs.Still, the songs are excellent, catchy and witty, and the production is solid. If you aren't too bothered by terrible people being portrayed as charming and quirky, or by Hepburn's overacting in the early scenes, this is still a lot of fun.Personally, were I to direct this I would have Higgins and Pickering realize they were in love with each other during the play. But that's just me.

frankwiener Watching Audrey Hepburn play Eliza Doolittle while Marni Nixon sings some wonderful Lerner and Loewe songs is the best of both worlds. Having undergone extensive voice training for the role, when she learned that all of her songs would be dubbed by Ms. Nixon, Audrey walked off the set in a state of miserable disappointment but apologized to the cast on the next day. Under the circumstances, who wouldn't understand her woeful dismay? Class act, Audrey.While Rex Harrison "talked" his songs, often as he deliberated to himself, and while Ms. Nixon so pleasingly intoned Hepburn's songs, the one member of the cast who actually sang his songs was Stanley Holloway who replayed his original Broadway role as Alfred P. Doolittle, Eliza's father. Holloway was born for the role. Sporting a dustman's cap with great authenticity and then donning an unlikely tuxedo for his own wedding, he stole the show with his two iconic singing and dancing numbers. Unforgettable!Unfortunately, not all of the songs in the show were as impressive as Holloway's, and, for me, a musical is only as good as its music, especially when it is brought to film. A few of the lesser tunes could have been eliminated without losing the gist of the story. The film also ran much too long with dialogue that seemed to repeat itself and actually became tiring. Eliza felt used and abused while Professor Higgins was slowly falling in love with her. Got it! No need to hammer these circumstances into our heads more than necessary.I also had trouble with the ending. While Harrison perfectly performs "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face", again in that special, introspective manner, and suddenly realizes how emotionally attached he had become to Eliza, what was the message of the final scene? That Henry was still the same arrogant egotist that he had always been? Shouldn't the movie have ended with a much more confident Eliza assertively instructing him to get his own bloomin' slippers? To the very end, Henry and Eliza never enter into a physical relationship, and I suppose that was consistent with Shaw's original play, upon which this musical was based. I can accept that, but what had Henry learned during the past two hours and fifty minutes of film time? Apparently, not much.

zkonedog There are many reasons to watch "My Fair Lady": It has incredible music. It is splendidly colorful. Audrey Hepburn is at her stylish best. What always draws me to this movie, though, is the incredible performance turned in by Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins. The journey of his character is the central block among-st which everything else coalesces around.For a basic plot summary, "My Fair Lady" is a grand experiment proposed by uber-bachelor Higgins (Harrison) and friend Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White). He bets Pickering that he can take lowly "gutter-snipe" Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) and turn her into a "lady" by primarily changing her phonetics.Like I said, there are numerous reasons to watch the film. Immediately after viewing, I purchased the soundtrack to add to my music collection, as it is that good. Watching in HD also allows the colorful nature of the film to really "pop". Women will also likely be captivated by the fashions and the contrast between what Eliza starts off as and who she becomes.As a "fellow" watching the film, however, I became more immersed in the journey of Professor Higgins than anything else. I personally have never seen Rex Harrison in any other movie, so to me every time I watch "My Fair Lady" he is 100% Higgins without bias. Whereas I was sometimes a bit confused with how we were supposed to understand Eliza's character, I could completely identify with Higgins (being male probably helps in this case). Without his performance, the experience of watching the film for me would have been a long, LONG three hours. With him in it, the time seems to fly by.I would also be remiss not to mention a sparkling performance from Stanley Holloway as Mr. Doolittle (Eliza's father). Though I can't exactly put my finger on what his character brings to the overall relationship dynamic of the movie, Holloway contributes some of the catchiest musical numbers of the entire experience.Overall, "My Fair Lady" is my favorite "sophisticated musical" to watch (only behind "Mary Poppins" in terms of musicals overall). Even though from the box art and trailer materials it looks more like a female-oriented production, it truly is not because of Harrison. A film that the whole family can enjoy, to be sure.