"My Fair Lady"
When did films become so serious? How come we don't see characters break out into song and dance anymore? Where are the modern day versions (not encouraging remakes) of Oliver, Westside Story, or Singin' in the Rain? Newer musicals like Moulin Rouge, Chicago, and Across the Universe can't be compared because they employ modern day movie making techniques that lack the feeling and sensation of watching a film that could have been made 40-50 years ago. Based off of the hit Broadway musical George Cukor's My Fair Lady embodies all the great characteristics of the musical genre by being a big, grand, old fashioned crowd pleasing picture.
Merry old England hasn't been too kind to lower class, Cockney accented, flower peddling Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn.) She's a "good girl" who's just trying to make her way in the world and distance herself from her binge drinking father Alfred (Stanley Holloway.) Eliza is a case of interest for phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) and his colleague Colonel Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) when the two of them make a wager to turn the "gutter snipe" in to a well mannered, proper speaking lady of high society in six months time.
From the elegant costumes, to the spacious and meticulously detailed sets, and the large format photography My Fair Lady is quite an event to watch unfold on screen. This was clearly Warner Brothers' big studio picture of that year. Made on an estimated budget of 17 million dollars (which by 1964 standards had to have been a good chunk of change) Cukor and his production team put every penny into the design of this film. The sets by Cecil Beaton are deep and wide providing ample, unrestricted space for the actors to sing and dance around. The costumes (also by Beaton,) are pure eye candy but also add another layer of character development especially in regards to Eliza. All of her dresses represent Eliza's growth and change throughout the film's three hour run time adding another dimension to Hepburn's already flawless beauty and performance. Harry Strandling's camera work is gorgeously mounted as though we were watching the Broadway show on the silver screen, giving us the best seat in the house to see every foreground and background actor in step with each musical number.
Harrison and Hepburn are both delightful in their roles. Harrison's performance as Professor Higgins is sublime. His style and manner match his quick witted and condescending remarks towards everyone which is rather amusing to watch. Hepburn does a supreme job of going through a wonderful but ultimately distressing transformation. Eliza goes on a journey and by the end of the film we too feel as though we were with her every step of the way.
As if this wasn't already made clear My Fair Lady is a musical and just about every song in the film is pleasing and entertaining to listen to. There are however at least three songs that could have been cut from the picture. Two of them are sung by Eliza’s father. Holloway's performance is far from lousy; in fact he gives the role all he's got. It's the character of Alfred that is problem. He is not a terribly likable guy and the few scenes he has on screen feel unnecessary and too distracting from the story. These few detours could have been avoided while still getting the message across about the relationship Eliza had with her father.
My Fair Lady is what the modern day musical should aspire to be. Unfortunately studio politics come into play and they don't want to put the time or money into some out of date style of filmmaking. They figure it'll be unprofitable and today's audiences won't be able to relate to anything that's going on in the film and will be bored with the end result. If only the studios were willing to take risks every once and while they would find that there is a feasible market for this style of old fashioned filmmaking for a genre that nowadays has been left on the shelf to collect dust. Wouldn't it be loverly that with a little bit of luck the studios could grow accustomed to churning out some quality musical pictures on a yearly basis like they used to. Fortunately home video media does exist allowing a younger audience (who appreciates cinema) to experience the film in some medium. My Fair Lady stands tall and will leave you too with the feeling of having danced all night alongside Eliza.
Yeah I think you touched on a problem that the entire industry has in the way that they don't think the general audience would relate to older film technique and style. My opinion: outside the industry, do you really think the general public will notice or care??
ReplyDelete"My Fair Lady" and "Singing in the Rain" are two of the best musicals ever made (in my opinion) and I am in NO way distracted by the technique. If the story and characters are strong enough the technical aspect should be mute.
That said I think "My Fair Lady" could do with a completely CGI scene with aliens fighting giant clowns, I would be able to relate better to that...