Pygmalion - Criterion Collection

Starring:Irene Browne, Jean Cadell, O.B. Clarence, Kate Cutler, Everley Gregg, Wendy Hiller, Iris Hoey, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr, Leueen MacGrath, H.F. Maltby, Cathleen Nesbitt, Wally Patch, Esme Percy, Scott Sunderland, David Tree, Viola Tree, Violet Vanbrugh
Director: Anthony Asquith
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

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:

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.

~Professor Higgins vs. Eliza Doolittle~ A Review... .......2005-05-18

Pygmalion is the predecessor to the musical My Fair Lady, but saying that, it undoubtedly rings true as the best version of the popular George Bernard Shaw play. This 1938 film version stars Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins, a teacher and hobbyist of phonetics. Engrossed in this trade, he stumbles across a "cockney guttersnipe," flower peddler Eliza Doolittle (played by Wendy Hiller in her film debut). He takes on a bet with his new acquaintance, Colonel Pickering, and proclaims that in a short time, he can transform her into a proper lady and pass her off as "The Queen of Sheba."
What follows is rigorous training in dialogue and etiquette. From the famous `Marbles in Mouth' exercise ("I swallowed one!") to the final test at the Transylvanian Ball, hilarity and poignant antics ensue. The film shows us a budding friendship between teacher and pupil, even though said characters come within inches of striking the other down in tense moments of their relationship. Pygmalion shows "how deliciously low" Professor Higgins is. There is only one fault in his seemingly perfect facade (besides his swearing): his unsuccessful attempt to see Eliza not just as a guinea pig, but as a human being under her yowling dialect and uncouth manners. Henry's mother couldn't have put it more perfectly, saying that not once has he praised, petted, or admired Eliza for her work. Because of his lack of feeling towards Eliza, he gets a taste of his own medicine when Eliza threatens to forget and leave him.
Traditionally put in the Romance genre, Shaw never intended Pygmalion to be so. In an epilogue for the play that never came into the light, he writes that Eliza and Freddy do get married. He won an Oscar for the film's screenplay, and although in public he loathed having received the award, it was told that he proudly displayed it and showed it off to his friends in private.
Pygmalion is one of Howard's great masterpieces. His facial expressions can't be beat, his silvery voice cannot be overlooked, and his physical magnanimity is priceless. Shaw personally picked Hiller to play Eliza and it's crystal clear why he did. She is a treat to watch as a poor flower girl-turned-duchess. Other praiseworthy performances include Wilfrid Lawson as Alfred Doolittle, Marie Lohr as Mrs. Higgins, and Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering (Oh, do be reasonable!)
DVD wise: Classic black and white. I did find troubles with the closed captioning because on default, my DVD played viewed them. I had to consult my player manual to try and see how to take them off because the DVD itself doesn't offer an option. Comes with chapters and a Color Bar menu (don't know what that's all about!)
Pygmalion is a classic! Do not pass up the opportunity to place this in your collection. Whether you're a Howard fan or not, Pygmalion is a movie the whole family will enjoy.

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