MY FAIR LADY vs. PYGMALION

[LonesomePolecat]

I just watched both MY FAIR LADY and PYGMALION recently and must say they are both great, especially their respective casts, but which do you prefer?

[phroso]

 

Gotta go with *PYGMALION.* *MY FAIR LADY* runs a little long for my taste, and is missing Wendy Hiller's wonderful performance.

 

 

[AndyM108]

My Fair Lady. No contest, though it's really apples and oranges. Audrey, Rex, Stanley Holloway, and the best soundtrack of any musical ever. And yes, I know it isn't Audrey singing, but so what? No way that any movie with the charisma challenged Leslie Howard can ever top that.

[markfp2]

MY FAIR LADY is great for what it's, but I'd choose PYGMALION hands down. It brings out the brilliance of Shaw's literary masterpiece far better than the musical.

 

[SansFin]

I am sorry to say that I can not see it as an either-or situation. They are so very different that a preference would be a reflection of my mood only and not an honest appraisal of their respective merits.

 

I can not chose also between Wendy Hiller and Audrey Hepburn because I love both in all their movies.

 

I have to admit to a preference for Leslie Howard in general but I feel Rex Harrison was perfect in the role.

[JamesJazGuitar]

 

I agree the two movies are hard to compare since My Fair Lady is an example of a 'remake' that was anything but just another remake. But as it relates to the actual story I feel Pygmalion communicates the story better, that the second part of My Fair Lady (post coming out party), is too long and that Hiller is more suited for the role than Hepburn.

 

Howard is my favorite actor but I do feel Harrison is great in the role also.

 

 

[Sepiatone]

 

I would say *Pygmalion* hands down, if the MUSIC in "LADY" wasn't so damned great!

 

 

So, it's a tie for me, too.

 

 

Someone claiming Leslie Howard lacked charisma only proves how RIGHT he was in the role. Higgins was NOT a charming character.

 

 

Sepiatone

 

 

[Ray Faiola]

PYGMALION as a representation of Shaw. Howard is brilliant and Wendy Hiller is wistfully believeable as a commoner.

 

MY FAIR LADY, though, is a great musical and the picture is a wonderful combination of performance, design and musical direction.

 

No need for a face-off.

[LonesomePolecat]

Interesting thoughts. I feel that, for me, the songs in MFL are so amazing and fit so well that PYGMALION sounds like MFL with the songs cut-- it sounds incomplete to me.

[Tikisoo]

Funny this comes up...MFL is burned in my brain since childhood and I recently caught Pygmalion on PBS (must be public domain) and as I watched was struck by how much alike they are.

 

I didn't think anyone could be as good a Higgins as Rex, but Howard's portrayal is just a tad less brash with more homosexual undertones (which is how I imagine Higgins)

 

But word for word in many cases:

"I'll taught others what you taught me!"

"I've grown accustomed to her face"

The entire "gin was like mother's milk" "offed her for a hat" story

 

Was much of the dialogue lifted from Shaw? If so, very wise to keep it in for MFL-the writing is brilliant!

 

But the writing of the songs is also brilliant. They can stand alone without the story. As a child "Why Can't The English?" and it's counter "Loverly" influenced my lifelong interest in diction and regional linguistics.

 

The story rules and Pygmalion is all story. Add great songs, sets & costumes and you've got MFL.

The weakest link imho is Audrey Hepburn who overacts. I also would have much preferred hearing her own singing voice which was sweet and just fine for that role. No one can be a Julie Andrews-why try?

[JamesJazGuitar]

Did you see MFL first? I only ask because often that influences how one views another movie based on the same story.

 

Of course Pygmalion was released decades before MFL. Often we hear people complain about remakes becuase they just cannot view the remake without comparing it too much to the original.

 

I wonder if in this case the reverse happened. (BTW most people I know that have seen MFL often didn't know Pygmailion even existed).

 

Either way as others and I pointed out these are two very different movies. i.e. in many ways MFL isn't a remake due to it being a musical.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Much of the dialogue is EXACTLY the same in the two films.

[FredCDobbs]

>MY FAIR LADY runs a little long for my taste

 

I agree. At 2 hours and 50 minutes, it is much too long.

 

The story is not worth that length.

 

 

 

PYGMALION, at 1 hour and 29 minutes, is just right.

[DownGoesFrazier]

If you include most of the dialogue from PYGMALION, and add the songs, that approximate's MFL's length.

[FredCDobbs]

ON THE TOWN is a great drama/musical at 98 minutes.

 

I've been humming songs from that musical since 1949.

 

MY FAIR LADY is just too long and too slow moving.

[LonesomePolecat]

> {quote:title=jamesjazzguitar wrote:}{quote}Did you see MFL first? I only ask because often that influences how one views another movie based on the same story.

>

I grew up with both (been watching classic movies my entire life), so it's hard to say, but I probably saw MFL first, and even if I didn't, I definitely listen to MFL way more than I, for example, read the play, so that could be why.

 

Interesting point about long musicals-- does this length objection include Sound of Music & West Side Story and the other long musicals? To me, length isn't as important as pacing and I feel (IMHO) that MFL clips along and doesn't seem 3 hours, whereas many Esther Williams musicals are 1h30 and feel like eternity.

[Hibi]

LOL.

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=jamesjazzguitar wrote:}{quote}

> Did you see MFL first? I only ask because often that influences how one views another movie based on the same story.

 

I wondered the same. It often happens that the version we see first becomes established in our mind as the "correct" version even if there is a better version.

[DownGoesFrazier]

At the risk of seemimg argumentative, I feel that ON THE TOWN has exactly zero memorable songs. MFL is a different story.

[LonesomePolecat]

> {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote}

> > {quote:title=jamesjazzguitar wrote:}{quote}

> > Did you see MFL first? I only ask because often that influences how one views another movie based on the same story. I wondered the same. It often happens that the version we see first becomes established in our mind as the "correct" version even if there is a better version.

I've noticed the same thing, SansFin, but as I said, for me, I've watched both my whole life and couldn't say which was first. But I was in THE MUSIC MAN before I ever saw the movie, and I still say the movie is "wrong"

[JamesJazGuitar]

For me some parts of MFL are not that interesting, such as the songs that revolve around the father and around Freddy. While these characters are necessary to the plot I don't find them very interesting so the less time spent on them the better. I feel Pygmalion has just the right amount of focus on them while MFL has too much.

 

But some of those songs are great works.

[FredCDobbs]

>At the risk of seemimg argumentative, I feel that ON THE TOWN has exactly zero memorable songs.

 

LOL, are you crazeee?

 

"New York, New York, it's a wonderful town..... The Bronx is up and the Battery's down.....La la la la."

 

I've been humming that tune for the past 64 years.

 

 

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=LonesomePolecat wrote:}{quote}

> I was in THE MUSIC MAN before I ever saw the movie, and I still say the movie is "wrong"

 

I know the feeling well. There are many things which I know may be objectively better but I prefer the ones I knew when younger.

[StBartsActor]

Although On The Town is not one of my favorites musicals, in addition to New York, New York, the song "Some Other Time" always grabs me.

 

Edited by: StBartsActor on Jul 19, 2013 9:57 PM