My Fair Lady is a delightful movie in every sense of the word. Based on the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, the plot follows a poor Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) and an arrogant phonetics professor named Henry Higgins (Harrison) who decides to take her in and train her to speak "proper English" on a bet from his friend Colonel Pickering (Hyde-White). He believes in his own abilities so much that he is convinced he can turn her into an elegant duchess in just 6 months. Despite their class distinctions, it is immediately apparent that he is a jerk and she is a lady. After they make some progress, he takes her to a horse race to test her out on some upper-crust aristocrats. There she meets the young, handsome Freddy (Brett).The filmmaking is terrific. The cinematography, costuming, and set design are all beautiful. I loved the theatricality of the extras pausing in place in order to set up several scenes, adding layers of complexity and mood that would otherwise be missing. The acting is a wonder to behold as well. Harrison makes an ass somehow likable and Hepburn proves to be as sweet, charming, and lovely as ever. The songs are surprisingly catchy (I still have I Could Have Danced All Night stuck in my head) and memorable. However, there were some parts I disliked about the movie as well. I hated every single scene and song with Eliza's father (Holloway). He added nothing to the piece and his character should have been removed from the film entirely. His absence would have made the 3 hour film 20 minutes shorter and 0.9 stars better. A shame, because I really really liked this film. If you like musicals and classic romances, I think you'll love this movie.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058385/
