My Fair Lady (film)

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Movie
German title My fair lady
Original title My fair lady
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 170 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director George Cukor
script Alan Jay Lerner
production Jack L. Warner / Warner Brothers
music Frederick Loewe
camera Harry Stradling Sr.
cut William H. Ziegler
occupation
synchronization

My Fair Lady is a musical adaptation from 1964, the plot of which is based on the stage musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner (text) and Frederick Loewe (music) based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw . The film was named best production of the year at the Academy Awards in 1965 .

action

The plot of the film follows the version of the play: The phonetician Professor Higgins bets his friend Colonel Pickering that he can turn the uneducated and rough flower seller Eliza Doolittle into a society lady. At first, she is not at all impressed by the idea of ​​taking the lessons that Higgins imposes on her, but when it comes to getting a roof over her head , who mostly had to live on the streets of London , Eliza agrees.

Over time, Eliza Doolittle becomes a " Mayfair Lady", but one day she causes a scandal at a horse race and falls back into her old scheme when, in the presence of the professor, his mother and Colonel Pickerings, she "Pepper in the ass" of the racehorse wants to spread if it doesn't run faster. Now the young Freddy Eynsford-Hill becomes aware of Eliza. The grand finale is a ball in the high society of London, to which Higgins and Pickering accompany them. Here she stands out because of her chosen pronunciation and dances with the Prince of Transylvania . A foreign linguist who was present even mistook her for a Hungarian princess.

The professor, now visibly more delighted than on race day, is congratulated by Pickering. Higgins won the bet. Both forget Eliza, who now understands that she was only used for the bet. Angry, she leaves Higgins' house without any news and, full of sadness, visits her old milieu in Covent Garden again . But she is no longer at home here, she has already turned too much into a lady and is no longer recognized by old friends. In the end she finds consolation and encouragement from Higgins 'mother, who encourages her in her new independence and encourages her to defy Higgins' harsh manners. Although, out of defiance, she initially claims to Higgins, who suddenly shows up at his mother's and wants to bring Eliza back like a runaway dog, she wants to marry Freddy and now teach phonetics herself (with the linguist who thought she was a princess) and his methods apply, it will return to him in the end. It remains to be seen how her future will develop with the professor, who loved to be a bachelor.

background

Shot on a budget of $ 17 million at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank , California , the film grossed $ 72 million at the box office - a huge hit when you consider that Warner Bros. has the rights for just 5, Earned $ 5 million.

At first Vincente Minnelli should have directed, but when his fee claims were too high, the choice fell on George Cukor.

When it comes to cast, you weren't always the first choice. Although Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews were in the Broadway production, which had been staged there with great success for six and a half years, Jack Warner initially had Cary Grant in the role of Professor Higgins. But this refused and referred to Rex Harrison (he is said to have said that he would not even watch the film if Harrison does not play Higgins). When choosing the leading actress, the studio remained tough and prevailed Audrey Hepburn against the unknown Andrews. As Audrey Hepburn revealed years later, if she canceled Elizabeth Taylor first , and if she canceled and only then, maybe Julie Andrews would have received the role of Eliza. Ironically, Julie Andrews later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Mary Poppins , while Audrey Hepburn wasn't even nominated for an Oscar. Eliza's father was supposed to play James Cagney , but when he pulled out of the project, the role went at the last minute to Stanley Holloway, who had played Alfred Doolittle on Broadway.

Rex Harrison's singing style caused major technical problems. Due to his special spoken vocals, it was impossible to record the song numbers beforehand and then film him lip-synchronously for playback. Therefore, his singing was recorded live, for which a wireless microphone was used for the first time, which was hidden under his tie. Audrey Hepburn recorded the songs beforehand, but in the finished film her singing voice was replaced by that of Marni Nixon ( by "dubbing" ). Even Jeremy Brett's singing voice has been replaced by a trained singer.

In the 1990s, the original negative was in danger of being lost, as it was badly worn out due to the large number of copies and was beginning to decompose. An extensive restoration of picture and sound made it possible to re- perform My Fair Lady punctually for the 30th anniversary. Digital techniques were used for the first time during the restoration, so the overture could only be restored by digitizing the preserved images.

The film was choreographed by Oscar winner Hermes Pan .

German version

The German dubbed version was created in 1964 in the studio of Ultra Film Synchron GmbH, Berlin . It was one of the most elaborate and expensive of the 1960s. A special feature was the decision to let the common people of the street “ Berlin ” - according to the British Cockney in the original.

role actor German voice actor
Eliza Doolittle Audrey Hepburn (vocals: Marni Nixon ) Uta Hallant (vocals: Monika Dahlberg )
Professor Henry Higgins Rex Harrison Friedrich Schoenfelder
Colonel Hugh Pickering Wilfrid Hyde-White Robert Klupp
Alfred P. Doolittle Stanley Holloway Klaus W. Krause
Mrs. Higgins Gladys Cooper Roma train
Freddy Eynsford-Hill Jeremy Brett (vocals: Bill Shirley ) Joachim Ansorge (vocals: Karl-Ernst Mercker )
Zoltan Karpathy Theodore Bikel Klaus Miedel
Mrs. Pearce Mona Washbourne Ursula Grabley
Mrs. Eynsford-Hill Isobel Elsom Ursula War
Prince Gregor Henry Daniell Curt Ackermann
Lady Boxington Moyna MacGill Tina Eilers
Jamie John Alderson Gerd Duwner
butler John Holland Kurt Mühlhardt
Ball guest Grady Sutton Curt Ackermann

Film awards

Costume from the film designed by Cecil Beaton

1965 Oscars

Awards

Nominations

Golden Globes

Awards

Nominations

Other film awards

Reviews

"Elaborate film adaptation of the classic musical [...] An intellectual pleasure, exemplary in the history of the genre: the high level of stylization, which is inherent in the musical anyway, is taken to extremes in a funny, clever and romantic way."

- " Lexicon of International Films " (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997

“Stage adaptation in terms of design and equipment, which largely dispenses with cinematic effects despite the super format. Good conversation. "

- Protestant film observer , No. 12/1965

literature

  • Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe: My Fair Lady. After Shaw's Pygmalion (original title: My Fair Lady ). German by Robert Gilbert . Complete edition. Droemer-Knaur, Munich and Zurich 1963

Film documentaries

  • The making of "My Fair Lady" . Video documentation by Suzie Galler. USA 1994, CBS / Galler West Productions

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , pp. 33 and 267–277

Web links