A flower girl's novel

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Movie
German title A flower girl's novel
Original title Pygmalion
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Anthony Asquith
Leslie Howard
script George Bernard Shaw
W. P. Lipscomb
Cecil Lewis
Ian Dalrymple
Anatole de Grunwald
Kay Walsh based
on the play of the same name by George Bernard Shaw
production Gabriel Pascal
music Arthur Honegger
camera Harry Stradling Sr.
cut David Lean
occupation

The novel of a flower girl (original title: Pygmalion ) is a romantic-comedic film drama by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard from the year 1938. Leslie Howard plays next to Wendy Hiller also the main role. The British production was based on the play Pygmalion (1913) by George Bernard Shaw , which was awarded an Oscar for the script adaptation .

action

Snooty phonetics professor and expert on Victorian-era linguistic styles , Henry Higgins, bets his friend that he can teach a girl from the lower classes proper English so that she will be mistaken for a lady . He finds this girl in the London flower seller Eliza Doolittle, picks her up from the gutter and trains her to be a socially respected lady. In doing so, he realizes that when dealing with a person from a different social class he also has to deal with their ideas.

background

The film is the first English language film to use the swear word bloody (cursed, damned). When the Shawian play was first performed in London on April 11, 1914, this had led to a scandal and public criticism. The first performance of the piece in German translation took place on August 16, 1913 at the Burgtheater in Vienna . The American premiere at the Park Theater on Broadway premiered on October 12, 1914 and had 72 performances.

While the original drama ends with Eliza Doolittle wanting to marry Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Shaw wrote a sequel fragment about the events after the marriage of Eliza and Freddy. Shaw also wrote the dance hall scene shown in the film specifically for the film. The figure of the Hungarian Count Karpathy, created for the dance hall scene, was modeled on the producer Gabriel Pascal.

Prior to filming, Shaw had turned down an offer from Samuel Goldwyn for the film rights to his plays because he was more impressed with Gabriel Pascal's integrity as a film producer . The film finally marked the beginning of productions by Pascal, which continued with Major Barbara (1941), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) and Androkles and the Lion (1952).

Shaw personally selected theater actress Wendy Hiller, who had previously made only a feature film with Lancashire Luck , to play the role of Eliza Doolittle. Shaw's original wish for the role of Professor Higgins was Charles Laughton . Wilfrid Lawson was just 38 years old when he took on the role of Eliza's father. British actors Stephen Murray as a policeman and Patrick Macnee also made their film debuts in the film.

Moyna MacGill , who had a supporting role as a female viewer, was the only actress who also starred in the musical film My Fair Lady (1964) of the Pygmalion material and took over the role of "Lady Boxington" there. After all, Harry Stradling was the cameraman in both films.

criticism

“The love story of the phonetics professor and the uneducated flower seller, who is diverted from her street jargon, was elegantly staged as a dialogue-driven comedy film, which, although strongly attached to the theater, largely retains the spirit, wit and charm of the original and is excellently entertaining. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

The film was also nominated for "Best Film" , "Best Lead Actor" and "Best Lead Actress" at the Academy Awards in 1939 . However, only George Bernard Shaw and the other scriptwriters Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis and WP Lipscomb were awarded for “Best Adapted Screenplay” .

Shaw was not present at the ceremony. The laudator Lloyd C. Douglas joked, referring to the ancient Pygmalion story: “Mr. Shaw's story now is as original as it was three thousand years ago ”(Mr. Shaw's story is just as original today as it was 3000 years ago). Shaw was not very enthusiastic about the award: “It's an insult for them to offer me any honor, as if they had never heard of me before - and it's very likely they never have. They might as well send some honor to George for being King of England ”(It is embarrassing for them to offer me any honor, as if they had never heard of me before - and very likely they haven't. You might as well good to award Georg for being King of England ).

While it was alleged that Shaw never received the Oscar statuette, Mary Pickford reported that the Oscar was on the mantelpiece when she visited Shaw. When Shaw died in 1950, his Ayot Saint Lawrence home became a museum. By that time, the Oscar character had become so dull that the curator considered it worthless and used it as a doorstop. The Oscar was later repaired and exhibited.

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