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Pygmalion

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7.0/10 • 143

1939-03-031h 36m

ComedyDramaRomance

He picked up a girl from the gutter - and changed her into a glamorous society butterfly!

When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.

Directors
Leslie Howard, Anthony Asquith
Writters
Ian Dalrymple
Editors
Ian Dalrymple, David Lean

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Leslie Howard

    Leslie Howard

    Henry Higgins

  2. Wendy Hiller

    Wendy Hiller

    Eliza Doolittle

  3. Wilfrid Lawson

    Wilfrid Lawson

    Alfred Doolittle

  4. Marie Lohr

    Marie Lohr

    Mrs. Higgins

  5. Scott Sunderland

    Scott Sunderland

    Colonel George Pickering

  6. Jean Cadell

    Jean Cadell

    Mrs. Pearce

  7. David Tree

    David Tree

    Freddy Eynsford-Hill

  8. Everley Gregg

    Everley Gregg

    Mrs. Eynsford-Hill

  9. Leueen MacGrath

    Leueen MacGrath

    Clara Eynsford-Hill

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jun 20, 2022

7/10

Even though it was made some 25 years, or so, before "My Fair Lady" it still takes a few minutes before you get used to the fact that it has no singing... Once that has been established, we can enjoy a witty and pithy observation of class and superficiality that raises both smiles and heckles in equal measure. Leslie Howard is great as the somewhat snobbish phonetics expert ("Prof. Higgins") who bets his pal "Col. Pickering" (Scott Sunderland) that he can take the gutturally linguistic flower girl "Eliza" (Wendy Hiller) and pass her off as a duchess to the highest of society. Hiller is super, too. She takes the role of the reluctant, naive but strong willed and savvy street seller by the scruff of the neck and before long we see that the Professor has more than met his match! His housekeeper "Mrs. Pearce" (Jean Cadell) has a go at umpiring now and again and there is a scene stealing performance from Esme Percy as the even more pompous "Count Karpathy" who is the one person "Higgins" fears may be able to rumble his deception. Right from the raucous and hilarious bathing scene, it sets off at quite a pace swiping relentlessly at the British societal system - ribbing snobs and workers alike as Bernard Shaw's story is transferred to celluloid in a way that (hopefully) the author would have appreciated too. I can't say I liked the ending of the play and I don't really much care for the ending here, either - but boy, it's one hell of a journey demonstrating creative skill at just about every turn.

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  • Pygmalion backdrop
  • Pygmalion backdrop

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$350,000.00
Revenue
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Keywords
betprofessorbathtransformationteaetiquetteelocutionbased on play or musicalteacherteacher student relationshiphigh societyguttersnipepygmalionflower vendorsocial classclass systemsocial receptionmother son relationshipspeech lessonstaken for grantedphoneticsquick learner