Here is the Blu-Ray.com review of the restoration:
What a difference a restoration makes. As far as "undesirable" transfers go, My Fair Lady's 2011 Blu-ray debut wasn't the worst in the world. Hardly crumbling around the edges or destroyed by grossly excessive noise reduction, the image definitely showed room for improvement but made for, at worst, a watchable picture of a classic film. But the difference between "watchable" and "practically perfect" is striking. My Fair Lady has undergone a full restoration courtesy of Blu-ray.com member and Film Historian/Preservationist Robert A. Harris, whose recent work on Spartacus is nothing short of a treasure. That holds here, too. My Fair Lady's restored 1080p transfer is a revelation. The 2.20:1-framed image (as opposed to the 2011 release's 2.39:1 framing) reveals the movie like never before, yielding a picture so pristine that watching is practically like seeing the movie for the first time.
The transfer is home to a gorgeously fine grain structure, a constant companion that's exacting in evenness across every frame and dazzling in its ability to preserve and convey that desirable pinpoint filmic texturing. The details underneath are terrific. The 65mm source photography has been restored in 4K from an 8K scan, resulting in a fastidious image that reveals every fine appointment throughout the film, whether in Higgins' warmly furnished home, the dreary gray-dominant London streets, or the sunny bright racetrack. Clothing textures are meticulously presented and are substantially sharper and more refined than seen in the previous release. The transfer reveals practically every stitch and seam and each costume's unique textures. There couldn't be a finer tribute to Cecil Beaton's Oscar-winning costumes. The racetrack sequence is particularly special, even as there's not a lot of color variety. White, black, and gray dominate, but the variations in contrasting shades of white and gray are striking and, again, revealing of the costumes' finest textures that make the biggest difference in one's visual enjoyment of all the sequence has to offer. The transfer expectedly handles the brightest costumes remarkably well. Primaries pop beautifully, with lavish pinks and purples amongst the highlights. The Henry Higgins interiors are beautiful as well, yielding an inviting warmth that's substantially more nuanced and exacting in this release.
Even the bleak and dark London street sequences at the beginning look amazing. Overhead shots, for example, reveal the finest intimate textures on the brick street, impressive considering the black and gray dominant colors and source lighting. It's in the open where the most demanding viewers might find reason to pause. A slight "blooming" or "glow" appears on bright white shirts contrasted against black jackets and satin collars. It was in these scenes that Mr. Harris encountered his biggest challenge. He told Blu-ray.com, "The single most difficult factor in both films, was holding pure blacks and whites...from a faded element. Even more so is the bit of air above the pure black in tuxedoes, vs the black of the satin collars...it's filtration, moving toward the look of pre-panchromatic film stock. In some ways, especially the way in which Mr. Hyde-White's shirt 'glows,' it takes us back to Al Jolson's gloves in the Orthochromatic days of The Jazz Singer. Harry Stradling, the (My Fair Lady) DP, began his career in the '20s, with orthochromatic stock, and probably liked some of the attributes, which he continued to use via filtration."
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