MY FAIR LADY Movie Musical — Page 3

A dagger! A dagger to my heart!!! That is what this thread is.

Seriously though, I consider My Fair Lady to be one of the best movie musicals I've ever seen. Sure it was a bit safe, but I loved that Cukor gave us a more stationary scenes to fully enjoy the acting and dialogue. Cukor's style has always been very understated and subtle in his directing, and I love that he was able to bring that to the film considering that this type of movie played against his strengths.

Shoot me because I prefer Marni Nixon's rendition of the songs over Julie Andrews. As for Hepburn, I think she gave Eliza Doolittle a lot of subtley and sensitivity to the role and I always think she's unfarily judged here because of the whole Julie Andrews thing. I for one am glad they didn't cast Julie Andrews because Andrews got to make one of the most imaginative movies with one of the finest original scores ever called Mary Poppins.

My Fair Lady is the tops, IMO. Only Cabaret really tops it in the stage to film transfer.

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Technically, regardless of what has been written or said (even by Julie, herself), over the years, Julie would have been able to do both MY FAIR LADY and MARY POPPINS. Principal photography on MARY POPPINS was finished, before principal photography on MY FAIR LADY began, due to all the animation and effects that had to be added. It was THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC that would have conflicted with MY FAIR LADY. Assumming they wouldn't have waited for her, that is. I'm thrilled that she wasn't in it. Julie Andrews' performance in MY FAIR LADY, doesn't fit that film's tone. She was far too exhuberant in the role. She would come off like she was in a different film. It still would have been a horribly directed film, and she wouldn't have been in TSOM, which, in scope, granduer and sheer brilliance of film making, puts MFL to shame.

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And, we are not alone

Thank God for that.

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I just loved the fact that in her Oscar acceptance speech Andrews had the "balls" to thank Jack Warner for giving her the opportunity to do "Mary Poppins" (by not hiring her for "My Fair Lady") i think her exact words were:

"finally my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner."

that alone made me a fan of Julie Andrews...

Jack Warner thought that MY FAIR LADY would beat GONE WITH THE WIND, as the most popular film ever made, and said so, pubically and often. He spent a fortune to obtain the film rights, and spent an even bigger fortune producing the actual film. He thought he needed to cast big stars in all the roles. Cary Grant for Higgins, James Cagney for Doolittle and Audrey Hepburn for Eliza. Grant and Cagney turned him down, flat. Hepburn did, as well, but he assured her that Julie Andrews would never get the role; and if she didn't do it, he would cast Shirley Jones or Elizabeth Taylor. Only then did she accept. He also tried to buy the film rights of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, from Fox, and offered them a lot of money for it. Fox was all but shut-down, due to the financial disaster of CLEOPATRA. He figured they would sell to him for the quick cash, thus, eliminating it as competition to MFL. When MFL wasn't even the most successful film of 1964 (a Julie Andrews' film was) or 1965 (a Julie Andrews film was), let alone all-time, he became obsessed with getting Julie Andrews in one of his films. She turned him down, every time. MFL was a hit, even winning a Best Picture Oscar, but he wasn't pleased. He was sure that the most successful Broadway/West End show, would be the most successful film. He never could accept the film for the hit it was.

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