Pygmalion - Criterion Collection

Buy This Item Pygmalion - Criterion Collection by Criterion  Available from Amazon  $26.99  on 11-28-2008     Cranky Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard) takes a bet that he can turn Cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller) into a "proper lady" in a mere six months in this delightful comedy of bad manners based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. This Academy Award-winning inspiration for Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady was directed by Anthony Asquith and star Howard, edited by David Lean, and scripted by Shaw himself. Criterion presents <I>Pygmalion</I> in a beautifully restored digital transfer. Reader Reviews First there was the smash hit play, then came the 1938 B&W movie with Leslie Howard is the ultimate pedantic as Prof. Henry Higgens and Wendy Hiller is utterly charming as Eliza Doolittle. I have a VHS copy of the movie but when I realized that the Criterios Collection has released a DVD taken from a very clean print, I leaped for it. I was not disappointed. Plus, it has the added advantage of all DVDs that I could jump to my favorite scenes: Liza on her first outing at Prof. Higgins' mothers home; Liza's father talking about the "underdeserving poor" and the final confrontation between Liza and Prof. Higgins. There is something about 1938 that makes the story of a professor turning a guttersnipe into a lady in six months that seems credible. By the time My Fair Lady came out, this was a historical play turned into a musical. As much as I enjoy the music from My Fair Lady, I prefer the 1938 film version of Pygmalion. Mainly because there is no dancing and singing to get in the way of the story. Of course, this film was made back in the day when all the supporting actors were serious about their craft. If you are at all a serious Shaw fan, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the DVD. Buy it so you can watch it as many times as you want, when you want. You won't be sorry.

Pygmalion - Criterion Collection Available from Amazon Price: $26.99 Updated on 11-28-2008.

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