My Fair Lady (1964) on Netflix
Henry Higgins, a phonetics scholar, wagers he can teach Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower seller, to pass as a duchess. Colonel Pickering offers to pay for the lessons.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.7/10108,655 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Trailer
Plot summary
Phonetics scholar Henry Higgins holds that a person's accent decides their prospects. At the Covent Garden market one evening he listens to Eliza Doolittle, a flower seller with a Cockney accent, and takes notes, so bystanders mistake him for a detective. Eliza protests, and Colonel Pickering, a phonetics expert who has come from India, confirms it. Higgins boasts he could teach even her to be taken for a duchess. Eliza wants work in a flower shop, which her accent prevents. She arrives at Higgins's home the next morning for lessons, and Pickering offers to cover the costs if Higgins succeeds.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about My Fair Lady (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When Jack L. Warner acquired the film rights, he replaced Broadway's Eliza Doolittle, Julie Andrews, with Audrey Hepburn. Alan Jay Lerner broke the news to Andrews, who had never been in a film, saying: "I so wanted you to do it, Julie, but they wanted a name."
- Rex Harrison hated the later stanzas of "You Did It" and refused to perform the song unless they were omitted, as they had been in most Broadway versions. George Cukor threatened to leave the production if they were not restored for the film, and Harrison obliged.
- Audrey Hepburn's singing was judged inadequate, and Marni Nixon dubbed all her songs except "Just You Wait", where Hepburn's voice was kept on the harsh-toned chorus. Jeremy Brett's songs as Freddy were dubbed by Bill Shirley.
- CBS head William S. Paley financed the original Broadway production in exchange for the cast album rights, then Warner Bros. bought the film rights in February 1962 for a then-unprecedented $5.5 million plus 47.25% of gross over $20 million. Paley also required that the film negative revert to CBS seven years after release.
- At $17 million, My Fair Lady was the most expensive film shot in the United States up to that time.
