12 out of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Bloody marvellous!
Rehan from ,
22nd September, 2007
(The original play, first performed in Britain in 1914, caused a stir by being the first to include the word 'bloody' - how times change.) Unusually, Shaw himself wrote the screenplay - for which he won an Oscar - altering a few things slightly (like the ending). His works are becoming popular again which is good, because at their best (and 'Pygmalion' is one of his very best) they're strongly felt and witty and hugely entertaining. 'My Fair Lady' which was adapted from this, seems a ludicrous, saccharine abortion by comparison with this wonderful satire of superficial class distinctions, an unsentimental, wry look at a bunch of flawed characters, without exception superbly cast: not just the principals - Leslie Howard is perfect as the brattish Professor Higgins - and the main character roles like Eliza's father ('Nah Nah, guv'nor, I'm a member of the h'undeserving poor'), but even the small parts like the Scottish housekeeper and Higgins' mother. And of course, the main idea of the work, that the way you speak English can define or alter your social status, is still evident, even if some of the pronunciations have changed; and I don't think it's ever been conveyed in film as enjoyably as here.
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