Covent Gardens in the 1910's was not a safe place to be at night, so I wonder how Henry (Peter O'Toole) would have fared analyzing the crowd of different classes after an opera or ballet ended, leaving the crowds to fight for taxi's. This is a seemingly edited version of George Bernard Shaw's play, and I'm not talking about the absence of songs by certain Broadway composers. When I first saw Margo Kidder as Eliza Doolittle, I immediately thought of Wendy Hiller in the 1938 movie, and looked up who else had played the non-musical Eliza. Mrs. Patrick Campbell originated the role in London and on Broadway, playing the part for a good decade. Gertrude Lawrence also played the role a few years before originating the role of the musical Anna Leonowens, a decade before the rain in Spain fell mainly down that plain.
So in looking at this from the point of view of the play rather than the musical (which I have seen on Broadway), I came to like Kidder as Eliza, but Peter O'Toole seemed absolutely mad in his efforts to capture the role of Higgins. Certainly, sexy Rexy wasn't likeable most of the time either, but O'Toole only settles down a few times, but either seems like Henry is either eternally drunk or overly caffeinated, jumping up and down like he's performing the part on a trampoline.
Faring better are John Standing as the gentlemanly Colonel Pickering, Frances Hyland as the no-nonsense Mrs. Higgins and as much as I disliked the character as portrayed here, Donald Ewer as Eliza's father. His characterization is brilliant because it is closer to the type of dustmen that I had seen in other classic British motion pictures. You're supposed to be disgusted by him, not want to break into song and dance like I did with Stanley Holloway. If they ever revive the play, they really need to show the deprivation of Eliza's life and not the glamor surrounding what she longs for. This came close, but is missing key moments that would have been more realistic. No ball, either, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the play script I read years ago. Best to watch this and keep the song lyrics out of your head, even when they crop up in the dialogue.
So in looking at this from the point of view of the play rather than the musical (which I have seen on Broadway), I came to like Kidder as Eliza, but Peter O'Toole seemed absolutely mad in his efforts to capture the role of Higgins. Certainly, sexy Rexy wasn't likeable most of the time either, but O'Toole only settles down a few times, but either seems like Henry is either eternally drunk or overly caffeinated, jumping up and down like he's performing the part on a trampoline.
Faring better are John Standing as the gentlemanly Colonel Pickering, Frances Hyland as the no-nonsense Mrs. Higgins and as much as I disliked the character as portrayed here, Donald Ewer as Eliza's father. His characterization is brilliant because it is closer to the type of dustmen that I had seen in other classic British motion pictures. You're supposed to be disgusted by him, not want to break into song and dance like I did with Stanley Holloway. If they ever revive the play, they really need to show the deprivation of Eliza's life and not the glamor surrounding what she longs for. This came close, but is missing key moments that would have been more realistic. No ball, either, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of the play script I read years ago. Best to watch this and keep the song lyrics out of your head, even when they crop up in the dialogue.