This is the movie based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. I would like to stress based on. While the basic story is the same, and much of the dialog is the same, certain scenes have been altered and threads have been removed that actually make this a different movie, and that's not even taking the ending into account.

If you aren't familiar with the play Pygmalion let me give you a little background: it's based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion (a sculpture) and Galatea (one of his sculptures). Pygmalion fell in love with Galatea and Aphrodite brought her to life for him.

In the play Pygmalion isn't a sculptor, rather he's Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard), a phoneticist; rather than being a sculpture Galatea starts as a woman (more by biological definition than Higgins's perception) in the form of Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller), a Cockney flower girl. The sculpting that takes place is of Eliza's language and social graces, rather than her physical form (although she is cleaned up and dressed up).

The changes between the movie and the play start right from the beginning. The opening scene, rather than being at St. Paul's, takes place right in the vegetable court where we see Eliza walking among the produce. While this is to be expected, it wouldn't be feasible to have this scene on a stage, it's the beginning of little things. The next "little thing" is that what would be the opening scene of the play takes place outside the opera house, rather than around the square at the church. Even though the setting has been changed Higgins still tells Eliza: "Woman! Cease this detestable boo-hooing instantly or else seek the shelter of some other place of worship." No big deal here, but I thought I'd point it out.

It's at this point that Eliza, Higgins, and Colonel Pickering (Scott Sunderland) first meet. Pickering is a Sanskrit phoneticist who ends up being Higgins cohort by taking Higgins up on a boast. The boast is the basis for the action in the play and is that Higgins can present Eliza, currently a Cockney "gutternsipe", as a duchess at an ambassador's ball in three month's time.

The first portion of this play centers around ridiculing Eliza's accent and then the practice that she must endure to attain the dialect associated with a duchess. This whole section is extended from that of the play. If you are familiar with My Fair Lady then you probably have vivid memories of "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain". Well this is a sequence that is missing in the original script, but was added in this movie (granted it's spoken rather than the scenes in My Fair Lady where it is sung). Up to this point the changes really are minor, but once the first round of training is complete Henry takes Eliza to meet his mother (Marie Lohr), and my views of the movie start to decrease.

I don't really mind that the sequence of events is changed, that the set isn't as described, or that more characters have been added, but I do mind that Shaw -- who did the adaptation from the stage to the screen -- has removed the discussion between Clara (a young socialite who is present, played by Leueen MacGrath) and Higgins. In the movie it's not necessary, however it gives more depth to Higgins. Of course with the change in the ending it's not as important (although I'm bitter about that change as well).

Another difference between the movie and the play is that the play during the visit with Mrs. Higgins the play indicates that Eliza speaks well, but it's her social skills that make her a misfit. In the movie, however, they make her speech extremely deliberate, off pace, and socially awkward to boot. The pacing of the movie is off because of this where as the play's pacing was much better.

One thing that I do love about the meeting with Mrs. Higgins is Freddy, Clara's brother. Freddy is played to perfection by David Tree. Freddy is described as being a bit of a dolt and that's exactly what Tree shows us. Starting with the meeting at Mrs. Higgins's the movie shows the second round of training, which is new material compared to the play. Throughout this Freddy is shown showing up at the house a number of times to see Eliza. It's interesting that Freddy becomes so much more prominent in the movie than the play because Freddy's role in the movie is decreased, as a matter of fact he could practically be cut out. I just don't understand the choice to highlight him and yet decrease his role.

The resolution of the movie does follow the same pattern as the play: Eliza is presented at an ambassador's ball and the bet is resolved. However the relationships between Higgins, Pickering, and Eliza must also be resolved. This is probably the biggest difference between the movie and the play is probably the biggest difference. The movie's ending is much closer to that of My Fair Lady than the original play, and I don't care for it. There's no real ambiguity at the end of the movie; all the attitude is gone and it's much mushier.

While I'm not happy with some of the changes that have been made to the script the actors are all fabulous. While Scott Sunderland is an adequate Pickering, he doesn't really stand out, both Hiller and Howard do their roles magnificently.

One of the biggest things with Hiller is the look. Most of the credit for this probably goes to the costume crew. In the opening scenes Eliza looks haggard, dirty, and old. Once she's cleaned up you see the real Hiller, who's absolutely gorgeous. Her delivery of lines and concentration in moments where Eliza would be focusing is phenomenal.

The best performance is Howard as Higgins. While it's not the same character that's presented by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, it's a fabulous character none the less. Howard's Higgins is less boisterous than Harrison's, but the concentration and scientific attitude presented by Howard are perfect for the role. It's a great performance.

Again I must say that I'm not happy about changes in the script which effect the character motivations or presentations. Even so the performances and the general story are extremely good. While it's a grainy black and white movie from 1938 it's still extremely good. While I won't be buying this DVD it was a good rental and I do recommend it for fans of the story, but it doesn't stand out like either the original play script or the My Fair Lady movie.

This review is part of the Tales Retold W/O
Pygmalion the play, the original play script
Pygmalion the movie, the movie adapted from the play
My Fair Lady the script, the musical script adapted from Pygmalion
My Fair Lady the movie, the movie adaptation of the musical

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD