The famous professor Henry Higgins makes a bet with his friend that he can teach the illiterate grubby street flower girl Eliza the correct speech and high-society manners and pass her off as a real lady. Sparkling humor, funny situations, Cinderella turns into a princess in front of the audience, and a convinced bachelor turns into a lover.

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When Jack Warner signed a contract with Audrey Hepburn to play the title role, the journalists were very surprised. Since the film was played by Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway, who participated in the theatrical production and everyone thought that the role of Eliza would go to Julia Andrews. But history has proven Warner to be right. At the time, the replacement of theater stars with movie stars, especially in musicals, was very common.

The work on “My Fair Lady”, the creation of the scenery and costumes has become an outstanding project. A lot of time was spent developing Audrey’s style, shoes and costumes. “I pray every day to be worthy of this beautiful role,” Hepburn said.
The film was to be filmed at Warner Studios in Burbank. The visuals of “My Fair Lady” make this the greatest achievement in the field of popular, audience cinema.

When Audrey arrived in Los Angeles and met with the director, she suddenly asked: “Will I sing in the film myself?” The director replied that her voice is quite good for most vocal numbers, but for some notes, you will have to use a different voice. This calmed Audrey a little.

Under the terms of the contract, the studio had the right to use a different voice. But from the moment Audrey began to study with a professional teacher, Warner and Cukor decided that she would perform all the vocal numbers herself (with minor overlaps in some places). Since all vocal numbers had to be recorded in advance, and on the set the actress was required only for precise articulation, all vocal adjustments could be made later, right in the studio. “I will work on my voice,” Audrey said and added, “I’m ready to take as many lessons as you deem necessary. The ability to sing and dance is an integral part of the acting profession. ”

At the end of June, it seemed to Beaton that Audrey had finally stopped worrying about her singing. “From the day she arrived, she worked hard and her voice grew so strong that she could easily handle most of Eliza’s vocal numbers.” George Cukor and Jack Warner were of the same opinion. But this was the usual self-deception, which greatly influenced the success of the film as a whole and the character of Eliza in the picture.

On May 16, Cukor and Lerner secretly met with singer Marnie Nixon, who has already dubbed some actresses in films. After a short audition, the director invited Nixon to dub Audrey, but this decision was to remain a secret for now. Audrey continued to take singing lessons and was unaware of the studio’s plans. Recording the songs for the film was an ordeal for Audrey.

Meanwhile, Marnie Nixon was recording all of Eliza’s vocal numbers. “In the end, we made the decision to use Marnie’s voice,” recalled Harper McKay, who served as Previn’s assistant. No one dared to inform Audrey about it. Worst of all, Cukor, Previn and Lerner listened to Audrey singing and praised her constantly. “Audrey, unfortunately, started to believe them.” But even for Audrey’s peace of mind, the studio did not change its mind. All Eliza’s songs in the film were performed by Marnie Nixon. Upon learning the truth, she felt humiliated, and yet did not show her resentment in any way. Audrey continued to work as before.

André Previn claimed that Marnie Nixon was invited because “Audrey Hepburn could not cope with the vocal part … The main character had to chirp like a bird … Rex Harrison has already confirmed his mastery of parlando, a special manner of singing close to melodeclamation.” But all the efforts of Previn, Cukor, Warner and others led the film to sheer disaster. As a result, Audrey Hepburn’s subtle and deep acting was hopelessly spoiled by the alien vocals.

My Fair Lady was released in the fall of 1964. The London press was especially unpleasant about the first part of the picture. The prim Englishmen did not like Audrey’s common accent – as if there was only one, once and for all, definite manner of speech in the East End. But Audrey’s performance was praised, noting that she plays much better than Julia Andrews (who played the role of Eliza in the theatrical production).

And in spite of everything, I love this movie, it always helps to break away from the everyday world and plunge into another world, a world full of wonders. And, of course, the main advantage of the film is the wonderful actors and, first of all, Audrey Hepburn … she is absolutely natural in all the scenes of the film. She managed to play a touching and funny flower girl, which Eliza Dolittle could never have been on a stage where there are no close-ups. How she spoke to a condescending and indifferent professor – innocently, but with a great deal of ambition. And a completely different Eliza appears at the ball – but even here the features of a poor flower girl continually slip through the style and grace – in her eyes, in her smile, in her movements … All this makes Audrey’s heroine alive so much that you live the whole film with her from the beginning to the end …

* During the filming, Audrey and Cukoru were approached by a man with a radio, and at that moment they learned about the assassination of President Kennedy. “I was too shocked to report this to the crew,” Cukor recalled. – None of us dared to say anything. And then Audrey simply said, “I’ll do it.” She picked up the microphone and said, “The President of the United States has been killed. Let’s be silent for a couple of minutes so that we can pray or somehow honor the memory of the president. ”

* Audrey wrote to her father during filming: “We are barely surviving because of the hellish heat. We’ve literally been out of breath for the past week. It was 110-118 degrees in the studio (Fahrenheit, that is, 43-48 degrees Celsius) … This temperature lasts all day, even in the evening it does not get cooler. We toss and turn in our beds all night, and in the morning even hotter air hits our faces. We spend all weekends in the pools. The only suitable clothing is wet swimwear. But with heavy woolen skirts and Eliza’s lace-up boots, I can’t help it. And then there are thousands of kilowatts of lighting! I’m just melting! ”

* Review of the film from The New York Times: “Miss Hepburn has a unique sensitivity and phenomenal comic acting talent (necessary for such a role) … She is strikingly beautiful and funny in the witty scene in Ascot, calm and noble at the ball at the embassy and incredible touching in the last scenes, where she so longs for true love. ”

* Review from The New Yorker: “Her acting and personal data helped make Eliza completely different, and no less attractive and interesting than she was with Miss Andrews.”

* In 1994, a meticulously restored and re-recorded / digital recording of My Fair Lady, featuring Audrey’s performance, was released. Unfortunately, apart from two numbers, the rest of the records were destroyed during a fire in the WB warehouses …

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (56.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.20:1

Audio
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (96kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (96kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
Japanese: Dolby Digital Mono

Subtitles
English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish.