A Few Words About A few words about...™ My Fair Lady (Take Two) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

Another musical film that needs a remake.

And who might you suggest would take the place of Rex Harrison? An indelible, iconoclastic and irreplaceable performance for the ages.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Another musical film that needs a remake.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

 

[dpippel]

And who might you suggest would take the place of Rex Harrison? An indelible, iconoclastic and irreplaceable performance for the ages.

Robert Downey Jr.? Oh, wait...

 

[Stephen_J_H]

HDR? HDR? We don‘t need no stinking HDR. With all of the element problems, we were thrilled to replicate the look and textures in SDR.

Extremely problematic elements, with 21 minutes derived from b/w.

Sigh. Some people just don't understand that films of a certain vintage don't need to be gussied up with HDR, not to mention the issues you had with this particular film.

 

[PMF]

Sigh. Some people just don't understand that films of a certain vintage don't need to be gussied up with HDR, not to mention the issues you had with this particular film.

Or, to expand upon an HDR analogy offered by RAH, the whiff and wave of a Vermouth cap need not be applied when dealing with a good glass of Port.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

A remake would be GREAT ... just as long as Rex was still available. And this time around, how about giving Julie the nod.

 

[SFMike]

Sadly the only way a re-make at this time would be considered would be to make the show more racially diverse regardless of how that effected the actual story's historical setting.

 

[JPCinema]

and the original ending as it was in the recent Broadway production. Eliza leaves Henry! In the Lincoln Center production, Eliza walks out...off the the stage and out of the theater leaving chauvinistic Henry to get his own blasted slippers for the rest of his life. There was an immediate standing ovation and cheers as Eliza walked off stage and out of the theater.

 

[Jack P]

That was *not* the "original" ending. The ending of Shaw's play has nothing to do with the ending of "My Fair Lady" the musical (which itself was simply taking the ending of the 1938 film version of "Pygmalion"). I was glad I learned about this change so I could "walk out" on that revival without ever having to see it.

 

[Mike Frezon]

and the original ending as it was in the recent Broadway production. Eliza leaves Henry! In the Lincoln Center production, Eliza walks out...off the the stage and out of the theater leaving chauvinistic Henry to get his own blasted slippers for the rest of his life. There was an immediate standing ovation and cheers as Eliza walked off stage and out of the theater.

I've always hated the ending of MFL.

I'd be among those standing and applauding at that version of the ending.

 

[octobercountry]

"I've always hated the ending of MFL.

I'd be among those standing and applauding at that version of the ending."

Ha, we talked about that earlier in this thread, didn't we.... In Shaw's mind, the story ended with Eliza marrying Freddy and the two of them opening a shop together. After a few misadventures (seeing that they didn't know how to run a business), they got their act together and had a successful shop and a successful marriage. Yep, I like that ending!

 

[OliverK]

Sigh. Some people just don't understand that films of a certain vintage don't need to be gussied up with HDR, not to mention the issues you had with this particular film.

No matter what we say, if it gets released it will be with HDR.

If we're lucky it will be the kind of HDR that is so unobstrusive that it mostly looks like SDR with a bigger color space and higher bit depth and that will be fine with me.
We have had a few recent examples of that and it looks as if studios have noticed that older movies shot on film do not have to look like one of today's superhero extravaganzas - we already have more than enough of those.

 

[Jack P]

"I've always hated the ending of MFL.

I'd be among those standing and applauding at that version of the ending."

Ha, we talked about that earlier in this thread, didn't we.... In Shaw's mind, the story ended with Eliza marrying Freddy and the two of them opening a shop together. After a few misadventures (seeing that they didn't know how to run a business), they got their act together and had a successful shop and a successful marriage. Yep, I like that ending!

It's not what Lerner's vision was and he and Loewe were the ones who made it a success of the musical theater. If you want that ending, then go see a production of "Pygmalion." It's because MFL went in a different direction that it became a success and it doesn't need to be tampered with.

I absolutely despise this trend of redoing shows that were classics. This leaves us with "revivals" loaded with bad anachronisms like the 1995 "Damn Yankees", or the idiocy of the 2010 "Promises Promises" changing the setting from late 60s to early 60s just to cash in on "Mad Men" even though the music is of a distinct sound that says 1968 and not 1962. WHen it comes to the greatest musical of the American theater, I want it left alone. If Eliza just ups and walks out again then what the hell was the whole point of "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face?" You might as well just end the show when she "walks out" after "Without You".

Others may applaud. I'd be booing and blowing razberries and demanding my money back for a wasted evening of my life.

 

[Garysb]

Interesting article. How Pygmalion went from feminist manifesto to "chick flick."

How Pygmalion went from feminist manifesto to chick flick

Millions of people know the George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion, thanks to its movie adaptation, My Fair Lady. But the Hollywood version could never have happened without a change that Shaw hated — a happy ending.

www.pri.org

 

[octobercountry]

" I absolutely despise this trend of redoing shows that were classics."

Oh, I don't know----just because a show is altered in a new production, doesn't mean the original ceases to exist. Look at "Show Boat"---an undoubted classic, but has there EVER been a more revised show than this? Every time it is produced, whether on the stage or on film, it has undergone massive revisions.

 

[JPCinema]

I've always hated the ending of MFL.

I'd be among those standing and applauding at that version of the ending.

I was standing and applauding. If I watch the film, I have turn it off before the end.

 

[Paul Rossen]

and the original ending as it was in the recent Broadway production. Eliza leaves Henry! In the Lincoln Center production, Eliza walks out...off the the stage and out of the theater leaving chauvinistic Henry to get his own blasted slippers for the rest of his life. There was an immediate standing ovation and cheers as Eliza walked off stage and out of the theater.

At the performance I attended there was a gasp. I was completely surprised as was my wife. We thoroughly enjoyed this production. I'm afraid that the Lincoln Center productions of South Pacific, The King and I and MFL will never be duplicated.

 

[Jack P]

" I absolutely despise this trend of redoing shows that were classics."

Oh, I don't know----just because a show is altered in a new production, doesn't mean the original ceases to exist. Look at "Show Boat"---an undoubted classic, but has there EVER been a more revised show than this? Every time it is produced, whether on the stage or on film, it has undergone massive revisions.

To which I would note that the version of "Show Boat" that took the greatest license with its structure and ending, the MGM-1951 version is regarded as the least of all the productions.

Restoring a couplet at the end of "You Did It" or dropping the final reprise of "With A Little Bit of Luck" is one thing. Fundamentally changing the ending and rendering irrelevant everything else that has happened leading up to it is another.

 

[Paul Rossen]

To which I would note that the version of "Show Boat" that took the greatest license with its structure and ending, the MGM-1951 version is regarded as the least of all the productions.

Restoring a couplet at the end of "You Did It" or dropping the final reprise of "With A Little Bit of Luck" is one thing. Fundamentally changing the ending and rendering irrelevant everything else that has happened leading up to it is another.

The ending of the MFL Lincoln Center production did in fact ring true to everything that preceded it. Not an expert in what GBS wanted for his Eliza Dolittle but as personified by
Laura Benati at the performance I saw she was/is a completely independent and head strong in knowing what she wants(ed) in life and it wasn't Henry Higgins...

 

[Jack P]

Sounds like the part was terribly miscast then.

I'm glad I saved my money.