MY FAIR LADY 4K restoration completed! Dec. 9th release announced (Post #299) (1 Viewer)

[Reed Grele]

Thanks for all the scans David. That was a lot of work.


If you weren't so far away, I'd invite you down to CT for the inevitable MFL party when it's released on BD in all its restored glory. This will surely be the home video event of the year!

 

[Charles Smith]

I don't believe we've even discussed whether we're coming in our London street rags or our Ascot garb.

 

[cinerama10]

Although Nixon is certainly technically proficient, I find her tone, expressiveness, and overall artistry leave a lot to be desired, especially for the very emotional role of Eliza. IMHO, her singing is one of the weakest links in the film. (And it doesn't help that that same voice is in West Side Story and The King and I coming out of different, though each lovely in its own way, mouths.)

I am sure that many other people would disagree with you. Marnie Nixon also both sang and appeared as a nun in THE SOUND OF MUSIC film. Did she act and sing in other films? Marnie's voice was superb in K&I and WSS as well as MFL. A guess that you prefer a non singer like Rex Harrison,whose voice should have been dubbed in MFL.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Thanks for all the scans David. That was a lot of work.


If you weren't so far away, I'd invite you down to CT for the inevitable MFL party when it's released on BD in all its restored glory. This will surely be the home video event of the year!

It's only a 12 hour drive from my brother's place in Michigan!

 

[Robert Harris]

I am sure that many other people would disagree with you. Marnie Nixon also both sang and appeared as a nun in THE SOUND OF MUSIC film. Did she act and sing in other films? Marnie's voice was superb in K&I and WSS as well as MFL. A guess that you prefer a non singer like Rex Harrison,whose voice should have been dubbed in MFL.

I'm on the disagree list. As to Mr. Harrison, his performance is iconic.

RAH

 

[Reed Grele]

It's only a 12 hour drive from my brother's place in Michigan!

Then come on, David! Move your bloomin' arse!

 

[Reed Grele]

I don't believe we've even discussed whether we're coming in our London street rags or our Ascot garb.

How poignant it will be on that inevitable night, when everyone shows up on my door in tears and rags!

 

[davidmatychuk]

How poignant it will be on that inevitable night, when everyone shows up on my door in tears and rags!

Why, what's it going for on Amazon now?

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Dub Rex Harrison? Pigs will fly .... his performance is as good (albeit different) as it is on the original mono broadway cast LP.

The rolw was written taking his accomplishments and limitations in mind .. and everyone else has to be compared to him!

And David, you're welcome any time for a big-screen viewing here in Woodend in the beautiful Macedon Ranges of Victoria, Australia!

 

[Nick*Z]

Dubbing Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady is akin to painting a thick black moustache on the Mona Lisa. Harrison is a consummate actor and a great actor, not a great singer, should always play Higgins. Harrison is flamboyant and exuberant. When he bellows, "Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters....condemned by every syllable she utters" the rafters shake and the ground quakes. Best line for Harrison is, "If you refuse, you shall be the most ungrateful, wicked girl, and the angels will weep for you." Delicious dialogue, delectable talent. Wouldn't change a thing. Harrison is brilliant. Full stop and period!

 

[MatthewA]

Have they ever tried casting the role on stage with a more legitimate singer, and has it ever really worked?

 

[Charles Smith]

I wonder. In the score, Higgins' music is written out in full melody just like everyone else's (at least the first couple of songs are, which I just checked because I wasn't sure), and there are no instructions regarding it one way or the other.


I've seen a few productions over the years, large and small, and for the life of me can't remember whether those actors followed the Rex Harrison style. I suspect they did, and that the tradition is as unthinkingly carried on as, say, portraying the King of Siam with no hair.


(Which BTW Mr. Harrison did not, prior to Mr. Brynner taking the role.)

 

[Rick Thompson]

Have they ever tried casting the role on stage with a more legitimate singer, and has it ever really worked?

The 20th Anniversary production starred Ian Richardson as Higgins, and he was a much, repeat much, better singer than Harrison. The show worked beautifully

I've seen a few productions over the years, large and small, and for the life of me can't remember whether those actors followed the Rex Harrison style. I suspect they did, and that the tradition is as unthinkingly carried on as, say, portraying the King of Siam with no hair.

Aside from the revivals with Brynner, the major productions didn't have the King bald -- both Darren McGavin in 1964 and Lou Diamond Phillips in 1996 kept their hair. Brynner's bald head, while visually powerful, is historically and culturally incorrect for Thailand, where hair represents power.

 

[Charles Smith]

Glad to hear that about McGavin and Phillips.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I saw MFL on stage with Richard E. Grant as HIggins and he very much 'spoke' the role a la Harrison.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I saw MFL on stage with Richard E. Grant as HIggins and he very much 'spoke' the role a la Harrison.

I saw it with Anthony Warlow in 1996, and it was fascinating to have the role played by a genuine singing talent.

 

[Malcolm Bmoor]

The definitive boook about Rex Harrison is by Patrick Garland about the final time he played Higgins on tour and in NY. It would be an acute exaggeration to claim that he emerges as even faintly likeable. He had no respect for anything or anybody else, especially Eliza, in the show and referred to it as F*** The Music. One of his more quotable moments was complaining to Fritz Aller, the MD, that he needed to avoid his conducting movements being visible as they were distracting.


As we all know by now, the style of Higgins' 'songs' was an emergency measure invented to combat Mr Harrison's lack of ability, interest and cooperation. But, like nearly everyone else, it seems so much part of the show that I shudder when anyone attempts more than a cursory, occasional expansion into melody.


I can't claim to have met him but was in awe to find myself standing a few feet away in 1970 when he was being shown around an RSC stage.

 

[Robin9]

The definitive boook about Rex Harrison is by Patrick Garland about the final time he played Higgins on tour and in NY. It would be an acute exaggeration to claim that he emerges as even faintly likeable. He had no respect for anything or anybody else, especially Eliza, in the show and referred to it as F*** The Music. One of his more quotable moments was complaining to Fritz Aller, the MD, that he needed to avoid his conducting movements being visible as they were distracting.


As we all know by now, the style of Higgins' 'songs' was an emergency measure invented to combat Mr Harrison's lack of ability, interest and cooperation. But, like nearly everyone else, it seems so much part of the show that I shudder when anyone attempts more than a cursory, occasional expansion into melody.


I can't claim to have met him but was in awe to find myself standing a few feet away in 1970 when he was being shown around an RSC stage.

It is well-established that Rex Harrison was not the most lovable of men. However your post needs to balanced by acknowledging that Alan J. Lerner always spoke of Rex Harrison with great respect. I believe Julie Andrews has never said anything bad about him.

 

[MatthewA]

The definitive boook about Rex Harrison is by Patrick Garland about the final time he played Higgins on tour and in NY. It would be an acute exaggeration to claim that he emerges as even faintly likeable. He had no respect for anything or anybody else, especially Eliza, in the show and referred to it as F*** The Music. One of his more quotable moments was complaining to Fritz Aller, the MD, that he needed to avoid his conducting movements being visible as they were distracting.


As we all know by now, the style of Higgins' 'songs' was an emergency measure invented to combat Mr Harrison's lack of ability, interest and cooperation. But, like nearly everyone else, it seems so much part of the show that I shudder when anyone attempts more than a cursory, occasional expansion into melody.


I can't claim to have met him but was in awe to find myself standing a few feet away in 1970 when he was being shown around an RSC stage.

He and Robert Preston inadvertently became two of the unacknowledged pioneers of rap.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

Harrison is brilliant. Full stop and period!

I don't like this.