Pygmalion (1938)

Directed by Anthony Asquith and lead actor Leslie Howard, this original screen version of the George Bernard Shaw play that was later made into the better known musical, and Academy Award winning Best Picture My Fair Lady (1964)  (with Rex Harrison & Audrey Hepburn), features Howard (Berkeley Square (1933)) in the role of the tremendously self confident linguist Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller in the role of the cockney voiced street flower vendor Eliza Doolittle, whom he transforms into a proper lady. W.P. Lipscomb, Cecil Lewis, and Ian Dalrymple (The Citadel (1938)) were among those who added to Shaw's scenario & dialogue; these four shared the Best Screenplay Oscar for their work on this essential comedy drama. This film was nominated for Best Picture of the year by the Academy; Howard (his last) and Hiller (her first) also received Oscar nominations for their lead acting performances. Wilfrid Lawson plays (a much older than his 38 years character) Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's "philosopher" & largely absent father, Marie Lohr plays Higgins's mother, Scott Sunderland plays Higgins's acquaintance Colonel Pickering, Jean Cadell plays Higgins's maid Mrs. Pearce, and David Tree plays Freddy Eynsford-Hill, the gentleman who's so infatuated with the "new" Eliza that he wants to marry her.

Having seen the latter film first, one which I count among my top 10 favorite movies of all time, I can say that this one is every bit its equal. In fact, more screen time is given to Hiller's Eliza's education & transformation, hence it is much more believable in this original, and Howard plays Higgins just as pompously as Harrison later did (to win his Best Actor statuette). Plus, though Lawson's Alfred is not as gregarious as Stanley Holloway's in the musical adaptation, his performance is just as solid and humorously played.

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