PYGMALION
UK, 1938, 96 minutes, Black and white.
Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr.
Directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard.
This is one of George Bernard Shaw’s best known and best liked comedies. This film version received his approval and was directed by Hungarian director Gabriel Pascal. Pascal was given the rights by Shaw to film a number of his films and after Pygmalion he went on to Major Barbara released in 1941. During the war he made plans for the filming of Caesar and Cleopatra . At the end of the war this was filmed at great expense but was not a critical success. Pascal then found it difficult to raise money to film Shaw’s plays. The only other film he made was American financed and released in 1951 - a version of Androcles and the Lion.
However with Pygmalion, Pascal worked with Leslie Howard who starred as Professor Higgins. The combination of Howard and Pascal meant an excellent film. Leslie Howard Incarnates Professor Higgins as did Rex Harrison in the musical version, My Fair Lady. Wendy Hiller is excellent as Eliza Doolittle and won an Oscar nomination. The themes of Pygmalion are human as well as social and particularly English. It was so popular that the adaptors In making My Fair Lady knew that they had a winner and drew on the richness of Shaw’s play very well.
Major Barbara, on the other hand, was not such a popular play. In it Shaw indulged some of his capacity for preaching and for rhetoric. It also had a Salvation Army setting which did not always get Shaw’s full sympathy. Once again Wendy Hiller is the heroine and gives an excellent performance which makes the film worth seeing. Rex Harrison is his usual style as the leading man, There is interesting supporting performance by such people as Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr and Robert Morley. Major Barbara is interesting mainly for those who are interested in George Bernard Shaw. It has not lasted so well over the decades.
1. How enjoyable a film after so many decades? Is its fame justified? Does it seem a classic? The basic play? The derivation of My Fair Lady as a compliment to the original?
2. Comment on the film's emphasis on George Bernard Shaw himself?
3. How is this film a typical Shavian parable? Shaw’s explanation of the old myth? The elaborate working out of the myth in England? Was this convincing?
4. Does the film seem a film of the 1930s, black and white photography, the sets, the acting style? Comment on its use of collages, the editing of various sequences for the passing of time.
5. How evident was it that the film was based on a play? Structure, characterisations, wit and dialogue? Was the film sufficiently opened out from the confines of the stage?
6. How enjoyable and well did the film explore the themes of man and woman, power, love, success, feelings, achievement?
7. In its portrayal of characters, how did the film portray true humanity, as contrasting with posers?
8. How interesting a character is Professor Higgins? as portrayed by Leslie Howard, his pomposity, his self-opiniatedness, his true skills, his response to the challenge, his heartlessness and driving Eliza, the effect of success? His anti-women attitudes? His self-centredness? His being tested? His attitude towards Eliza’s being tested? His callousness being softened? Did he deserve to have Eliza come back to him at the end? What insight into the arrogant male type did this portrayal of Professor Higgins give?
9. How did Eliza contrast with him? Wendy Hiller's style? Her portrayal of a flower girl and its insight into this kind of character? The growing ambitions, the comedy of the bath and yet its social comment? Her emphasis on being a good girl? Her willingness to learn, the hard work in learning, the change in her style and personality, her coming alive, her deep feelings? Her graciousness and the success of the ball? Her feelings in being rejected and disregarded? Her sadness at her leaving? The support of Mrs Higgins? What stance did she take for her return to Henry Higgins? Was her return justified? Her future with Higgins? What insight into a woman did this portrayal give?
10. Colonel Pickering, as a contrast with Higgins? As a gentleman who helped Eliza?
11.The attractiveness of Mrs Higgins helping Elisa at the afternoon tea, as a support for Elisa when she left Higgins, her influence on her son?
12.The satire on the Eynesford Hills? At Covent garden, the afternoon tea, Freddie’s romantic devotion?
13.The satire on Karpathy? The fact that he was deceived? The social climber and the exposer o£ scandals?
14.How much satire was there in the presentation of Doolittle? His amorality? His philosophy of life? The humour of his inheritance? His marriage to Eliza’s stepmother? What satire on the working class did Shaw intend?
15.How important were various scenes for dramatic growth in the film and its impact on the audiences: Covent garden, the lessons, the visit to Mrs Higgins and the famous using of the word bloody, the ball, the final conflict?
16.Does the film deserve to be considered a classic?
