History Film / MyFairLady

[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/My_Fair_Lady_poster_7599.jpg]]

->"''You see, Mrs. Higgins, apart from the things one can pick up,\\
the difference between a Lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves\\
but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins\\
because he always treats me as a flower girl and always will,\\
but, I know I shall always be a lady to Colonel Pickering because\\
he always treats me as a lady and always will.''"

''My Fair Lady'' is a 1964 musical film from Creator/WarnerBros, adapted from [[Theatre/MyFairLady the popular play]] by the same name. It was directed by Creator/GeorgeCukor and stars Creator/AudreyHepburn as Eliza Doolittle and Creator/RexHarrison as Henry Higgins.

!!This work provides examples of:

* MeaningfulName: A name like Doolittle totally makes sense for someone like Eliza's father. Eliza herself, [[UnfortunateNames on the other hand]]...

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: About 20 minutes before the end of the film, Col. Pickering offers to go off and find the missing Eliza. He exits the library set -- and is never seen in the movie again.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Higgins might experiment on the desperate and vulnerable for the sake of his own amusement, but Zoltan -- a hatchet man who likes to mix with socialites -- is low even for him.

%% * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Henry. Maybe there's some gold in there somewhere, but you'd be hard pressed to find it.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: At no point in the movie do the main characters share a hug or kiss which goes along with the idea of being no more than PlatonicLifePartners.

It was a critical and commercial hit, and received many accolades, including the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture.

* ContinuitySnarl: The horse race scene is set at Royal Ascot, which is held in June. However, the day after the embassy ball, there are bare trees when Higgins sings "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face". If the ball was six weeks later, as stated in the dialogue, it would be August, rather than autumn or winter.

* AdaptationDeviation: [[AvertedTrope Not enough, really.]] One peculiarity about the film is how it uses the old stage directions, even the [[MediumAwareness meta]] jokes that don't work in a movie setting. Instances of this include Higgins doing a short jig at the horse race -- a CallBack to "I Could Have Danced All Night" -- but without the knowing laughter of a live audience, he merely looks a like a lunatic. He also sets a teacup on his hat, a gesture which would be funny on-stage, but looks ''really'' odd in this context.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Freddy is a decent suitor who fell in love with Eliza at the ball but she doesn't harbor the same feelings for him and eventually drops him by the end to platonically reunite with Higgins.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Freddy, in what would be considered stalking by today's terms.

* SixtiesHair: Eliza, after haer makeover, has her sporting [[https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f3/88/69/f388697d289e935d4f06548072d8db0c.jpg a 1960s take]] on [[https://www.hairfinder.com/hairstyles12/vintagehairstyles.htm late Edwardian coiffures]], especially at the Embassy Ball.

* HeManWomanHater: Henry is very misogynistic, though he insists he's not. In fact, he's got two whole songs dedicated to him saying how much he dislikes women ("A Hymn to Him" and "An Ordinary Man"). The end of the play may have helped him get over it (at the very least, he bonds with and learns to respect Eliza), though it's up to viewer interpretation.

* {{Adorkable}}: Freddy is positively smitten with Eliza's bad social graces.

* MeaningfulEcho: Eliza has her first big breakthrough in pronunciation with the phrase "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain," leading directly into the song, "The Rain in Spain". At the story's climax, as she sings "Without You" she tells Higgins: "And there still will be rain on that plane down in Spain / Even that will remain without you."

* BaitAndSwitch: Higgins and Pickering are too stuffed to finish the last cake tart. Not to worry, says Higgins; he knows somebody who ''loves'' these. He marches right past a famished Eliza to feed it to a parrot.

* DeconfirmedBachelor: Henry Higgins embodies this trope, having said 'So here I am, a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain so' and so much more. The only hang up is whether he can actually be considered deconfirmed by the end. However, most people agree he had at least befriended and came to care about Eliza by the end. Since he is such an extreme case that, by his own admission, he'd never even had a female friend before, this could still be enough of an about face to qualify him.

* {{Adorkable}}: Freddy gets positively randy over Eliza's bad social graces.

* SlapSlapKiss: Eliza and Henry's relationship...and if the play is to be believed, no doubt this would have carried on.

* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion[=/=]LastSecondWordSwap: In "Without You"

* BlessedWithSuck: Alfred's windfall is a double-edged sword, as he's now forced to enter into legal marriage with "Mrs." Dolittle. As if 'avin' to act like a bloomin' gentleman weren't enough already.

* FictionalHoliday: In Eliza's dream ("Just You Wait"), the King is so enraptured by her voice that he declares Eliza Dolittle Day.

* MysteriousMiddleInitial: Alfred P. Dolittle.

* SpringtimeForHitler: Higgins sarcastically writing a letter of recommendation for Alfred Dolittle, calling him "one of the original moralists in England." An American philanthropist dies and bequeaths a fortune to Alfie to advocate for moral reform.

* CurseCutShort:
** While singing "Without You", Eliza nearly tells Higgins he can go to Hell -- but replaces it with "Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire" (echoing Higgins' speech exercise from earlier).
** [[DoggedNiceGuy Freddy]] of all people does it during his first song when he is just about to quote Eliza's PrecisionFStrike in song when Mrs Pearce opens the door.

* LastSecondWordSwap:

* AdaptationDecay: [[AvertedTrope Not enough, really.]] One peculiarity about the film is how it uses the old stage directions, even the [[MediumAwareness meta]] jokes that don't work in a movie setting. Instances of this include Higgins doing a short jig at the horse race -- a CallBack to "I Could Have Danced All Night" -- but without the knowing laughter of a live audience, he merely looks a like a lunatic. He also sets a teacup on his hat, a gesture which would be funny on-stage, but looks ''really'' odd in this context.

* DrJerk: Henry Higgins himself, though he's [[NotThatKindOfDoctor technically a professor of linguistics and not a doctor per se]].

* IWantSong: Eliza's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?": she wants a cozy warm room, a comfy chair, and lots of chocolate.
* IUhYouToo: Higgins finally confesses to Eliza that he's going to miss her... then quickly follows it up by saying Pickering misses her, too.

%% * PygmalionPlot: Duh

%% * RomanticFalseLead: Freddy.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: Higgins and Pickering are too stuffed to finish the last cake tart. Not to worry, says Higgins; he knows somebody who ''loves'' these. He marches right past a famished Eliza to feed it to a parrot.