Rating: 
Summary: Better seen than read, I suppose
Review: So there is a lot of wit and witticism here. Ho hum. Tim Allen is witty; his books aren't classics. The plot, too, is rather ho-hum. What makes this work a classic is the interaction between subtle characters, and what makes it a great play also makes it difficult to relate to on the page. An explanation. In my opinion, the best stage plays often don't make very good reads. They leave a lot of room for an actor or actresses' interpretation, and respect that a few words said(acted) properly on a stage are more effective than lots of words. None of us talk like the characters in a novel, yet they must talk like that for us to understand them: all we have are their words. Thus I think it is with this play. Especially in the final act, which seems to be the most important (and what raises this above the level of, say, the Princess Diaries) I have a hard time following the movement of the characters and the dialogue. Not a hard time making sense of it, not anything that straightforward, but a hard time following it intuitively, understanding the progression and movement of Eliza and Henry from one page to the next. As a sometime-actor, this intrigues me. As a reader, it leaves me unsatisfied, wanting to see it done: see how it flows and makes sense. The part that reads best is Eliza's father: he's a delightful embodiment of Nietzchian ethics and speeches more than he talks. He's fun and pretty quotable. Just a note: I don't think this is exactly based upon the Greek legend of Pygmalion and Galatea. It seems more likely to me that Shaw had the idea, wrote the play, looked for a title, and found it in mythology. I hope to see it performed someday.
Rating: 
Summary: Good... but I enjoyed My Fair Lady more
Review: This book is genius of course, but I am one of those ridiculously romantic type people who wishes the end would have turned out differently... thats why I like the movie My Fair Lady slightly more than the original book. You'll see what I mean, if you get this book.
Rating:
Summary: My Fair Lady without the music.
Review: You already know the story. However to make this independent review Windy Hiller [Major Barbara (1941) ASIN: 6302969840] Plays a Cockney flower seller. Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard) bets that he can pass her off as a duchess in six months by adjusting her speech pattern. It works but I miss the music. This is a screen adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play just like Major Barbara.
Rating: 
Summary: Pygmalion - the original "My Fair lady"
Review: Unlike its later (almost talking word-for-word) remake "My Fair Lady", Pygmalion is NOT a musical, and it is not in color. That said, everything about it is wonderful, and it is just as enjoyable as the remake. Leslie Howard is totally believable as the self-centered (and yet likeable) Higgins, and Wendy Hiller is the best Eliza of all. She brings an unsurpassed focus and comic intensity to the role - you can see the intelligence in her eyes. The DVD format does justice to the good picture quality.
Rating:
Summary: This is the edition to own
Review: The Criterion/Home Vision edition of this wonderful film is definitely the one to own. It is taken from a pristine print and the sound quality is amazingly vibrant for a film that is over sixty years old. The other available versions are all from worn public domain prints that are better left sight unseen and prove the old truism "you get what you pay for." I have always been a fan of Leslie Howard: his delightfully cynical Higgins was no surprise. The real revelation for me was Wendy Hiller as Eliza. I was previously primarily familiar with her later roles, such as Paul Scofield's wife in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. She is absolutely luminous in this film. If you are a fan of MY FAIR LADY, this is a must-have motion picture.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect...
Review: This play is absolutely marvelous. It is about a girl from the English gutter who dares to ask a wealthy man she met on the street to teach her how to speak properly. She goes through a painful process of relearning, but then finally one day, she goes to talk to some guests. This is probably the funniest parts in the book, for she says the most absurd things you ever heard. Then after a while, she goes to a garden party where she is exactly the opposite of what she was in the previous scene. People are amazed at her clarity in speech, and she also looks and acts like a queen. But then they think she is a fraud, and they start believing she really is of royal blood. It ends with her loving her teacher, but she never marries him. So it ends hanging, but it makes so much sense that is does not seem that way. The play is so funny, that if nothing else will make you laugh, this will. The play itself is short, but is brimming with satire and sarcasm. I myself read it few years ago at the age of 9 or 10, so I think that any child will also enjoy it. Enjoy! Cheers!!! : )
Rating:
Summary: Leslie Howard is One of the Greats
Review: Shaw's play is great, but Leslie Howard as Henry Higgins is pure genius. It is such a shame that he died young, because he was the equal of any of his british peers. Fans of My Fair Lady should see this to discover how musical the play was in its original form.
Rating: 
Summary: caveat emptor
Review: Thinking that "Pygmalion" was public domain and that the bargain-basement price for the VHS tape was therefore understandable, I went ahead and purchased the least expensive version. Alas! It's recorded in EP (extended play) mode. The visuals are fuzzy, the sound is muffled, the tracking is awful. Factor in the postage, and what appeared to be a swan is a costly ugly duckling. This is one Eliza that gets tossed in the trash heap.
Rating:
Summary: Holds Up Astoundingly Well! See It!
Review: Just in case you didn't know it, both Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller were heavy weight British acting talents. Howard was even a major star in American movies and is mainly remembered for playing Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With The Wind." This is a very different role for him from that role. Wilkes and Hiller were both perfect for the roles of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins, the cockney flower girl who is tutored by the linguistics expert to turn her into a lady. Many people don't like watching the original play because it doesn't end happily with the two together as it does in its musical version, "My Fair Lady." However, the filmmaker saw the writing on the wall here, even before the musical came out, and makes one change only to the Bernard Shaw play, that ending. So here too we have the happy ending. This is as fresh and perfect as the day it was made. Every word of dialogue counts and is perfect in this satire of the British class system. Every character is superb and I especially loved every moment Alfred Doolittle, the epitome of the lower classes kicked into the middle class, was onscreen. Hubby watched it with me and remarked several times, "I can't believe how good this is." Frankly, even I was surprised that this black and white film from the 1930s, set then as well, is in no need of a remake whatsoever. A true classic that no one should miss.
Rating:
Summary: Pygmailion
Review: First of all, this is not a review of the play, which is brilliant. My rating is solely based on the quality of the DVD, which I found to be very disappointing.
Criterion has made a name for itself by distributing good if not excellent quality versions of movies on DVD. Having said that, I would like to warn people that the audio quality of this DVD is an absolute disaster. I returned the first DVD thinking the reason the audio wouldn't play was because I received a bad disk. However, the replacement Amazon sent was just the same. If you purchase this DVD, you might be lucky enough to get it to work, but I think I can safely say that you will be very disappointed in the audio of this DVD. Having looked at the reviews of this movie, I find it annoying that so many of them are based on the VHS tape version. (I suppose that when you click on 'See all customers reviews' it scans the entire database giving you everything related to this play.) This seems to be a disservice to someone looking for the quality of the media not the quality of the play.
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