Movies

Love, love, love it. Basically, cockney-accented woman named Eliza Doolittle in post-Edwardian England gets taught proper pronunciation by self-absorbed language professor. Everything feel so original - the plot, the characters, the dialogue. The musical numbers are great. The period is great. The Dickens-like characters are great. Audrey Hepburn is great. Its all so damned wonderful.

There have been numerous recordings of this musical from the days of Julie Andrews through Kiri te Kanawa and many others. But Marni Nixon's singing in the film is superb. Audrey Hepburn looks the part. Rex Harrison and Stanley Holloway leave their defining performances of Higgins and Doolittle for us to enjoy, the supporting cast are fine - Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Mona Washbourne, Theodore Bikel and the incomparable Wilfred Hyde-White. Cecil Beaton's designs bring the screen to life and in the newly restored version it looks 'loverly'. One of the best musicals ever, certainly along with West Side Story and Oliver! the cream of the 1960s.