My Fair Lady is a musical classic that I wasn’t totally enamored with but can appreciate Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison along with the costumes and music choreography.
My Fair Lady
(1964)
Genre(s): Musical, Comedy
Paramount | G – 172 min. – $39.99 | May 25, 2021
Date Published: 05/26/2021 | Author: The Movieman
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Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: The screen captures in this review were taken from a Blu-ray disc
and does not represent the quality of the 4K transfer.
THE MOVIE — 3½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins (REX HARRISON) is so sure of his abilities that he takes it upon himself to transform a Cockney working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society. His subject turns out to be the lovely Eliza Doolittle (AUDREY HEPBURN), who agrees to speech lessons to improve her job prospects. Higgins and Eliza clash, then form an unlikely bond — one that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor (JEREMY BRETT). Quick Hit Review: My Fair Lady is by most is considered a classic and apparently a very close adaptation to the legendary stage play. Personally, and speaking as someone who isn’t well versed with musicals, while I appreciate the wonderful performances by the amazing Audrey Hepburn and great Rex Harrison, both their characters working well off of one another, I can’t say I was entirely enamored with the film itself. The music isn’t bad but not very memorable and it does take time to really get into things though it is quite lengthy at close to three hours; nothing against long films as some of my favorites (Apocalypse Now, Godfather: Part II and Heat are favorites), but does take a bit of patience especially if musicals aren’t generally your thing. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4¼/5 |
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This two-disc set comes with a semi-glossy slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The movie is only on the 4K Ultra HD disc while bonus features are only on the Blu-ray disc. Special Features:
Galleries:
Trailers:
Theatrical Featurettes:
Awards:
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VIDEO – 5/5 |
| Paramount releases My Fair Lady onto 4K Ultra HD with the video taken from an 8K scan of the original 65mm elements. I have to assume this is the same transfer that was released on Blu-ray a few years back (in fact I’m almost positive it is), but upgraded to 4K. Whatever the case, the picture does look fantastic with sharp detail throughout (for both the close-ups and in the background) and colors are bright with some aid from the HDR. There were no obvious signs of dirt, specs, scratches or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 5/5 |
| The disc comes with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 which is the exact same as the 2015 Blu-ray release. But even so, this lossless track founds fantastic. As a musical, all those numbers come out of every channel with nice depth while dialogue comes through the center speaker with clear dialogue levels. |
OVERALL – 4/5 |
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Overall, My Fair Lady is a musical classic that I wasn’t totally enamored with but can appreciate Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison along with the costumes and music choreography. The 4K presentation looks great and has a good selection of previously released bonus material. |