Pygmalion Movies
Pygmalion Movies
The subject of educators in my last essay brought to mind the classic Pygmalion story and the many movies that have been made which utilize its basic elements – a confident demanding male teacher takes on a less knowledgeable female student whom he transforms dramatically by improving the pupil’s capabilities. The resultant newly learned person is unrecognizable to their original self and since she was remade in the image of her (almost God-like) creator the teacher falls in love with his former student.
Made on Broadway (1933) – Robert Montgomery plays a spin doctor (before the term was coined) for New York’s rich and famous who takes a suicidal woman (Sally Eilers) that was anonymous in her previous life such that he’s able to suggest a new name for her and – by upgrading her appearance wardrobe and education – create a Broadway persona for her over the span of several weeks. But Eilers’s character is ungrateful to Montgomery who (naturally) has fallen in love with her.
Pygmalion (1938) – this original English-language version of George Bernard Shaw’s play is a must-see even if (like me) you love Alan Jay Lerner’s better known musical adaptation My Fair Lady (1964) which (as you probably know) won the Academy’s top prize as Best Picture of the Year among seven other Oscars out of twelve nominations. Leslie Howard plays the pompous linguist Professor Henry Higgins in this one opposite Wendy Hiller’s cockney voiced street flower vendor Eliza Doolittle whom he transforms into a proper lady. Without songs more screen time is given to Eliza’s education; hence her transformation is more believable. Though Wilfrid Lawson doesn’t play Eliza’s largely absent "natural born philosopher" father as gregariously as Stanley Holloway does in the musical his performance is just as solid and humorously played. Shaw shared his Oscar (from his only nomination) with three other writers; the film Howard (his second and last Best Actor nomination) and Hiller (her only Best Actress nom; her first of three career acting nominations) were also recognized.
Dona Barbara (1943) – Maria Felix plays the title role in this Latin American melodrama from Fernando de Fuentes that’s based on the Romulo Gallegos novel but the Pygmalion-like story involves the landowner – Santos Luzardo (Julian Soler) – that challenges her corrupt dominance of the region and her daughter Marisela (Maria Elena Marques) by another man (Andres Soler). For her own protection Luzardo takes Marisela and her father in to live in his home where he begins her education. Her speech improves and slowly their relationship grows deeper though it remains platonic.
Kitty (1945) – Ray Milland plays the impoverished Sir Hugh Marcy who takes the cockney-accented Paulette Goddard (in the title role) out of the streets of London to make her a Lady teaching her how to serve tea and with the help of his aunt (Constance Collier) to deftly use a fan; she becomes a Duchess that’s also later engaged to an Earl!
The Seventh Veil (1945) – though this drama’s story (and the next) is probably more Svengali-like than Pygmalion it does involve a stern taskmaster (James Mason) who wields a powerful influence over his charge (Ann Todd) a gifted piano player who’s driven by him to achieve greatness as a concert pianist though her life is necessarily lonely until the end. This Muriel-Sydney Box story was varied enough to win them that year’s original screenplay Oscar.
The Red Shoes (1948) – Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger adapted this Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale to create an essential drama about a young woman (Moira Shearer in her film debut) determined to make it as a prima ballerina. She has the talent but love could interrupt her quest for perfection or so says her driven ballet producer (Anton Walbrook) who demands that she sacrifice everything outside of his productions. The film which won two artistic Oscars was nominated for Best Picture as was Pressburger’s motion picture story.
Born Yesterday (1950) – to include one from the fifties this romantic comedy gem gave Judy Holliday a chance to bloom (and earn her Best Actress Academy Award) – from a dim-witted showgirl into woman wise enough to realize that her rough and tough businessman boyfriend (Broderick Crawford) isn’t the big man that she thought he was before she’d been educated by the kind and handsome tutor he’d hired (William Holden) for her. Director George Cukor Albert Mannheimer’s screenplay (from Garson Kanin’s play) and the film were also nominated.
Never on Sunday (1960) – Melina Mercouri earned her only Oscar nomination (Best Actress) for playing Ilya who’s a "happy hooker" in Greece until she agrees to be educated by an American named Homer (Jules Dassin who’s also the comedy-drama’s writer and director); he’s ventured to the land of Socrates Plato and Aristotle in search of answers given the turmoil in the world. Homer is perplexed by Ilya and upset that she substitutes her own plots for the Greek tragedies she watches at the theater on Sundays her days off from the oldest profession. So he asks for two weeks of her time to educate her about the truth which naturally makes her more modest and less happy. While I don’t think it’s accurate to say that Homer falls in love with Ilya he was certainly in love with the Greek goddess ideal before he’d met her. Dassin’s original writing and direction were Oscar nominated as well (his only career Academy recognition).
My Fair Lady (1964) – One of my favorite movies this musical version of Shaw’s play (and the earlier film) came from Broadway where its stars were Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. But Andrews had yet to appear on the big screen so the producers chose Audrey Hepburn (whose singing voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon) to play Eliza instead. Ironically Andrews would win the Best Actress Academy Award playing Mary Poppins (1964) that year while Hepburn wasn’t even nominated. Harrison won his Best Actor Oscar for perfectly playing Higgins and Cukor finally won gold on his fifth and last Best Director nomination. Gladys Cooper as the professor’s mother and Holloway as Doolittle’s "true moralist" father were nominated. Wilfrid Hyde-White plays Higgins’s newfound friend and fellow linguist Colonel Pickering; he calls the professor’s bluff when Higgins claims that he can teach an ignorant street person (e.g. Miss Doolittle) to pass for royalty by improving her ability to speak the English language. Higgins proves it (with help from Hepburn’s innate glamour and ability to wear fashions) by fooling a former linguist student (played by Theodore Bikel) at the Queen’s Ball.
Other Pygmalion-like stories include Princess Tam Tam (1935) Kitty (1945) and more recently Educating Rita (1983) and She’s All That (1999). Also besides John Barrymore’s Svengali (1931) there’s Maytime (1937) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949). Of course the most common cinematic female transformation theme found in the movies comes from another fairy tale – Cinderella - and there are also others which don’t fit any of these categories particularly well like Dream Wife (1953) and (another Hepburn vehicle) Funny Face (1957).
© 2007 Turner Classic Movies – this article originally appeared on TCM’s official blog