I Watched My Fair Lady!

So I finally got around to watching My Fair Lady.
Let it be said, I really liked the original 1938 Pygmalion, and was determined not to like My Fair Lady more.
And in the end, I didn't. (Like My Fair Lady more than Pygmalion.)
But a film doesn't win eight Academy Awards for nothing, and I had to admit that Rex Harrison was one good Henry Higgins. I think I agree with the critical consensus when I say that, as a Cockney flower girl, Audrey Hepburn has nothing on Wendy Hiller. But, after the transformation to duchess is complete, Audrey might have been more charming than Hiller. (But let us remember that Wendy Hiller was chosen at the express request of George Bernard Shaw, who wrote the play!)
Pygmalion is, of course, snappier than My Fair Lady. I missed the training montage showing Eliza's transformation, complete with Higgins and Pickering dancing together to show Eliza how it's done. However, the addition of songs worked surprisingly well with Alan Jay Lerner's book and Frederick Loewe's music--"Why Can't the English" and "Without You" being highlights among a list of gems.
In the end, I will always enjoy any quickly paced 1930s black-and-white comedy over a 1960s epic musical, and Pygmalion (1938) remains my favorite. But yes, My Fair Lady certainly gives its predecessor a run for its money with a fantastic Higgins, fantastic songs, and fantastic costumes. (I know I didn't mention the costumes. But with the Ascot scene--the only notable addition to MFL--I have to give a shout-out to them as well.

Finally, if the musical-loving girls from my English class with the initials HS and BM are reading this--you told me that "play" was not an all-inclusive term for both musical and non-musical stage dramas, but the back of the DVD box says "Adapted from the PLAY 'My Fair Lady'" What gives?

Ben Wesley