Unfair To The Lady!

I love the old musicals! Easter Parade, White Christmas, so many are fun & entertaining to me. I enjoy the clothes & the old manners & the beautiful way of speaking so many of the older films show us. Last night I brought a video of My Fair Lady (1964 adaptation of a play written in 1913) home from the library remembering that I used to sort of like but could not recall what it was that bothered me about it. Rex Harrison plays a language professor (Henry Higgins) who comes across a crass & dirty flower-selling girl (Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle) & boasts that he could teach her how to speak properly & pass her off as a wealthy high-born lady of society.

Loved Audrey Hepburn as the cockney accented waif of a girl with spirit & aggressive personality. I totally enjoyed the whole movie, laughing & singing along with them as she morphs into this gorgeous & gracious creature right before my eyes. Hilarious & sweet, it held me to the very end.

AH HA! Suddenly I saw what bugged me about this story! Awful, horrible, anger-inducing conclusion to a fun adventure with Audrey & Rex! Argh! She chooses to stay with Henry Higgins the bully instead of sweet Freddy who loved her like she was! And the final scene.....he realizes that she has come back to him & instead of embracing her, he leans back in his chair, puts his hat over his eyes & asks for his slippers! Sure the movie showed a scene of him alone actually admitting that he needed her, singing that he'd grown accustomed to her face! But that song convinced me not. It was probably meant to be ironic but still......come on Eliza...run away, run away now!!