Select delivery location
See All Buying Options

Pygmalion (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Wendy Hiller (Actor), Leslie Howard (Actor, Director), Anthony Asquith (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 120 ratings
IMDb7.7/10.0
Genre Comedy
Format Closed-captioned, Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Full Screen
Contributor Kate Cutler, Leslie Howard, H.F. Maltby, Anthony Asquith, Irene Browne, O.B. Clarence, Cathleen Nesbitt, Wendy Hiller, Esme Percy, Marie Lohr, Violet Vanbrugh, Scott Sunderland, David Tree, Iris Hoey, Wally Patch, Viola Tree, Leueen MacGrath, Everley Gregg, Wilfrid Lawson See more
Language English
Runtime 1 hour and 29 minutes
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Product Description

Cranky Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard) takes a bet that he can turn Cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller) into a "proper lady" in a mere six months in this delightful comedy of bad manners based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. This Academy Award-winning inspiration for Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady was directed by Anthony Asquith and star Howard, edited by David Lean, and scripted by Shaw himself. Criterion presents Pygmalion in a beautifully restored digital transfer.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.25 x 0.5 inches; 3.2 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Closed-captioned, Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Full Screen
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 29 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ September 19, 2000
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard, O.B. Clarence, Kate Cutler, Everley Gregg
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0780023536
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 120 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
120 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

PT Person
5.0 out of 5 stars So much better than My Fair Lady
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
One of my favorite movies is My Fair Lady. It's fun, lyrical, funny, gorgeous, but it's just a puff of air in comparison to this masterwork. The subtleties in Pygmalion are threaded throughout like a well larded roast. I adore Howard's Higgins. He's a delightful parody of himself. Hiller's Eliza is beautiful. You can see throughout the film that her core character does not change, even though her manners, language and clothes do. Pickering's gentlemanly behavior does not win her heart. She loves Higgins even though he doesn't see her true value until the end. Freddy is not even a blip on Eliza's radar, in contrast to MFL. I would give all the eye-candy stars to MFL, but all the other stars go to Pygmalion hands down!
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
JunQue
5.0 out of 5 stars ~Professor Higgins vs. Eliza Doolittle~ A Review...
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2005
Verified Purchase
Pygmalion is the predecessor to the musical My Fair Lady, but saying that, it undoubtedly rings true as the best version of the popular George Bernard Shaw play. This 1938 film version stars Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins, a teacher and hobbyist of phonetics. Engrossed in this trade, he stumbles across a "cockney guttersnipe," flower peddler Eliza Doolittle (played by Wendy Hiller in her film debut). He takes on a bet with his new acquaintance, Colonel Pickering, and proclaims that in a short time, he can transform her into a proper lady and pass her off as "The Queen of Sheba."
What follows is rigorous training in dialogue and etiquette. From the famous `Marbles in Mouth' exercise ("I swallowed one!") to the final test at the Transylvanian Ball, hilarity and poignant antics ensue. The film shows us a budding friendship between teacher and pupil, even though said characters come within inches of striking the other down in tense moments of their relationship. Pygmalion shows "how deliciously low" Professor Higgins is. There is only one fault in his seemingly perfect facade (besides his swearing): his unsuccessful attempt to see Eliza not just as a guinea pig, but as a human being under her yowling dialect and uncouth manners. Henry's mother couldn't have put it more perfectly, saying that not once has he praised, petted, or admired Eliza for her work. Because of his lack of feeling towards Eliza, he gets a taste of his own medicine when Eliza threatens to forget and leave him.
Traditionally put in the Romance genre, Shaw never intended Pygmalion to be so. In an epilogue for the play that never came into the light, he writes that Eliza and Freddy do get married. He won an Oscar for the film's screenplay, and although in public he loathed having received the award, it was told that he proudly displayed it and showed it off to his friends in private.
Pygmalion is one of Howard's great masterpieces. His facial expressions can't be beat, his silvery voice cannot be overlooked, and his physical magnanimity is priceless. Shaw personally picked Hiller to play Eliza and it's crystal clear why he did. She is a treat to watch as a poor flower girl-turned-duchess. Other praiseworthy performances include Wilfrid Lawson as Alfred Doolittle, Marie Lohr as Mrs. Higgins, and Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering (Oh, do be reasonable!)
DVD features: Presented in classic black and white. Comes with chapters and a Color Bar menu (don't know what that's all about!)
Pygmalion is a classic! Do not pass up the opportunity to place this in your collection. Whether you're a Howard fan or not, Pygmalion is a movie the whole family will enjoy.
18 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
MizzM
5.0 out of 5 stars give it a try and it might surprise you
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
Prof. Henry Higgins is a noted linguist. He can use phonetics ("the science of speech") to identify anyone who grew up in England -- within two miles of their birthplace, so he hangs around the streets of London listening to people talking. One night, he encounters a young flower seller and she overhears him talking with a stranger (Col. Pickering) who has written a book on Indian dialects. She shows up the next day at the professor's home, asking him to take her on as a student, so that she can learn to speak well enough to be able to get a job in a flower shop. The professor takes up the challenge -- to turn this "squashed cabbage leaf" into a lady so well spoken that he could take her to an ambassador's reception. The dynamic between the professor and his student -- Eliza Doolittle -- is what drives the whole story. he is unbelievably rude and overbearing, but Eliza is no pushover and she wants to learn. In the end, of course, it turns out that Higgins has learned as much (if not more) that his pupil. Hollywood turned the story into My Fair Lady, but Pygmalion follows the original play by G.B. Shaw, who wrote the screenplay and dialog for this movie. The dialog is witty, the action fast paced, and the acting incomparable.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
P. Lloyd
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Liza yet
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2008
Verified Purchase
First there was the smash hit play, then came the 1938 B&W movie with Leslie Howard is the ultimate pedantic as Prof. Henry Higgens and Wendy Hiller is utterly charming as Eliza Doolittle. I have a VHS copy of the movie but when I realized that the Criterios Collection has released a DVD taken from a very clean print, I leaped for it. I was not disappointed. Plus, it has the added advantage of all DVDs that I could jump to my favorite scenes: Liza on her first outing at Prof. Higgins' mothers home; Liza's father talking about the "underdeserving poor" and the final confrontation between Liza and Prof. Higgins. There is something about 1938 that makes the story of a professor turning a guttersnipe into a lady in six months that seems credible. By the time My Fair Lady came out, this was a historical play turned into a musical. As much as I enjoy the music from My Fair Lady, I prefer the 1938 film version of Pygmalion. Mainly because there is no dancing and singing to get in the way of the story. Of course, this film was made back in the day when all the supporting actors were serious about their craft. If you are at all a serious Shaw fan, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of the DVD. Buy it so you can watch it as many times as you want, when you want. You won't be sorry.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Raffaele Cassese
5.0 out of 5 stars L'antenato di My Fair Lady
Reviewed in Italy on August 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
Molti anni prima del celeberrimo Kolossal di Cukor,Asquith e Howard firmano questa deliziosa edizione del Pigmalione di Shaw, in uno splendido bianco e nero.Anche senza le indimenticabili musiche del lavoro successivo e i costumi d Cecil Beaton, il lavoro di Asquith e Howard non ha nulla da invidiare all'edizione Cukor.Howard realizza un prof Higgins affascinante e ironico e lo stesso vale per la debuttante al cinema Wendy Hillar, nel ruolo di Eliza. Il consueto stuolo di grandi caratteristi e attori inglesi completa il lavoro. Unica pecca: la mancanza del doppiaggio italiano o almeno dei sottotitoli.
Report
Trevor, UK
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
Overall picture and sound quality good - just need to remember to set the format before viewing.
Report
MFJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sur toute la ligne !
Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2013
Verified Purchase
Le produit m'a été livré dans le délai prévu. La qualité mentionnée était exacte. Je suis très satisfait et je recommande fortement ce vendeur. Excellent sur toute la ligne !
Report
Daniela Musacchi
5.0 out of 5 stars Pygmalion
Reviewed in Italy on January 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
Pygmalion
Conoscevo già il film; lo trovo un grande film, purtroppo poco conosciuto e "oscurato" dal più moderno "My Fair Lady". Essendo in bianco e nero, possono esserci delle riserve...io lo preferisco così. Superba l'interpretazione di Howard!!!
Il regista sposa in pieno la tesi di Shaw e crea un film piacevole, delicato, addirittura "leggero" - grazie all'interpretazione del protagonista maschile -
2 people found this helpful
 Report
D. André
5.0 out of 5 stars Entre comédie et réflexion sociale
Reviewed in France on July 10, 2011
Verified Purchase
Un magnifique film signé par le très inégal Anthony Asquith, auteur notamment du chef d'oeuvre The Browning Version. Adapté de la célèbre pièce de George Bernard Shaw, texte qui donna également naissance à My Fair Lady de George Cukor, ce film vaut pour son interprétation éblouissante, Wendy Hiller et Leslie Howard en tête. Je dois dire qu'habituellement je ne suis guère un fan de Leslie Howard dont je trouve le jeu très théâtral et daté, mais dans ce film il est très convainquant. Comme pour My Fair Lady, le film entremêle avec réussite comédie et réflexion sociale. Un excellent film, à découvrir uniquement en VOST français. Pas de bonus.
4 people found this helpful
 Report