Wendy Hiller, Pygmalion

as ELIZA DOOLITTLE

Wendy Hiller had a "spirited radiance" that prompted George Bernard Shaw to cast her as Eliza Doolittle on stage. And it was Shaw's insistence that led to her being cast in the film version of Pygmalion, where she'd soon became the first British actress to nab an Academy Award nomination for a performance in a British film. In a lot of ways, Hiller is quite perfect for the role--she's not your most conventional beauty, and there's an ordinariness to her that's fitting with the character, unlike future Eliza Doolittles Julie Andrews and Audrey Hepburn, who both have an innate regal quality to them that seems inappropriate for a character that's frequently called a "guttersnipe".



Eliza is described in the original source material as "not at all a romantic figure". And you feel that from the get-go with Hiller, who comes blasting into Pygmalion with her shabby, worn-down drag and her blazing cockney accent. Hiller is quite the hoot as poor flower girl Eliza, and she tackles that lower-class vivaciousness in such a way that she positively glows through all the grit in the first act. Loud, brash, silly, and unsophisticated, she's a great foil to Leslie Howard's refined scholar. I loved how Hiller supplements Eliza with a dazed sense of naivety, making it understandable how Higgins could go about pushing her around as much as he does. The scene in which Eliza is forced to take a bath hilariously works because of how successful Hiller is at making Eliza a dunce. The celebrated scene in which Eliza meets with Mrs. Higgins and her friends is a hoot, and it's all due to Hiller's comedic timing. Further, Eliza's transition from guttersnipe and lady feels fully developed and believable. But once Eliza makes her official transformation, Hiller oddly becomes less and less interesting. The big scene after the ambassador's party is supposed to be a big moment for both character and actress, and while Eliza is supposed to be emotionally wounded, Hiller instead has a very distinctly sour expression that reads as cold, and that made the dynamic of the scene very strange to me. In fact, her expressions in that scene are incredibly serious and unfriendly, probably a lot more serious than it ought to be, and thus I found it hard to feel for her even though that's the exact intention of the scene. Hiller doesn't engage as much as lady Eliza, at least not nearly as much as when she's unsophisticated. In fact, she's a bit monotonous towards the end, lacking that "spirited radiance", and I found myself not very invested in her. But there's a moment near the film's conclusion where we get a close-up of Eliza, who says to Higgins that all she wanted "was a little kindness", and she's so touching and tender there, complemented by a scene earlier on when Eliza lights up when Col. Pickering calls her "Miss Doolittle". I'd say that Hiller does a good job at developing a well-rounded character, even if the changed ending and the tacked on romantic dynamic feels forced and flubs up Eliza's characterization. That said, this is a solid effort that gets a