REMARKABLE FILM

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 59, 11 March 1939, Page 15

REMARKABLE FILM

FIRST SHAW PLAY

In its transfer from the legitimate stage to the talking screen, George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" (privately screened in Wellington this week) has smashed, perhaps for good and all, the traditional rules of adaptation that have hitherto been applied to every similar experiment. 'Indeed, it will be surprising if the first Shaw picture does not mark the beginning of a fundamental change for the better in the craft of picture making.

Had the picture been a complete failure as an entertainment it would, nevertheless, because of the fame of its author, still have been an event of considerable literary importance. In the face of tempting offers from film ■producers for many years it is the first time that Shaw has consented to his drama being presented through the new technique. As the author explains in a speech specially prepared for the "trailer," "My friend, Mr. Gabriel Pascal, who has made this production, has tried the extraordinary experiment of putting a play on the screen just as the author wrote it and' as he wanted it produced." Of course, refusal of producers to follow a similar course in the past has been the only reason why Shaw has consistently refused to allow his plays to be filmed.

And so "Pygmalion" on the screen is precisely the same as the play except that author and producer have been able to make use of the. unlimited sccpe for change of. scenery available in ffilm production. In the ballroom scqne, for- instance, where the .transformed flower""girl, "Eliza Doblittle, is eventually presented to the cream of London society, the scene does not have to remain' static as it doe's on' the legitimate stage, but, along- with' the characters in the story, the audience is able to mingle with the throng and visit various parts Qf .the.a,ssem,bly. The scintillating dialogue is pure.Shaw, and how brightly does'it shine in comparison with screen talk that has been served up in other productions of a more familiar schooL The ..technique of artist and producer does not- obtrude itself in any way, but Mr. Pascal' has adopted one new method which is as interesting as it is successful. In some of the scenes one or more of the character is permitted to walk out of the picture, but still remain on the stage and in the conversation. This does not appear in the slightest degree- unnatural, and gives the players considerably greater freedom of movement I that they usually have in a screen closeup where "they are obliged to remain in ,a confined space at the outside,some eight or ten feet wide. Omitting for the moment all considerations of famous authorship, "Pygmalion," as a talking picture, provides dramatic entertainment at its very best. The story of how a professor of phonetics niade good ' his boast that he would transform a girl of the gutter, a Cockney flower-seller, into a lady .and successfully pass her off in society, has always been recognised as one of Shaw's best comedies. Neither professor nor pupil has quite foreseen what the position will be when the experiment is over and the former flowergirl is left unfitted either for her former life or to carry on her part of make-believe, but, as with the classic legend, Pygmalion, having created his Galatea, finds that she has taken on a greater importance to him than he had anticipated. The casting shows the .work of the same masterful hand or hands that is apparent in every detail of this remarkable film. Leslie Howard gives a splendid performance as the unconventional Professor Higgins whose unconscious bullying Eliza Doolittle is subjected to during the months of her training. Wendy Hiller is a delightful Eliza both as a flower-girl of grimy -appearance and rich Cockney accent, ■and-.jas the-beautiful woman who makes a profound impression in a London ballroom. Surely no one better than Wilfrid Lawson could have been found for Alfred Doolittle, Eliza's father and a dustman-philosopher to boot. The remainder of the big cast is equally competent, • ' •, +v + + T, a "Pygmalion" has proved that tne great 'plays and players of the English stage can be presented to the whole world without .being made unrecognisable by mutilation that has hitherto almost invariably accompanied ■adaptation to the talking screen.