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What in -- what the -- WHAT was THAT?
May. 6th, 2010 05:52 pmI flipped on the TV this morning, to see a 1983 production of Pygmalion starring Peter O'Toole and Margot Kidder.
For a moment I thought I was asleep and having a very bizarre dream.
This review that I found sums the thing up pretty well. To my shock, despite an accent that gave new meaning to the words EPIC FAIL, Kidder gave arguably the better performance. Not that this would have been difficult. O'Toole, looking like a cross between Young Frankenstein and Ichabod Crane, ranted and raved and chomped the scenery as if he'd gone completely around the bend. (Valancy, I'm thankful I had that mini-debate over O'Toole with you before seeing this performance, or I might not have been quite so hot in his favor.) His Higgins had a streak of sadism, even violence, about a mile wide, which was deeply unsettling. I believe Shaw did like to touch on the primitive side of human nature now and then, but I'm pretty sure Higgins wasn't one of the characters meant to represent some sort of primordial force. It's beyond me why a man who could make a lovable figure out of a wife-imprisoning, womanizing, ruthless king had to play Professor Higgins as a monster.
I only saw a few scenes, but I'd say this production could be used as a pretty effective argument for a Pygmalion remake. If we could just get Emma Thompson going on something like that, maybe we could get her claws out of My Fair Lady. And then, Emma, it wouldn't even matter that you want to hire non-singing actors! Win-win!
For a moment I thought I was asleep and having a very bizarre dream.
This review that I found sums the thing up pretty well. To my shock, despite an accent that gave new meaning to the words EPIC FAIL, Kidder gave arguably the better performance. Not that this would have been difficult. O'Toole, looking like a cross between Young Frankenstein and Ichabod Crane, ranted and raved and chomped the scenery as if he'd gone completely around the bend. (Valancy, I'm thankful I had that mini-debate over O'Toole with you before seeing this performance, or I might not have been quite so hot in his favor.) His Higgins had a streak of sadism, even violence, about a mile wide, which was deeply unsettling. I believe Shaw did like to touch on the primitive side of human nature now and then, but I'm pretty sure Higgins wasn't one of the characters meant to represent some sort of primordial force. It's beyond me why a man who could make a lovable figure out of a wife-imprisoning, womanizing, ruthless king had to play Professor Higgins as a monster.
I only saw a few scenes, but I'd say this production could be used as a pretty effective argument for a Pygmalion remake. If we could just get Emma Thompson going on something like that, maybe we could get her claws out of My Fair Lady. And then, Emma, it wouldn't even matter that you want to hire non-singing actors! Win-win!
