63. My Fair Lady (1964)

Oi, guvnah! We gots a new episode for ya, we has. I tell ya it's a good one too, I reckon! We talk about Professor 'enry 'iggins and all the mean things 'e does to poor li'l Eliza Doolittle. Poor girl! 'e says she don't know 'ow to speak English! I 'eard 'er myself, though, I has. More pleasin' to me than what 'e 'as to say! Ok, can we stop with this bit? It's an episode on My Fair Lady (1964). Audrey Hepburn does a cockney accent until she doesn't. Rex Harrison speaks through every song. There are really pretty dresses! Is the movie itself misogynistic and classist or is that just the characters? We attempt to figure it out! Written by Lerner and Loewe and directed by George Cukor, My Fair Lady was the most expensive movie ever made at the time ($17 million--which is like $180 million in today's money!), but was also a huge hit, winning 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture.  Connect with us on Instagram @bigwhiteelephantspod and send emails or voicemails to [bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com](mailto:bigwhiteelephantspod@gmail.com) so we can share them on future episodes! *Big White Elephants is a podcast where two friends, Grace and Scott, dissect movie musicals: Everything from DCOMs to MGM Classics, Japanese Punk Rock films to modern Jukebox Musicals, and all kinds of things in between! We talk about what works and what doesn't, and whether a film is a 'Big White Elephant', based on director Rob Marshall's quote ”The thing about movie musicals is that there have been some brilliant ones, but when they’re bad, they’re really bad - big white elephants.” Join us every Thursday to discuss a new musical film wherever you get your podcasts*