Pygmalion (1938 film)

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Pygmalion
Original film poster, 1938
Directed by	Anthony Asquith Leslie Howard
Produced by	Gabriel Pascal
Written by	George Bernard Shaw W.P. Lipscomb Cecil Lewis
Starring	Leslie Howard Wendy Hiller Wilfrid Lawson
Editing by	David Lean
Release date(s)	6 October, 1938 3 March 1939
Running time	96 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
IMDb profile

Pygmalion (1938) is a British film based on George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name, and adapted by him for the screen. Ian Dalrymple, Anatole de Grunwald and Kay Walsh also made uncredited contributions to the screenplay. The film was a financial and critical success.^{[citation needed]}

Shaw's adaptation differs from his original play in that a ballroom scene was added and the ending changed - a surprising decision, given his previous insistence that the play's original ending remain intact (see Pygmalion).

Wendy Hiller was chosen by Shaw to play to Eliza Doolittle after she had appeared in stage productions of Pygmalion and Saint Joan. The controversial line "Not bloody likely!" made her the first person to utter that swear word in a British film.

The screenplay was later adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which in turn led to the 1964 film of the same name.

[edit] Awards

Criterion Collection DVD cover

The writers, including the uncredited Dalrymple, won the 1939 Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. The film also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard) and Best Actress (Hiller). Shaw's reaction to his award was "It's an insult for them to offer me any honour, as if they had never heard of me before - and it's very likely they never have. They might as well send some honour to George for being King of England." However, his friend Mary Pickford later reported seeing the award on display in his home.^{[citation needed]}

At the 1938 Venice Film Festival, Leslie Howard won the Volpi Cup and the film was nominated for the Mussolini Cup.