Peter O’Toole was absolutely brilliant in this role. The big surprise was Margot Kidder as Eliza Doolittle. She was absolutely amazing! She was spot on with the accent, and she was so amazing with the emotion. Thank you for putting this on RU-vid!
O'Toole is masterful and immensely satisfying. Kidder, a perfect jewel. Excellent sound and staging, especially considering the limitations of TV studio production.
@@wiseonwords Me too! (LOL) Peter O'Toole was a brilliant actor but here he overdid it. A similar case was Rod Steiger's over-the-top performance as Napoleon at "Waterloo" (1971). We cannot expect wonderful performances all the time. Regards!
My favorite moment of that production was O'Toole watching Eliza the first time she visited Mrs. Higgins. He was so still, and so focussed that he became the most interesting person on the stage.
When I heard of Ms. Kidder's death just a few hours ago I immediately thought of her performance here, which I've watched many times. On paper it doesn't sound right, Margot Kidder as Liza Doolittle, but she's absolutely brilliant. She's entirely compelling, you can't take your eyes off of her., and she genuinely tugs at your heartstrings. She's clever, she's nuanced and for me she now owns this role. I'll miss her. A true one of a kind. I hope she's now at peace.
I remember watching this over 30 years ago on First Choice (cable network) - I have always wanted to see it again. I remember Margot Kidder's wonderful performance as Eliza - I can still hear her delivery of certain lines - very memorable, but this great production hasn't been available for a long time!
A great actor in movies Peter O Toole was good in theater too....!!! And Margot Kidder is very surprizing here...she was Lois in Superman movie with Christopher Reeve....Thanks for that Pygmalion , with such a greats actors...!!!!!!!!:******
I just noticed something... UNDER THAT BIG HAT WAS MARGOT KIDDER!! On top of that mind blowing realization, she actually produced this teleplay for Showtime!!! Not only do I think that she captured the essence of our friendly street urchin marvelously, but managed a convincing Cockney dialect, as well. She was surprisingly good in the role. Ms. Kidder had a rather sad ending, filled with personal and financial woes. But her life experiences and full body of work reveal a woman rich in talent, ethics, living, and caring. It was a life well-lived. RIP, Margot Kidder.
Nobody is responsible for either mental illness or a propensity towards addiction, and sensitive, performative, expressive people who work in high-pressure surroundings suffer worst of all. Why we insist on blaming people for the demons that torment them is a mystery to me.
I've always loved My Fair Lady, Harrison was a brilliant Higgins and Hepburn could not be faulted. Margot Kidder was the big surprise here, it is so hard to pull off the accent, I've lived in London for many years and still can't do it, she is so much more than just Lois Lane
@@ancamgI learned recently that they had an affair while making a film together. Audrey for once cheated on her husband, the serial adulterer Mel Ferrer. May they both rest in peace.
What a treat - and LIVE. RU-vid is a universe of delightful surprises. O’Toole does screech a bit occasionally, but who cares when so much is so fresh. And this Eliza - so genuine and so much innate dignity when she first comes to the house. And THE BEST visit to Mrs Higgins EVER, Convincing as no other.
This is Marvellous 👍🏽👏🏾👏🏾❣️ I thought I'd read and seen every version of Pygmalion, but this is a revelation . I've always and still loved O'Toole, And Margot Kidder, yet I never knew of this presentation. It's so much more Real, certainly than the Disney-esque version which was all Acting. THIS is B.EING🎭. Grateful to you for finding aand sharing it. I've been trapped in a Txxzz nursinghome almost 2 years, and there's very little joy. Thank you so much❣️
OMG, I saw this at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1984, during my first visit to London! Loved it to pieces, but never thought it possible in my wildest dreams that I could get a vid of the show one day. Thanks so much for posting, Andy Luk! I'm forever indebted to you. Gosh, I could dance with joy :-D!!!
I was lucky to see it when it came to New York in 1987. I absolutely loved it, but I don't remember Peter being quite so over-the-top as he is here. He was always compelling to watch, of course.
Margot can act. Audrey only trots out her set of cute poses, rinse and repeat. O'Toole has a marvelous voice, pleasing tone, terrific diction and inflection.
Why do you need to decry one actress in order to praise another? Both were brillant is this part, as were a few other, and one should be able to enjoy all different takings and nuances of this inmortal story.
I had no idea the girl from the frozen North performed as Eliza in this. Kidder was superb. And, wasn't she so very attractive? This compared to Superman, Superman is a B movie. Whoever you are, the world owes you thanks for posting this.
My goodness Lord. The lines are amazing. I am straight but this man's delivery of these lines, the sound of his voice, his accent. Goodness grace, I am having feelings I shant should have.
A joy to watch from beginning to end! Wonderful casting. I had almost forgotten that I had seen this many years ago. Peter O"'toole and Margot Kidder were superb.
The production is rather tedious. But O'Toole is a delight to watch. He elevates it all.
8 лет назад
What a surprising and wonderful version of "Pygmalion" with one of my favourite actors, Peter O'Toole. And Margot Kidder was flawless as Eliza Doolittle. One can forget the beautiful Audrey Hepburn's performance watching Margot's. I think this has more of the British theater kind of flavour than the Hollywood film, although I liked that one too. Thank you for uploading this, I truly enjoyed watching it.
Yes, Margot Kidder. Precisely perfect. This is the greatest presentation of the relations of men and women since The Taming of the Shrew. And Shaw also presents the ridiculousness of arbitrary class distinctions beautifully. A tour de force by all.
While others here give great and deserving praise to Kidder and O'Toole,I feel that John Standing has always been a magnificent protagonist to the lead actor in many of his roles. Be it comedy or high drama,to see his name in the first few of the cast guaranteed a fine film.
Lovely. I enjoyed watching this play very much indeed, for I was able to hear the story how it was meant to sound on a life stage. Thank you for shearing.
Actually, I was glimeringly wondering whether Peter O´Toole or Richard Harris had not dared to play also the role of our liguistic professor role.... And Honorable British Empire Knight Sir Peter did it...when the rain in Spain kept pouring in the plaine, good grief. Ravishing, old´boy, ravishing and all that kind of stubborn English speech. Good show.
I have never seen Margo Kidder in any show, movie, program which comes close to Pygmalion. Here her acting skills are compelling. She is amazing in this performance. Her accent is perfect.
Thank you for this, Mr. Luk. I have watched My Fair Lady for years, and love it, but it was so good to see this play. Amazing that so many whole scenes were lifted right out of this film for that production. Thank you, again, dear friend.
Wow. I never new about this version. Incredible. So different than the musical. Absolutely love Peter O'Tool and I never seen Margot Kidder in anything else except Loise Lane. How wonderful to see her in a different role. They gone too soon but this film here to stay.🎉🎉🎉 Thank you for this incredible experience.
wow. margot kidder was amazing. i really liked this production very much like watching a play. much more dialog included than the 37 version, revealing more of shaw’s philosophy, and peter o’toole’s henry higgins was a hilarious interpretation.
@@robfriedrich2822. Yes! Shaw originally wrote Eliza as an independent woman who chooses neither Higgins nor Freddy at the end but he had to bow to pressure ultimately and write a “Happy End”.
Same here! I haven't seen since it was first on tv in the early 80's - just a great production - I can't wait to see it here on RU-vid (I can still hear Margot Kidder's delivery as she says ''When I think of myself crawling... when all I had to do was lift my little finger... I could just kick myself!'' - that was just imprinted indelibly in my mind for 35 years. This is her best performance in my opinion.
Peter played his character superb, I've would have stood,applauded for several minutes. Think of an old professor, who's tired of living, here's a new challenge for him,notice how he wakes up when she says good bye? He has to think fast and say,"buy me a tie with such-and-such ". She brings new life into his life. A genuine laugh at very end. He is now happy. The focus is on her.
The cruelty of the role could be problematic in the hands of anybody less dashing than O'Toole but he brings the callous debonair off with incredible panache. One needs to be an actual prince to pull off being this much of a bastard and there are no princes left.
Andy,, thank you SO much for making this film available, I've watched it many times with great pleasure. As Ms. Kidder has now left us could you possibly change your title to include her name so more people will find it? She's so superb here, there was so much more to her than Lois Lane and yet so very few people know of this performance. It's a little jewel. Again, MANY THANKS!
I never heard of this film until just now in youtube. I know Peter O'Toole was considered for the movie of My Fair Lady, so it makes sense to have him in it. It would have been nice to have the cast of My Fair Lady do the original play without the songs as written by Shaw, but this is pretty good too.
Thank you LOADS for sharing this! I've been trying to find my old VHS copy of it that I taped off A&E years ago, with no luck. At last I finally have it again thanx to you. :) :) :)
This is terrific. Good casting all around. Peter O'Toole is incredible, what a performance. I noticed he slid from Shaw's text just a few times, but his improv' was seamless. Wonderful. Thanks for posting.
I found him so much better than Rex Harrison and his cold-hearted version of the character. Not as good as Leslie Howard, but still great in his own right.
If only MFL hadn't chopped out so much dialogue from the book! The same for the 1938 version of Pygmalion. I've seen several versions of Pygmalion/MFL & find this version the most faithful to the book.
***** I prefer My Fair Lady myself, but I do love Peters performance here, regardless of what others say, the guy was one of THE top ten actors in the world. Watch The Lion in Winter or Goodbye Mr. Chips.
Beg to Disagree with some of you. O toole is really good in this. His pacing is magnificent. His momentum keeps the whole cast moving. Very spirited performance. The supporting roles are all fun to watch
Leslie Howard love him. Howard is oh so quick as a wick. Like Peter O'Toole, as well. One play, the other movie. They're both quite good. Of course there's going to be some difference. I'm parcel to Leslie Howard. However, I still think O'Toole did a great job as well. No one is quite as witty as Leslie Howard. Then again, Peter O'Toole is quite witty himself. I think Kidder and Hiller were excellence, as Eliza. Brilliant play! Different opinions. To each his own. I think they're both brilliantly played.
Thanks for posting, I enjoyed that and don't remember seeing it when it was made - perhaps it wasn't shown in the UK. It's a bit stagy, O'Toole is a little over the top at times and Kidder's 'posh' accent slips slightly occasionally but I did enjoy it. It's interesting that Kidder has a co-producer credit - I guess I tend to forget that she didn't simply appear fully formed in Superman - and she is very beautiful. It was nice to see Frances Hyland as well - I think she and John Standing actually delivered the best performances.
Doolitle is played by John Thaw. Never saw him on stage before. Just loved him as Inspector Regan in "The Sweeney" and Inspector Morse on the screen. It's great fun to see him as Elisa's old cockney father. There is a John Thaw biography around on RU-vid, where Peter O'Toole says, he adored Thaw's dialect in this play.
I love this version of Pygmalion.. I had a VCR tape that I made off a Stage broadcast from the old A&E Broadcast and wore it out showing it to my introduction to literature classes. :-) It has nearly all of the Shaw text. It is so good to have Peter O'Toole offer us a different version than the classic one portrayed by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady. I confess that I often were here alone in this version and no it is a queuing to some wonderful song from the musical.
I think people who give high praise to this version of Pygmalion, may not have seen the Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller version of - I believe - 1938. Their Pygmalion even earned praise from playwright G.B.S. himself.
I've seen both as well as numerous other film and stage versions and am pretty impressed with the O'Toole/Kidder version. O'Toole is so engaged with this character and raises him to boorish so well and with such joy and flounce that he's the best Higgins ever. G.B.S. should have lived to see this version.
@@Swedlow : Yes, but I missed love for Eliza, there was less spark also from her to him. They become just friends here, but should fall in love, at least start to. His pride and ungentle manners didn't feel as right as Leslie H's mixture of gentleman and free , easy man. And he loved Eliza more. Pickering too was much warmer and convincing in that film than here, . I wanted to see Elizas performance and victory too...O'Toole played very well, but looks worn out and too old for her old, not healthy. mr Dolittle was good. . Although I prefer him in the other film.More jovial, warm.
I just saw the 1938 version... I cannot say anything about the Peter O'Toole version... but the 1938 war really good... I am not sure anymore how the play ends usually, but I was kind of suprised at the end...
Wow, thanks so much for sharing this gem! Didnt even know it existed! Loved "My Fair Lady" but have been IN love with Peter O'Toole since the first time I laid eyes on him in "Whats New Pussycat"?!!! Where did this production emanate from? BBC? It looks "live" and a different type of film. Definitely wasnt expecting to see Margot Kidder as Eliza Doolittle!
Every version of this play is great, and each actress excelled in the role of Eliza each of them differing in Eliza's personality, I love all of their characterizations of Eliza, Wendy Hiller, Audrey Hepburn, Lynn Redgrave, and Margot Kidder, each is compelling.
I'm a half hour into this and O'Toole isn't bad. He shines above the rest so far. I'm flipping back and forth between this and Masada. I don't think O'Toole is capable of doing a bad movie.
@@harryflowers3433 O'Toole was terrifying in Caligula, a merge between Henry Higgins above, and Adolf Hitler. He must really have drawn upon his legendary Hitlerphobia to bring that particular character to life.
Peter O' Toole is little more theatrical than I would like him to be, but I find Margot Kidder as Eliza in this version of Pygmalion the best of all I've seen, and I've seen all of them. Congratulations
Wow! I had no idea Pygmalion was re-done in the 80s. I only recently watched the original with Leslie Howard. And, of course, I saw the version with Audrey Hepburn when I was a kid. This is a nice surprise.
Thanks for uploading this! Honestly I don't like that they took out the ball, the Karpati guy, Freddy...Thank God, at least Eliza did not get back. The text is also quite different than the other Pygmalion ('38), and My Fair Lady.
What needs to be noted is that this is about the one filmed production of PYGMALION that seems to closely follow the original script as written - for those who have read the original play, of course… But we were cheated of an important part of the movie: that part when Eliza was presented to society, and succeeded in winning Higgins’s bet for him. Additionally: did Peter O’Toole really have to overscream at certain points in order to make his lines understood?
I was going to ask if anyone knew about the script they used here. Seems to me they made some cuts. E.g., doesn't a vicar come to Mrs. Higgins's "at home"? In the last scene Eliza mentions a Hungarian--obviously a reference to Zoltan Karparthy--but there's been no mention of him prior in this acting version. Did they maybe combine the original play with the early film version and then make cuts? Seems to me there's something missing from the first scene and perhaps some of Pickering's dialogue...(?)
@@user-bc9mn7gq2c …more than missing. Obviously we two have read (and rather thoroughly remember) Shaw’s original script. Shame they had to make such drastic cuts. Kind of kills the authenticity of this being the one FILMED production that followed the script as written… I remember watching a not-many-years-ago filmed production of Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST a few years back. It also followed the original play rather closely…but there were noted omissions in some scenes. It is understood that time (and some budget) constraints are a factor when producing period pieces such as these; but it still can be rather disappointing for purists (such as we both seem to be) to have to watch them while remembering what’s missing… As a postscript, I must add that although this was originally the one supposedly authentic version of PYGMALION (as I first stated), I didn’t enjoy it at all. I’m still besotted with the 1938 straight acting version (Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard) and the 1964 musical film (renamed MY FAIR LADY and starring Audrey and Rex), although those two didn’t closely follow the original play. Somehow or another, Peter O’Toole and Margot Kidder didn’t convince me of their being English enough to carry off their roles well. But that’s my own opinion, of course…
I enjoyed this story even without the scene with the big meeting where Elizer is shown off and other scenes were not included but this is strong story to work very well in every version. I like My Fair Lady and there may be others versions. I also particualry like the 1930's and Educating Reita versions.
