Pygmalion (1938)

Directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, Pygmalion is a sparkling British adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s 1912 play. With Leslie Howard as the irascible Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller as the indomitable Eliza Doolittle, the film is a landmark in literary adaptation—combining sharp social satire with romantic tension and linguistic transformation.

Plot Summary
Professor Higgins, a phonetics expert, makes a wager with Colonel Pickering that he can transform Eliza Doolittle—a Cockney flower girl—into a refined lady simply by teaching her to speak “proper” English. As Eliza undergoes her metamorphosis, the experiment becomes more than academic. She challenges Higgins’s arrogance and forces him to confront his own emotional detachment.

The film ends with a famously ambiguous scene: Higgins demands his slippers, and Eliza smiles knowingly. Shaw originally opposed a romantic ending, but the film’s producers leaned into a more sentimental tone, which later influenced My Fair Lady.

Cast Highlights

• Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins
• Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle
• Wilfrid Lawson as Alfred Doolittle
• Marie Lohr as Mrs. Higgins
• Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering

Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

• Wendy Hiller was personally chosen by George Bernard Shaw to play Eliza
• During rehearsals, Hiller accidentally swallowed a marble used in the speech-training scene. Leslie Howard quipped, “Never mind, there are plenty more,” and the moment was so amusing it was later echoed in My Fair Lady
• The film won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay (Shaw and Ian Dalrymple), though Shaw famously said, “It’s an insult to give me an Oscar”
• Shaw’s original play included a prose epilogue where Eliza marries Freddy Eynsford-Hill, not Higgins—a detail the film omits for a more romantic implication

Legacy
Pygmalion (1938) is more than a precursor to My Fair Lady—it’s a brilliantly acted, sharply written film that captures the tension between class, language, and identity. Wendy Hiller’s performance is especially groundbreaking, offering a feminist edge to Eliza’s transformation. The film remains a cornerstone of British cinema and a masterclass in adapting stage to screen.