MovieChat Forums > Pygmalion (1939) Discussion > The ending

The ending

posted 13 years ago by doug7347
7 replies | jump to latest

The orginal producer of the play, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, introduced the "happy ending" to the dismay of Shaw. "My ending makes money; you ought to be grateful," scrawled Tree. "Your ending is damnable; you ought to be shot," snarled Shaw. In 1938 producer Gabriel Pascal sneaked in the same happy ending over Shaw's objections. And of course the musical version "My Fair Lady" did the same.

Shaw became the only person to win an Academy Award for best screenplay and the Nobel Prize in Literature. My guess is he owed the awards to that happy ending he hated!

[–] mr_peabody_70 12 years ago

I'd have to say, the movie's ending doesn't seem like a "happy" ending at all to me.

I personally prefer the book's ending far better than the movie's or the play's. It is a shame that they didn't respect Mr. Shaw's original ending.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] hka-3 11 years ago

I second that, Leslie Howard was absolutely brilliant. If Charles Laughton played Professor Higgins the film would've had a completely different feel to it.

Cheese fries...next time.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] benmsounds1 11 years ago

I thought the ending was left to interpretation. You heard only their voices in the recordings and I felt like Higgins could be imagining her at the door. Great film!

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] 11 years ago

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