MovieChat Forums > My Fair Lady (1964) Discussion > 'Show Me'

'Show Me'

posted 10 years ago by Jon Kolenchak
2 replies | jump to latest

I have a question regarding both the original print of MFL and the Blu-ray restoration.

I must begin by saying that I have always been a fan of Marni Nixon and all the various leading ladies that she has dubbed over the years. However, when I first saw the movie, most likely in the early 1970s I remembered that the song "Show Me" was terribly dubbed. Hepburn's (whom I dearly love)mouth was hardly ever in synch with Marni's singing, and it was the only part of the movie that I thought was just terrible. I remember thinking that there must have been a production deadline and they were stuck with what they had shot.

I saw MFL perhaps 4 times over the years and the same annoying lack of synchronization was in every print that I saw.

Last night I sat down with the latest edition and when I got to that scene, I was stunned to see that every synchronization problem was corrected. I was delighted to see this, but then wondered from a technical aspect how something like this could be done - subtle change of film speed? This may be addressed in the commentary sound track of the film, but since I had just spend 179 minutes watching the feature, I didn't go back to try to find and answer, if indeed there was an answer. Any ideas? Thanks!

"It's too late... too late. There's no bringing her back."

[–] Emmywins305 10 years ago

I never really noticed it. In the DVD documentary, it is said that Rex Harrison's synchronization was the only one that's dead-on, perfect. It's because he insisted on singing his numbers live. He claimed that it was impossible for him to perform the numbers exactly the same way each time. That made his synchronization perfect, but it also gave his songs a more tinny and hollow sound that the other actors. It also caused problems for the sound technicians, who had to put hidden mics on him to record his performances on the set.

Actually, I thought Marni's recording was pretty convincing for "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "Show Me". On songs like "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "The Rain in Spain," the notes go up so high that the dubbing starts to become a bit more obvious. Audrey's natural voice doesn't go up that high. Most glaring of all is "Just You Wait". It's too obvious that there are two voices singing. I think the filmmakers should have just apologized to Audrey profusely and dubbed everything with Marni's voice-because she could sing it all with no problems, whatsoever.

[–] laurence01 10 years ago

It would make no difference if Rex sang live on set or not. The soundtrack is still shot on a different system to the picture and then synced up afterwards.

Let Zygons Be Zygons.