George Bernard Shaw was once quoted as humorously saying, "Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed." Yet his Pygmalion has lived on. His play, indeed, is better known to contemporary readers than the Greek myth (about a sculptor who falls in love with one of his statues) from which it derives its title. Shaw's rag-to-riches comedy made the leap from stage to screen in 1938, but it wasn't a smooth transition. Shaw had a deeply entrenched resistance to film adaptations of his plays and was seemingly immovable when approached by Hungarian producer Gabriel Pascal to write his own movie script of the 1912 play. Pascal vowed to Shaw that he need not change a word, which eventually convinced the playwright to agree and, additionally, to write fourteen new scenes, including the centerpiece ball sequence, in which Eliza Doolittle, the cockney "guttersnipe" turned regal mystery lady, is unveiled to high society. The scene would become not only one of the film's many comic highlights but also the most memorable moment of Pygmalion's eventual remake, as the stage musical and best picture winner My Fair Lady, in which Eliza melodiously chants the song "I Could Have Danced All Night."
Though Shaw had initially requested that the formidable British theater and film star Charles Laughton play the priggish Henry Higgins, who trains Eliza to shed her street persona and become a "lady" in six months, the part went to the respected Leslie Howard, who had made his dashing mark on-screen in The Scarlet Pimpernel. Eventually, Howard took on dual duties, codirecting the film with Anthony Asquith, whose noble lineage made him a fitting choice to head the team. Almost monstrously condescending, Howard's portrayal of the pompous professor is distressingly convincing, yet he is matched in his craft by the young Wendy Hiller, making her auspicious movie debut.
The film was nearly unanimously acclaimed upon its release, garnering Academy Award nominations for best picture, actor, actress, and screenplay. Its only win went to none other than the reluctant Mr. Shaw, for his adaptation, although the playwright was defiantly not present at the ceremony. He was later quoted as saying: "It's an insult for them to offer me any honor, as if they had never heard of me before—and it's very likely they never have. They might as well send some honor to George for being king of England."