DVD Package Makes ‘My Fair Lady’ Even More Loverly

Fans of the glorious 1964 musical “My Fair Lady” who couldn’t afford the expensive collector’s edition released on laserdisc four years ago have a cheaper alternative at hand now: DVD.

Warner’s digital video disc release of the George Cukor masterpiece is symbolic of how consumer-friendly the new format is: At $24.99, this DVD “premiere” edition costs only a fraction of its laser counterpart. It also underscores once again the fact that serious collectors will need to invest in both formats if they want to get ahold of all the supplemental materials available on a title.

The 30th anniversary laserdisc, which sells for $130, represented the format at its most excessive. Stored in a voluminous box, the discs came accompanied by a CD, book, portfolio of prints and even a film clip with six frames from an actual 65-mm print of the movie.

From the outside, of course, the DVD edition appears extremely humble by comparison. In reality, though, it is a better buy, since it contains a newly recorded, full-length audio commentary with art director Gene Allen and restorers Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz. Also present for a few comments is singer Marni Nixon, who, to Audrey Hepburn’s chagrin, ended up dubbing most of her songs in the picture.

Although the restorers’ description of the mind-boggling task is only marginally interesting (to put it mildly, salvaging the movie’s gorgeous colors wasn’t easy), Allen is a sheer delight from start to finish. He reminisces on Cukor’s admirable tempo and style, and talks about production design “at a time when there wasn’t e-mail yet.”

Although the DVD does not include the laserdisc’s original documentary on the making of the film, it picked up the two best features of its “collector’s section”: an original, eight-minute featurette that gives you a few glimpses of Cukor at work, and the original Hepburn vocal takes for the songs “Show Me” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” In the end, having a sense of proportion might be an enviable quality as far as digital special editions are concerned.

DVD Releases

“Sorcerer” (1977, Universal): The skimpy production notes will leave you pining for an audio commentary with director William Friedkin after you see his ruthless, adrenaline-charged version of the French classic “The Wages of Fear.”

Paul McCartney: In the World Tonight (1997, Rhino): The melodic genius of the Beatles records a new album, and the cameras are there to bring us a glimpse into his life. The simple, endearing portrait of an extraordinary man.

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Ernesto Lechner can be reached at LechnerE@aol.com.