Pygmalion

Summary

Dutch film version of G.B. Shaw's celebrated play about a language professor's attempts at turning a flowergirl into a lady.

Linguist Henry Higgins has bet his friend colonel Pickering that his elocution exercises will eradicate the vulgar Amsterdam accent of flowergirl Elisa Doeluttel and turn her into a lady with impeccable enunciation. Higgins wins and not only does he turn Elisa into a lady, he marries her as well.

Pygmalion was the first film produced by the illustrious trio Ludwig Berger (director), Rudy Meyer (producer) and Lily Bouwmeester (actress). The film revitalised the Dutch film industry, not in the least because of the talented Berger who, having worked in Berlin, London and as far afield as Hollywood, had built a reputation as a theatre director (Shakespeare) and director of such audience favourites as Ein Walzertraum (1925) and The Thief of Baghdad (1940).

Lily Bouwmeester's performance as Elisa was also well received. It turned her into a celebrated actress overnight and she would go on to play many other successful roles, in films like Vadertje Langbeen, Morgen gaat het beter! by Friedrich Zelniks and Ludwig Berger's Ergens in Nederland. A third film with Berger came to nothing because of the outbreak of the war.