1938 – Leslie Howard
Pygmalion
Well, here we are with another British actor who goes out of his way to keep his emotions hidden. But Leslie Howard benefited from a script for which this is a necessary personality trait. Howard was perfect for the part. As a matter of fact, the lack of emotion in the character of Professor Henry Higgins is a major plot point in the story. So I paid close attention to the subtext, the subtlety, and the intentional lack of emotion in Howard’s performance.
Higgins’ insensitive nature was played perfectly. The point is driven home in a single exchange near the end of the movie. He says, “My manners are exactly the same as Colonel Pickering,” to which Eliza responds, “That’s not true. He treats a flower girl as if she were a duchess.” Higgins quickly quips, “And I treat a duchess as if she were a flower girl.” That sums up the character pretty well, and Howard played the part that way throughout the entire film. He clearly understood the character he was playing, and based on other film’s I’ve seen the actor in, I think it was because it somewhat resembled his own personality, but that’s just conjecture.
There was only one scene in the narrative where Higgins really loses his temper and nearly strikes Eliza. He yells at her, barely raising his voice, but the emotion actually shows through his eyes and his furrowed brow. It was a good scene for the actor to let loose, but only a little. Howard gave the camera just enough to let us know the power of the character’s anger, but kept it under tight, careful control, preventing it from erupting into actual violence.
The rest of the movie, he played things pretty even keel, which again, was a defining characteristic of Professor Higgins. Yes, there were moments of exhaustion, amusement, frustration, and surprise, but like the anger, it was all kept to small, measured amounts. The only scene in which I think I would have liked a stronger reaction from Howard, is when Eliza makes her entrance into the ball. Yes, Higgins was supposed to be worried about the grand deception, but I wanted a more profound moment when he sees her in all her glory, looking like true royalty, admiring her not for what he’d created in her, but for who she was in that moment.