Sunday, March 13, 2-5 p.m., Turner Classic Movies
In Heartbeats, Audrey Hepburn makes several appearances. She’s in Marie’s style, and she’s on a poster Francis gives to Nicolas, because the birdlike 60s star is Nicolas’ favorite actress. In one scene of nervous desperation, Marie leaves a rambling message on Nicolas’ voicemail asking if he would want to come over and watch MyFair Lady with her.
The film is one of the great movie musicals, starring Hepburn as a cockney street urchin who is taught to become a lady by Rex Harrison, in a role that won him an Oscar. The film won eight, including Best Picture and Director. The original stage musical starred Julie Andrews, and her replacement by Hepburn, who didn’t even sing her own songs, is probably the reason why Hepburn wasn’t nominated for an Oscar and one of the reasons why Andrews did win the Oscar that year for Mary Poppins.
Still, it’s a classic of the bombastic musical era. The production is massive – the sets themselves could have housed a small city – and it’s long, but the Lerner and Loewe songs are delightful and the film oh-so-wonderful.
