This is the last scene of my favorite adaption of a favorite play. Some lines have been cut and rearranged for continuity. The ending has been changed. But the spirit of the scene has been left intact (mostly). I love Eliza’s transformation—how she stops asking for sympathy, stands up for herself, and walks out. Hiller’s performance couldn’t be better. (Audrey Hepburn can’t match.)
Also, Leslie Howard is absolutely dreamy. Forget Ashley Wilkes. Henry Higgins is one of his best performances.
But I wish Shaw had kept the original stage ending. In the play, Eliza walks out and doesn’t return, leaving Higgins looking very pleased with himself and the strong woman he created. The point is that a proper woman isn’t someone with genteel manners or speech; she is independent and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself. But people like romance, so in the movie (and many other interpretations), Eliza returns to Higgins, presumably to fetch his slippers—but sometimes, also, to throw them in his face.
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