1960s

Although Western films were shown during the Soviet era in the Communist Bloc, American publicity materials were banned, allowing the state-commissioned artists to operate with total creative freedom from the demands of the big Hollywood studios, offering quirky and sometimes surreal interpretations which often had little reference to the film. Zdeněk Kaplan's zany design for the first Czech release of My Fair Lady feels bohemian and contemporary, with it's flipped mirror image of Audrey Hepburn's Eliza Doolittle hinting at her transformation from cockney flower girl to Edwardian princess. Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and adapted from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's broadway musical, George Cukor's 1964 musical extravaganza My Fair Lady was the most expensive film shot in the United States up to that time. Starring Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as the arrogant phonetics professor who takes on a bet to transform Eliza's cockney accent to the Queen's English and pass her off as a Duchess, the film was a huge critical and commercial success and remains one of the best musicals ever made, winning eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Harrison. 

Condition

Excellent (A-)

Unfolded, not backed. Two small vertical tears to lower edge, the largest  ¼ in. Image and colours excellent.