Search - Funny Face on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Excellent For Children Movie Release: 1957 DVD Release: 04/10/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 43 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 13 Genres: Musical, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Musical Romance See Also: Funny Face [50th Anniversary Edition], Funny Face [Paramount Centennial Collection] [Widescreen]

This filmed version of the 1927 George Gershwin Broadway musical Funny Face utilizes the play's original star, Fred Astaire, and several of the original tunes, then goes merrily off on its own. Astaire is cast as as fashion photographer Dick Avery (a character based on Richard Avedon, the film's "visual consultant"), who is sent out by his female boss Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) to find a "new face". It doesn't take Dick long to discover Jo (Audrey Hepburn, who does her own singing), an owlish Greenwich Village bookstore clerk. Acting as Pygmalion to Jo's Galatea, Dick whisks the wide-eyed girl off to Paris and transforms her into the fashion world's hottest model. Along the way, he falls in love with Jo, and works overtime to wean her away from such phony-baloney intellectuals as Professor Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair). The Gershwin tunes include the title song, "S'wonderful", "How Long Has This Been Going On" and "He Loves and She Loves"; among the newer numbers is Kay Thompson's energetic opener "Think Pink". For years available only in washed-out, flat prints, Funny Face was eventually restored to its full Technicolor and VistaVision glory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Audrey Hepburn - Jo Stockton
Fred Astaire - Dick Avery
Kay Thompson - Maggie Prescott
Michel Auclair - Prof. Emile Flostre
Robert Flemyng - Paul Duval

This Paramount release isn't the definitive DVD version of Funny Face, a visual feast that needs to be seen in widescreen to be fully appreciated. Director Stanley Donen worked with famed photographer Richard Avedon to give the film a unique look, and they had to battle with the Paramount brass to get their vision on the screen. There are a few places where the source Vistavision film print is slightly damaged, but overall the widescreen transfer is beautiful and the colors are rich and full. Barring a My Fair Lady-style restoration project, this is as good a print as viewers will see. The audio tracks come in two forms, the original mono mix and an upgraded Dolby Digital 5.1 version that does not disturb the integrity of the original soundtrack. There are a few DVD extras, but the only one that is really meaningful is the documentary "Paramount in the Fifties," which has shown up on other DVD releases. Donen is a master storyteller, so it's a shame that Paramount didn't see fit to have him do an audio commentary for his own movie, especially since Donen's work on the Criterion Collection DVD release of Charade (his other charming Continental film with Audrey Hepburn is one of the few audio commentaries that viewers will ever go back to. Still, this DVD is light years ahead of the standard video version and scores highly on its technical merits. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide