Funny Girl
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Movie Reviews of Funny Girl
Movie Review: DON'T RAIN ON THIS PARADE - A FANTASTIC DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
Barbra Streisand is a young Fanny Brice - inexperienced, desperate to make good on her contract with Florenz Ziegfeld and desperately in love with the first of her two husbands, Nick Arnstein (Omar Shariff). After playing the role on Broadway and making it her own, Bab's took home the Best Actress Oscar of the year for her eclectic, electric and thoroughly engaging performance. Co-stars Walter Pidgeon. Director, William Wyler - best known for his efforts in "Ben-Hur" or "Mrs. Miniver" has oft' been criticized for his heavy-handed direction on this film. True - the pace of the musical doesn't rival say, "The Sound of Music" or "West Side Story" but the material is so good, and Wyler brings his own inimitable staging to the show, that I can't really fault the old master for a slightly stoic presentation which, if anything, does not detract from the overall enjoyment of this classic movie musical.Columbia Tristar has done an outstanding job in remastering this movie for DVD. Colors are rich, vibrant and bold. Shadow delineation is incredible and contrast levels are as they should be. Edge enhancement is practically non-existant while shimmering and aliasing simply don't appear on this disc at any time. This is a fantastic example of just how good an older movie can look on DVD if the proper amount of time and effort is taken to do the job properly. The soundtrack is remastered in 5.1 and positively explodes across all the channels, particularly during the musical sequences. Just listening to Bab's do "Don't Rain On My Parade" or "My Man" will give one goose bumps. Bar none, an incredibly solid remastering effort of a vintage soundtrack. No extras but with quality like this it's hard to squawk. A very fine effort and a definite must have!
Movie Review: The ultimate screen debut...
Summary: 5 Stars
Hello, gorgeous. Funny Girl is the ultimate Streisand film. Barbra's Oscar winning film debut as the Ziegfeld star Fannie Brice has never been in better form. After a frame-by-frame image restoration and digitally remastered audio, this popular musical packs all the glitter of its 1968 premiere.
Ray Stark, son-in-law to the legendary Brice, first began working on a screen biography of his famous mother-in-law in 1948, but Brice herself rejected several scripts. Nearly a decade later, he commissioned a new screenplay from Isobel Lennart. When studios didn't bite, Lennart adapted her script for Broadway, with Jule Styne and Bob Merrill getting the nod to write the songs. Stark tapped a young Barbra Streisand, already a Broadway sensation in "I can get it for you wholesale" to play the Brice. The rest is entertainment history.
This DVD presentation is spectacular in quality, but its "Special Features" pale in comparison to those of "The Way We Were." The documentaries "Barbra in Movieland" and "This is Streisand" are almost camp in their approach and scope, and I long for a present-day interview (better yet, audio commentary) with la Streisand that would have put the making of this film in better context. I'm hoping her future films, especially her directorial efforts, include a director commentary and background footage. (Barbra, can you hear me?)
That said, Funny Girl is still the centerpiece any Streisand fan's collection. A must have.
Movie Review: Barbra was born to play Fanny Brice!
Summary: 5 Stars
Based somewhat loosely on the life of Fanny Brice, a Jewish comedienne and actress from the Lower East Side of Manhattan (actually Henry Street), this movie is a reflection of her life with Oscar Barbra Streisand in the title role. Streisand is perfect in this performance as the self-conscious Fanny Brice who makes fun of her own appearance as we see in her debut with the Ziegfield Follies.
The film is a perfect standard of the traditional musicals in film history. The art direction is perfect as a time period piece during Fanny's life from Keeney's Music Hall to Ziefield's. The Ziegfield Follies musical numbers are spectacularly done on film and what translated from stage to film is beautifully done here.
The casting is first rate with Streisand who played the role on Broadway as Fanny Brice. Omar Shariff plays the husband, Nick Arnstein, does a first rate job in the role. It's not easy when you're up against Streisand in her early part of her film career. The supporting cast included Ann Medford, Kaye Francis, and Walter Pidgeon (played Ziegfield) are all wonderful.
But still this is Fanny's story, her life, and the film and in the end, Streisand's performance as Fanny makes me wonder if she's playing herself as well. Fanny and Barbra connect on so many levels.
The DVD comes with 2 documentaries about Streisand. I donated this DVD to my middle school that has a music program. If anything, they can watch it in class.
Movie Review: "Barbra At Her Best"
Summary: 5 Stars
By the mid sixties Barbra Streisand was one of the world's biggest singers, selling more albums than any female vocalist of her era, sometimes selling more records than the Beatles and Elvis. She also had made a name for herself on Broadway in "Funny Girl". So, it was only natural that when "Funny Girl" hit the big screen Barbra would be cast again in the role of Fanny Brice, a stage comedian who makes it big on the New York stage while attempting to have a relationship with Nick Arnstein, a handsome man who gambles.
Probably one of the biggest movie musicals in the history of the American cinema, "Funny Girl" solidified Streisand as a bonafied movie star. This title was even more cemented when she won the Academy Award in 1968 for Best Actress, making this one of the rare occurences when a singer won an Oscar. The film would go on to be the top money making movie of the year eventually accumulating over $50,000,000 at the boxoffice.
Some of the more popular songs in "Funny Girl" are Streisand's signature songs, and they include "People", "Don't Rain On My Parade", "My Man", and "Secondhand Rose".
Bonuses on the DVD include Song Highlights, Bonus Trailers, and the featurettes "Barbra in Movieland" and "This Is Streisand".
A sequel to "Funny Girl" called "Funny Lady" was released in 1975 and starred Barbra and James Caan, but was far less successful.
Movie Review: NOBODY RAINED ON HER PARADE
Summary: 5 Stars
36 years later, FUNNY GIRL shows why Barbra Streisand has become the legendary singer/actress/director/songwriter she so deserves. Taking on the role that launched her to Broadway stardom, Babs does everything in this movie to prove "she's the greatest star." Sure, there are poses, posterings, a little bit of histrionics, but when she sings these magnificent songs, and bats those delicious eyes, she is gorgeous! Her performance of "My Man" at the end is Oscar worthy; not to mention "I'm the Greatest Star" and "Don't Rain on My Parade." And of course, "People" one of Barbra's signature songs gives goosebumps even today.
Omar Sharif is lushly suave; Kay Medford does a nice turn as Fanny's Mom, and even though Anne Francis was upset with her small role, she's still convincing and lovely.
The comic production numbers, particularly HIS LOVES MAKES ME BEAUTIFUL and the Swan parody are priceless; Barbra can throw one liners off like the greatest of comediennes. I wish the filmmakers would have included the poignant WHO ARE YOU NOW from the Broadway version; I think they opted to write FUNNY GIRL for Oscar consideration, but WHO ARE YOU NOW was a heartbreaker.
Whether you can stand Barbra either professionally or personally, one can't deny this awesome debut performance. She truly is the greatest star of the musical comedy stage and screen!