Funny Girl
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DVD details
Actor: Anne Francis, Barbra Streisand, Kay Medford, Omar Sharif, Walter PidgeonBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.0
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 151 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-10-23
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Funny Girl
DVD Review: The Greatest Star By Far?...Still True
Summary: 4 Stars
When Barbra Streisand hit the big screen in this expensive 1968 musical biopic of Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice, she became an instant movie legend and understandably so as master filmmaker William Wyler tailored a launching pad so accommodating to her personality and drive that it becomes apparent only later that the film itself is not terribly exceptional. The first half of the film, by far the best part, is about Brice's fast climb to stardom and her blind infatuation of gambler Nick Arnstein, played with a bit too much continental charm by an overshadowed Omar Sharif. The comparatively dramatic second half is really about the inevitable fate of their relationship. The energy that drives the first half seems to sputter in the second half, and Streisand is left to carry the whole thing to the finish line.
The fact that the story has anything to do with Brice seems purely circumstantial in deference to Streisand's phenomenal talent especially as a first-rank comedienne and the pre-eminent song stylist of her generation. For the latter aspect alone, "Funny Girl" is essential viewing, especially for three solo numbers penned by the legendary team of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (who co-wrote "Gypsy"). First, as a young wannabe trying to convince Mr. Keeney at the local burlesque house to hire her, Streisand sings "I'm the Greatest Star" with an appropriately persistent brassiness that suddenly turns into a dramatic clarion call picking up the percussive momentum of "Don't Rain on My Parade" until the song title truly becomes fact and not a boast. The second song is her anthem, "People", sung to an unsurprisingly awestruck Sharif on the darkened Hollywood-phony backlit set of Henry Street, first as an expression of her unrequited love for Arnstein and then more effectively as a solo plea bordering on desperation as she leans against a lamppost. The third number is made breathtaking by the ingenious way that Wyler films her performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade" as a montage of fast cuts that leads an Arnstein-chasing Brice to the amazing tugboat finish. The fact that they all occur in the first half makes the second half all the more desultory saved at the end by Streisand's memorably triumphant take on Brice's "My Man". These are all indisputably classic movie musical moments.
The remaining numbers are good and mostly a vehicle to show off Streisand's considerable comedy skills - maneuvering roller skates on "I'd Rather Be Blue (Over You)", flouncing her dress in front of a nonplussed Ziegfeld on "Second Hand Rose", waddling around as a "pregnant" bride in the Ziegfeld extravaganza "His Love Makes Me Beautiful", accommodating Arnstein's aggressive parlor advances in "You Are Woman", and chronicling her happily married state in "Sadie, Sadie". That's not to say she is not a fine dramatic actress, just a sometimes rather theatrical one at least in her first film here, as she expresses her heartbreak in a variety of overdone hairstyles and clothes until her seeming vindication at the end. No other actress can express as dexterously the concurrent insecurity, egotism and humor that Streisand in her prime could. The other elements in this movie seem incidental, even the supporting performances which include Kay Medford's sarcastically tender turn as Brice's mother Rose and Walter Pidgeon elegantly tyrannical and savvy as Ziegfeld. This turned out to be Wyler's penultimate film, and it's not really one of his best as the humanistic values that permeate his earlier classics seem missing here in favor of mounting a star vehicle for Streisand. But the logic is understandable as a Barbra Streisand does not come along very often. Even for those who have seen it numerous times before, the 2001 restoration contained on the DVD completely revitalizes the film.
Description of Funny Girl
One of the most popular movie musicals ever made! Funny Girl follows the early career of stage comedienne Fanny Brice, a role that earned Barbra Streisand the 1968 Oscar(R) for Best Actress. As the film opens, only her mother believes Fanny can make it in show business. When she gets her first break at Keeney's Music Hall, her hilarious debut as a roller-skating chorus girl gets her hired as a comedienne. A year later Fanny is working for Florenz Ziegfeld in his famous Follies and brings the house down with an outrageous and unplanned number. Fanny becomes a star, falls in love and marries Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif), a handsome gambler whose luck doesn't hold up. The film's many memorable songs include "Don't Rain On My Parade" and the Streisand classic "People."Ah, Barbra. Of all her onscreen personas, she sparkles in none as she does in her role as 1930s comedian Fanny Brice in the musical Funny Girl. Portraying the life of this star of stage and radio, Brice preens and prances and sings, captivating her audience both onscreen and off. Fanny Brice started life on the Lower East Side of New York, the daughter of a Jewish saloon owner. Not the prettiest girl around, Brice still managed to quickly rise to stardom as a performer in the Ziegfield Follies. A shrewd, obstinate woman, Brice dictated her own success story on stage; things were a different matter in romance. Falling hard for the stunning Nick Arnstein (suavely played by Omar Sharif), Brice must navigate a difficult marriage. While kids may love the tunes (which include the now-infamous "People," as in "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world"), the plot is definitely adult-oriented. Enjoy this one, but don't go too far out of your way for the sequel, Funny Lady. --Jenny Brown
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