FUNNY FACE [1956 / 2013] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
S'Wonderful! S'Marvelous! Knocks Most Other Musicals Off The Screen!
In the Academy Award® nominated classic, Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire join forces in lending their song and dance talents to the timeless and classic film musical. When fashion magazine mogul Maggie Prescott [Kay Thompson] and her head photographer Dick Avery [Fred Astaire] scout out a bookstore for their next photo shoot. Dick discovers the unique face of bookseller and amateur philosopher Jo Stockton [Audrey Hepburn] and is soon whisked off to Paris. Jo is soon transformed into a global supermodel . . . and finds herself falling for the photographer, who first noticed her sunny, funny face.
FILM FACT No.1: 1957 Cannes Film Festival: Nomination: Palme d'Or for Stanley Donen. 1957 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Film. Win: Special Citation for the photographic innovations. 1958 Academy Awards®: Nomination: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay and Written Directly for the Screen for Leonard Gershe. Nomination: Best Cinematography for Ray June. Nomination: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for George W. Davis, Hal Pereira, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer. Nomination: Best Costume Design for Edith Head and Hubert de Givenchy. 1958 Bambi Awards: Nomination: Best International Actress for Audrey Hepburn. 1958 Directors Guild of America: Nomination: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for Stanley Donen. 1958 Laurel Golden Awards: Nomination: Top Male Musical Performance for Fred Astaire. 1958 Writers Guild of America: Nomination: WGA Award (Screen) for Best Written American Musical for Leonard Gershe.
FILM FACT No.2: The plot of the ‘FUNNY FACE’ film version is drastically different from that of the Broadway musical, and only four of the songs remain. Fred Astaire also starred in the stage version alongside his sister, Adele Astaire. The film plot is actually adapted from another Broadway musical, Wedding Bells, by Leonard Gershe. The original title for the film was ‘Wedding Day.’ Unlike her later film ‘My Fair Lady,’ Audrey Hepburn sings the songs herself in this, her first musical and also performs one solo song, "How Long Has This Been Going On?"; a duet with Astaire, "'S Wonderful"; a duet with Kay Thompson called "On How to Be Lovely"; and takes part in an ensemble performance of "Bonjour, Paris!" Audrey Hepburn’s previous dance training is also called into play, not only in the two dance numbers she performs with Fred Astaire but also for a Bohemian-style solo dance in a nightclub, which has since often been replayed in retrospectives of her career. Dick Avery [Fred Astaire] was based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, who was both a visual consultant on ‘FUNNY FACE’ and provided a number of the photographs seen in the film, including the stills for the opening credits, which were also used in the halls of Quality magazine. Probably the most famous single image from the film is the intentionally overexposed close-up of Audrey Hepburn's face. This image is seen briefly in black-and-white at the very beginning of the opening title sequence, which was designed by Richard Avedon, during the ‘FUNNY FACE’ musical number which takes place in a darkroom, when Dick Avery [Fred Astaire] presents it to Maggie Prescott [Kay Thompson].
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair, Robert Flemyng, Dovima, Suzy Parker (Think Pink Number), Sunny Harnett (Think Pink Number), Jean Del Val, Virginia Gibson, Sue England, Ruta Lee, Alex Gerry, Iphigenie Castiglioni, Heather Ames (uncredited), Geneviève Aumont (uncredited), Fern Barry (uncredited), Brandon Beach (uncredited), Paul Bisciglia (uncredited), Nesdon Booth (uncredited), Nina Borget (uncredited), Jan Bradley (uncredited), Paul Bradley (uncredited), George Calliga (uncredited), Peter Camlin (uncredited), Steve Carruthers (uncredited), Jack Chefe (uncredited), Jerry Chiat (uncredited), Oliver Cross (uncredited), Gabriel Curtiz (uncredited), Albert D'Arno (uncredited), Marcel De la Brosse (uncredited), George Dee (uncredited), Diane DuBois (uncredited), Carole Eastman (uncredited), Roger Edens (uncredited), Franklyn Farnum (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited), Louise Glenn (uncredited), Albert Godderis (uncredited), Sam Harris (uncredited), Bruce Hoy (uncredited), Kenner G. Kemp (uncredited), Nancy Kilgas (uncredited), Jeanne Lafayette (uncredited), Donald Lawton (uncredited), Jerry Lucas (uncredited), Harold Miller (uncredited), Hans Moebus (uncredited), Forbes Murray (uncredited), Karine Nordman (uncredited), Monty O'Grady (uncredited), Elsa Peterson (uncredited), Don Powell (uncredited), Fred Rapport (uncredited), Waclaw Rekwart (uncredited), Peggy Remington (uncredited), Cecile Rogers (uncredited), Karen Scott (uncredited), Elizabeth Slifer (uncredited), Paul Smith (uncredited), Bert Stevens (uncredited), Emilie Stevens (uncredited), Baroness Ella Van Heemstra (uncredited), Marilyn White (uncredited) and Dorothea Wolbert (uncredited),
Director: Stanley Donen
Producer: Roger Edens
Screenplay: Leonard Gershe
Composers: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and Adolph Deutsch (main score)
Cinematography: Ray June (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 (VistaVison)
Audio: English: 5.1 TrueHD Dolby
French: 1.0 Mono Audio
German: 1.0 Mono Audio
Italian: 1.0 Mono Audio
Japanese: 5.1 Dolby Digital
Spanish: 1.0 Mono Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish
Running Time: 103 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: ‘FUNNY FACE’ [1956] is a sort of Pygmalion story set in the rarefied world of high fashion, and is an irresistible combination of music, style, and star talents: top production staff from M-G-M's fabled The Arthur Freed Unit; the legendary dancer Fred Astaire; enchanting gamine Audrey Hepburn; and photographer Richard Avedon. Fred Astaire plays fashion photographer Dick Avery, who turns a scruffy Greenwich Village intellectual Jo Stockton [Audrey Hepburn] into a supermodel, and takes her to romantic Paris, and eventually falls in love with her.
Pizzazz! The very word came into being with ‘FUNNY FACE’ in 1957 and is totally stylish and energetic and is a collaboration extraordinaire involving some of the great talents of the era: Producer Roger Edens and director Stanley Donen, screenwriter Leonard Gershe, cinematographer Ray June, costumer Edith Head, couture designer Hubert de Givenchy, photographer Richard Avedon and the film's matchless stars Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson. Sprinkled with an assortment of Gershwin tunes, this is a brilliant film of considerable pizzazz!
‘FUNNY FACE’ had been a work in progress for years, but the vital element that finally brought the project together was Audrey Hepburn. Then under contract to Paramount Pictures, Audrey Hepburn was a white-hot star at the time and any picture with her name attached had a very good chance of being made. She loved both the script and the opportunity to dance with Fred Astaire and quickly agreed to do the picture. Fred Astaire, then nearing 60, was coming to the end of his career in musical films. `Funny Face' and `Silk Stockings' were released within months of each other in 1957 and were his last popular film musicals.
The brilliant Kay Thompson, ace vocal coach, arranger and cabaret star, had worked with Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Lena Horne and many others during her years in M-G-M's music department. Leonard Gershe had her in mind from the start for the role of Maggie Prescott, a character closely modelled on powerhouse fashion editor and style doyenne of the era, Diana Vreeland and according to Leonard Gershe, it was Vreeland who coined the word `bizzazz' that mutated into `pizzazz.' Kay Thompson as Maggie Prescott, is an invigorating presence and she steals just about every scene she's in; early on, her “Think Pink!”number kicks the film ‘FUNNY FACE’ into high gear.
Ultimately, the success of ‘FUNNY FACE’ belongs just as much to Thompson as it does her two co-stars; the ebullient and ever dapper Fred Astaire and translucently glamorous gamin Audrey Hepburn. To voyage with these three into the chic byways and street cafes of Paris is to be magically teleported on a grand holiday through Parisian haute couture. And Stanley Donen's direction makes Funny Face so much more than mere sumptuous entertainment. It is a wry musical comedy taking a deadly sly poke at the fashionista guru. Under Stanley Donen's expertise and Leonard Gershe's capably crafted screenplay the exclusivity of haute couture evolves from haughty parade into a surreal exploitation of that impressionist and elegant lifestyle. This is a world created by human hands and ego, and, about as far removed from the one we find ourselves a part of at the beginning of our story. But that is precisely why ‘Funny Face’ succeeds; because it parallels the mundane with the superficially sacred, and elevates the escapism to a most rarefied art form.
‘FUNNY FACE’ is a kind of Cinderella tale, the kind of story that was Audrey Hepburn's bread and butter. The film begins in the offices of Quality magazine where Editor Maggie Prescott [Kaye Thompson] decrees that the world of fashion shall think and wear pink (though she does not)! Soon after, she and photographer Dick Avery [Fred Astaire] venture to bohemian Greenwich Village on a shoot...where bookstore clerk Jo Stockton [Audrey Hepburn], an ugly duckling with swan potential, is unearthed. The plot takes off from here. Cut to Paris where newly made-over model Jo wears exquisite Givenchy haute couture and is gorgeously photographed by Dick Avery everywhere in the City of Light. Songs are sung. Dances are danced. Love blooms. A fairy-tale ending eventually comes to pass. The basic storyline is nothing new, but watching Hepburn, Astaire and Thompson cut loose in New York and Paris (and in song) is so easy on the eyes and ears that in so many ways...s'wonderful!
Ultimately, the success of ‘FUNNY FACE’ belongs just as much to Thompson as it does her two co-stars; the ebullient and ever dapper Fred Astaire and translucently glamorous gamin Audrey Hepburn. To voyage with these three into the chic byways and street cafes of Paris is to be magically teleported on a grand holiday through Parisian haute couture. And Stanley Donen's direction makes `Funny Face' so much more than mere sumptuous entertainment. It is a wry musical comedy taking a deadly sly poke at the fashionista guru. This is a world created by human hands and ego, and, about as far removed from the one we find ourselves a part of at the beginning of our story. But that is precisely why `Funny Face' succeeds; because it parallels the mundane with the superficially sacred, and elevates the escapism to a most rarefied art form.
Musically, ‘FUNNY FACE’ achieves many high water marks with Audrey Hepburn singing in her own voice the poignant, “How Long Has This Been Going On.” Fred Astaire taps the exuberant “Let's Kiss and Make Up.” Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn do an elegant pas deux to George and Ira Gershwin’s immortal “S'Wonderful” and the entire cast gets into the act with “Bonjour Paris!” Arguably, the song which lingers the longest in our collective memory remains Kay Thompson's acidic and comical “Think Pink” which is an ode to fashion for fashion's sake. As Kay Thompson croons “Red is dead. Blue is through and Green's obscene. Brown's to boo...and there is not the slightest excuse for plum or puce...or chartreuse.”
FUNNY FACE MUSIC TRACK LIST
OVERTURE: FUNNY FACE/’S WONDERFUL/THINK PINK! (Written Words by Ira Gershwin Music by George Gershwin) (1927) [Performed by Fred Astaire]
THINK PINK! (Words by Leonard Gershe) (Music by Roger Edens) (1957) [Sung by Kay Thompson and Girls, including Virginia Gibson]
FUNNY FACE (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1927) [Sung by Fred Astaire and Danced by Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn]
String Quartet no. 14 in C-sharp Minor, op. 131: IV. Andante (uncredited) (Written by Ludwig van Beethoven)
BONJOUR, PARIS! (Written by Roger Edens and Leonard Gershe) [Sung by Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn and Kay Thompson]
String Quartet no. 3 in B-flat Major, op. 67: II. Andante (uncredited) (Written by Johannes Brahms)
HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON? (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1928) [Sung by Audrey Hepburn]
BASAL METABOLISM (uncredited) (Music by Roger Edens)
LET’S KISS AND MAKE UP (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1927) [Sung and danced by Fred Astaire]
PRELUDE and LIEBESTOD (From "Tristan und Isolde" by Richard Wagner)
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, I. Allegro con brio (uncredited) (Written by Ludwig van Beethoven)
HE LOVES AND SHE LOVES (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1927) [Sung by Fred Astaire and Danced by Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn]
OH HOW TO BE LOVELY (Words by Roger Edens) (Music by Roger Edens) (1927) [Sung by Audrey Hepburn and Kay Thompson]
MARCHE FUNÈBRE (Words by Roger Edens) (Music by Roger Edens) (1957) [Sung in French by unidentified singer]
CLAP YO’ HANDS (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1926) [Sung and Danced by Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson]
‘S WONDERFUL (Words by Ira Gershwin) (Music by George Gershwin) (1927) [Sung and Danced by Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire]
HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON (Instrumental Reprise) (uncredited) (Written by George Gershwin)
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras: Sadly there are no special features available for this Blu-ray disc release, which is such a shame, as there must be in the vaults of Paramount Pictures with outtakes and maybe some interviews with the director, the cast and crew.
Finally, ‘FUNNY FACE’ is a totally beautiful lightweight and cheerful little musical, immeasurably aided by Paramount Pictures patented high fidelity and the widescreen process VistaVision, and the sumptuous backdrop of Paris at its most photogenic, despite reoccurring inclement weather throughout the shoot, and ‘FUNNY FACE’ emerges with a genuine sparkle and heart; an ultra-gorgeous musical with much to appreciate and admire throughout with “On how to be lovely.” ‘FUNNY FACE’ to me rates a perfect ten! So all in all, this was well worth the wait for Paramount Pictures to release this sumptuous Blu-ray release, but sadly this UK Release has no Extras, like with the USA Blu-ray Release, which is a crying shame, but despite this I am still proud to have this enchanted Hollywood Classic Musical in my Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
