| | | "S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous!"
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby, Digital Audio, English, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Paris, the City of Light, shines even brighter when Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire team up for the only time and bring their luminous starpower to this exquisite musical featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin. This dazzling romp -- filmed on location in Paris -- garnered four Academy Award nominations.In the role of bookstore clerk transformed into a modeling sensation, Hepburn showcases singing and dancing skills she had honed on the London stage, performing "How Long Has This Been Going On?," a "Basal Metabolism" dance in a cool-cat bistro and more. Astaire, as the fashion photographer who discovers her, conjures up his inimitable magic for sequences that include his "Let's Kiss and Make Up" matador diversion, a heavenly dance with Hepburn to "He Loves and She Loves" and, again with Hepburn, the title-tune enchantment, "I Love Your Funny Face." Now and forever, so do we.
"Stylish and highly stylized musical...striking use of color..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"...some of Gershwin's best tunes and some wonderful dancing...beautifully photographed and executed." The Motion Picture Guide
Editor's Note
Splashes of vivid color light the way through Stanley Donen's very modern musical. "Think pink!" commands Miss Prescott, head of Quality Woman fashion magazine, and American women obey--all except Jo (Audrey Hepburn), an intellectual young woman who tries to prevent Miss Prescott from staging a photo shoot in Jo's bookshop. Photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) sees something interesting in Jo's "funny face," and soon he's lured her to Paris to model during the day and discuss philosophy in smoky cafés at night. Modeling Givenchy clothes, Hepburn steals the color in every scene, and her funny face enchants all, including Dick and, unexpectedly, the dark and handsome philosophy master whose theories Jo adores. The musical numbers are primarily duets--Jo and Dick glide together in each other's arms, Jo and Miss Prescott find unexpected solidarity in womanhood, and Dick and Miss Prescott cavort in the philosopher's salon--but the most engaging scene is when the three come to Paris, plead exhaustion to one another, then secretly race around the city, singing and dancing and reveling in being tourists.
Plot Summary
Serious thinker Jo catches the interest of fashion photographer Dick Avery, who is seeking a natural and "funny" face to take with him to a Paris fashion show. Seeing the opportunity to bring her ideas on philosophy to the Left Bank cafés, Jo agrees to join him, but once in Paris, Dick's focused attention on her and the fairy-tale clothes inspire daydreams of love. Fred Astaire's silky dance moves and Audrey Hepburn's fresh, wistful spirit charge this modern-day Cinderella story with elegance and charm.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: English, French, Spanish, Portugese Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French, Spanish, Portugese | | Featurettes: Givenchy & His Muse, Parisian Dreams, & Paramount In The '50's - A Retrospective | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Photo Gallery | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: French, Spanish, Portugese |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Funny Face - Paramount Centennial Collection (1957) - DVD Review By: Bryan Myrick - Blogcritics.org Reviews Published on: 1/12/2009 4:50 AM | | On these cold winter afternoons, when searching for an uplifting film to pair with your roaring fire and hot beverage, tickling the titles for anything starring Audrey Hepburn is a safe bet. Even in the off-key casting choices made to place her in movie musicals (despite her wealth of talent, she is not a singer), Hepburn's precocious charm shines radiant in the Oscar-nominated Funny Face. ...read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 10/2/2007 |
| Running Time: 103.233333333333 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1957 | | Catalog ID: 13084 | | UPC: 00097361308449 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Portuguese Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (1958) | | | Oscar, Hal Pereira, et. al., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration | | | Oscar, Ray June, Best Cinematography | | | Oscar, Edith Head, Hubert de Givenchy, Best Costume Design | | | Oscar, Leonard Gershe, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen | |
Nominee (1957) | | | Cannes Film Festival, Stanley Donen, Golden Palm Award |
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| | Professional Reviews | Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "FUNNY FACE is a visual treat. Technicolor set-pieces showcase the real stars of the picture -- Hepburn's lavish, Givenchy-designed dresses." 01/01/2008 p.162Wall Street Journal
"George and Ira Gershwin supplied the music and lyrics. Thompson, Astaire and Hepburn supplied the magic." 08/28/2009 DVD Verdict 8 of 10
The film Funny Face had a rather unusual beginning. Screenwriter Leonard Gershe was looking to have his story, entitled "Wedding Day," produced on Broadway as a musical. This did not materialize and Gershe sold the story's film rights to MGM, who planned to augment the material with music that George and Ira Gershwin had written 30 years previously for the Broadway musical "Funny Face." MGM's producer for the film was Robert Edens who proceeded to line up Stanley Donen as director and enlisted the interest of Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn to star...Funny Face opened in early spring 1957 to widespread critical acclaim and good box-office success. It later received four Academy Award nominations...Funny Face is a top-notch musical and a great example of 1950s filmmaking. It's an excellent showcase for the talent of both a young Audrey Hepburn and an aging but still incredibly agile (both athletically and vocally) Fred Astaire. - Barrie Maxwell
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