Darryl_Clark
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Rating:
Stanley Donen's Funny Face is a slam dunk!
+5
First off, its two stars. Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. What more needs to be said? Astaire was well in to his second stardom as a leading dancer/actor or film musicals, not to mention being an icon of American ease and style that very few men have exemplified since. And Hepburn was very much aglow as the elfin yet elegant star of light comedies at Paramount. Each of them would gain significantly from their on-screen teaming. Astaire would actually get a character to play other than an entertainer; Hepburn would finally get to show off her dance skills in an American-made film.
Then there is great support from Kay Thompson as an acerbic fashion magazine editor and the incredible fashion statements of Hubert de Givenchy. Thompson is a husky-voiced, horsey delight as she stomps and strides through this role. She and Hepburn get a duet, which some may consider a primer on how to set back the feminist movement. So what? It's witty and it's cute and it's got great steps that the two sparkle as they execute.
Then de Givenchy's gowns and day ensembles. They are exemplary of 1950s fashion and each is more gorgeous than the next! They are photographed with the utmost care and taste by Ray June. And it didn't hurt that Donen had fashion photography maven Richard Avedon as visual consultant on the film. Just as Blow-Up and Darling would symbolize the 1960s from a fashion standpoint, de Givenchy's designs say a lot about the 1950s. I am almost sure that de Givenchy was rewarded with a nomination from the AMPAS for his designs. If he wasn't he deserved it.
The dances are choreographed by quite a few sources. Astaire, obviously, did his own thing. Many of the other numbers were staged by estimable choreographer Eugene Loring. The number in the Paris jazz club has been quoted in commercials and even Whitney Houston was given a go-around in slinky balck turtleneck and jeans for her 1991 video "I'm Your Baby Tonight".
Though Donen's Paris doesn't scream color like Kelly's did in 1951, he still brings romance, Gershwin and great talent together in to a romantic and lush whole.
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angelodignacio
June 18, 2009
Two stars like Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn will most definitely put life into a movie like Funny Face. Have you seen My Fair Lady? @babymama wrote one on the film and points out the magic in the music just like what is seen in this one.
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Darryl Clark (Darryl_Clark)
i'm just a nice young man--not too young and--not too nice! i'm also terribly original but i can say with pride i steal from the best. rather than draw this profile section out, … more
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About this movie
Cast:
Audrey Hepburn,
Jean del Val,
Gabriel Curtiz,
Marcel dela Brosse,
Jack Chefe,
Nina Borget,
Albert D'Arno,
Iphigenie Castiglioni,
Alex Gerry,
Robert Flemyng,
Fred Astaire,
Nesdon Booth,
Albert Godderis,
Virginia Gibson,
Nancy Kilgas,
Cecile Rogers,
Paul L. Smith,
Michel Auclair,
Claudette Colbert,
Louise Glenn,
Ruta Lee,
Suzy Parker,
Donald Lawton,
Jerry Lucas,
Jan Bradley,
Elsa Peterson,
Kay Thompson,
Sue England,
Sunny Harnett,
Jerry Chiat,
George Dee,
Genevieve Aumont,
Fern Barry,
Peter Camlin,
Dovima,
Diane Du Bois,
Karine Nordman,
Heather Hopper,
Don Powell,
Karen Scott,
Elizabeth Slifer,
Emilie Stevens,
Marilyn White,
Carole Eastman
Genre:
Comedy,
Romance,
Music,
Musical
Release Date:
February 13, 1957
MPAA Rating:
Unrated
Runtime:
1hr 43min
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