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Funny Face (1957) DVD Review
Funny Face (1957) DVD Credits:
Funny Face (1957) Directed by:
Stanley Donen
Funny Face (1957) Written by:
Not available at this time
Funny Face (1957) Cast:
Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson, Michel Auclair, Robert Flemyng
Funny Face (1957) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Funny Face (1957) DVD Release Date:
1st October 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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Funny Face (1957) Synopsis:

Fashion photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire), in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton's (Audrey Hepburn) dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson), the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.

Funny Face (1957) DVD Review:

Singing certainly isn’t Hepburn’s strengths, though one has to give her credit for doing the singing herself. Many times in Fred Astaire musicals he would sing the songs and his female counter-parts might have their voice dubbed. For instance, Ginger Rogers was far more praised for her dancing than she ever was for her singing, and didn’t always sing in their musicals together. What Audrey lacks in singing ability she makes up for with character and personality. Her dancing abilities on the other hand are impressive. Funny Face was made after she had appeared on the London stage for some time, and her dancing skills were certainly honed. And let’s face it; everyone dances better when Fred Astaire is their partner. On fact, Funny Face takes on the usual plot of many Astaire vehicles from his past, usually starring him as a dancer who is paired up with a female dancer who he eventually falls in love with, only Funny Face pairs Astaire and Hepburn together for a reason other than dancing. This is where is becomes a uniquely Hepburn picture, lavishly spending screen time focused on ensuring we see the star in as many fashionable outfits as possible. Her elegance and style is abandoned within the film for momentary lapses allowing Hepburn to have fun with the role, but essentially she always returns to grace, style and beauty. These two stars are paired together for the first and only time set to the music of George and Ira Gershwin.

Hepburn plays forward thinking bookstore clerk Joe Stockton, until she is discovered by a photographer who works for an insensitive magazine owner when they suddenly decide a bookstore as a setting will make the models seem more worldly and intelligent. Before there was Ugly Betty or The Devil Wears Prada, Hepburn entered the world of fashion to see the fast thinking and people-using methods of a fashion magazine. Of course, although Hepburn plays a free thinking woman, she only decides to become a model after she is convinced by Astaire, who is the photographer for the magazine. They are to go to Paris and shoot an entire spread based on one designer’s new collection, and while they are there the young bookkeeper decides to meet some of the local intellectuals.

The hip-cat sequences and style that obviously come from pop culture at the time, the non-trend trends that every generation seems to have. Each generation has its own mindset of what is the enlightened way to think, and all one would have to do is watch Roger Corman’s Bucket of Blood to see that not everyone buys into this silly trends enough to think that they needed to be integrated into a film with an otherwise timeless quality to it. This sequence may be the favorite of some due to the charms Hepburn is able to bring out of it, but it makes the film dated and makes Audrey more immature than most any other role she played, as a way of making the hip-cat scene look ridiculous. This youthfulness is certainly another aspect of Audrey Hepburn taken advantage of in the opposing side of the story, which has the graceful young star posing in the most enchanting situations for a model shoot. Joe takes to modeling as well as Hepburn, and all seems to be well between her and her photographer lover until a famous French writer steals her away. The usual hijinks are involved as boy wins girl back.

The 50th Anniversary Edition of the film looks fantastic with special features to please the modern trends to e found in the film; a love of Audrey Hepburn and the inner workings of the fashion world. “The Fashion Designer and His Muse” is all about the fashion designer which was specifically Hepburn’s choice, and a man who designed some of her most iconic dresses. “Parisian Dreams” is about the Paris setting for the Cinderella story and “Paramount in the 50’s” is a great little retrospective.

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Funny Face (1957) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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