Friday, February 3, 2012

Funny Face (1957)

Setting aside the 30-year age gap between Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, and the 1950's condescension toward a young woman's ideals, this isn't a bad little musical.  For me, it suffers most because of all the years I've listened to Ella sing the standards.  Fred and Audrey have perfectly pleasant voices, but when you listen to Hepburn's and Ella's versions "How Long Has This Been Going On?", it seems wrong to even use the verb compare.  It's the same with "Funny Face" and "S'Wonderful".


On the plus side, Astaire still moves really well for a 58 year old, and his dance sequence in the courtyard of Hepburn's hotel is the highlight of the film.  He and Hepburn have a cute, but otherwise choreographically unremarkable, dance together in a darkroom while they sing "Funny Face" (this is now my second-favorite darkroom scene, right after the on in the Great Muppet Caper).  Ginger Rogers Audrey is not. Hepburn does some modern dance.  And they're together again for "S'Wonderful", which is mostly interesting because they dance onto a little raft which floats across a stream, while some harried production assistant tries to get some swans to swim through the shot.

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