Weekend Watch 3/2-3/3

What I’m watching this weekend: Funny Face (1957; in color) - 1 hr 43 mins

If any of you are already classic movie buffs, then you probably heard about the recent death of Golden Age director and choreographer Stanley Donen. Among his credits are the beloved On the Town (1949), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). So, I thought it would be fitting to watch one of the musicals he helped bring to life. But rather than watch any of the ones I already listed, I’ve decided to go with the film Funny Face.

It stars two of the greats: Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn! Astaire is Dick Avery, a photographer for the fashion magazine Quality who, while on a shoot at a Greenwich Village bookstore, meets bookseller Jo (Hepburn). Jo, a girl with modern philosophical ideas, disapproves of the magazine's antics but is nonetheless dragged into the fashion world when her “sunny, funny face” catches the eye of the friendly photographer.

While Funny Face would not land on my top ten list of best classic movie musicals, not simply for the unreasonably large gap in Astaire and Hepburn’s ages, it does have its virtues. The color is absolutely brilliant and so is the fashion, designed by the fashion legends Edith Head and Hubert de Givenchy! It also showcases a vibrant performance by Kay Thompson, who adds to the elegantly ravishing yet quirky film as the magazine’s incomparable editor in this only Astaire-Hepburn screen pairing!

- Olivia

Availability: Amazon, Youtube, Google play, DVD, and Blu-ray.

Purchase DVD: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/dvd-funny-face-audrey-hepburn/3633775/2678194032770?st=PLA&sid=BNB_New+Marketplace+Shopping+Media&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=Cj0KCQiA5NPjBRDDARIsAM9X1GJU7EQ9LdC_VV0iaAGTc5rNN61B0jdDoWC-z6byvNljno1g-BlZF00aAlDPEALw_wcB