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Funny Girl

Funny Girl

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $15.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Film Debut
Review: What more can be said now about the talents of Barbra Streisand?Her Oscar winning performance was an incredible tour de force which established her as one of the great talents of the 20th century. This is one DVD worth owning if you are a fan of the movie musical as well as Ms. Streisand. The second half of the film seems a bit over-extended but the musical sequences make up for any lulls along the way. I'm happy to own this one and feel nostalgic looking back at the early career of a great star.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Impressed
Review: I just bought the DVD last month and I am very impressed. I've had both VHS and laserdisc versions of this film for some time, but the vibrance of the color and the quality of the sound has never been better. Definitely one of the better DVD transfers out there. Well worth the money! Go Babs!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: They Don't Make Movies Like This Anymore
Review: Watched FUNNY GIRL for the first time last Sunday. The DVD is beautiful in every way. Especially the hot pink color...the transfer is gorgeous and pristine. I forgot that I was watching a film made in the late '60s. I'm not a fan of Barbra Streisand and I'm familiar mostly with her latest works - The Prince of Tides and The Mirror Has Two Faces - they're okay. But FUNNY GIRL finally confirms to me that Barbra Streisand is really a star. She's brilliant in every way. Some of her scenes are so funny and also heart-breaking. The last scene reduced me to tears. A very elegant musical without all the Julie Andrews sugar (don't get me wrong - I love Julie, too). Again, the DVD is excellent...it even gives the film an overture and an intermission the way it always should be. The DVD also makes a perfect stocking stuffer!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Although I love this movie and have waited for it to be released on DVD, I was dissapointed in the fact that it was just the same release as the VHS copy which I have had for years. I would have thought a movie of this interest would have been restored to it's Roadshow presentation as have other movies of the same age, 'FIDDLER ON THE ROOF' 'LAWRENCE OF ARABIA', etc.
The color is great, the sound is good. Just wished they had presented it 'COMPLETE' as on opening night.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't Let Today's Barbra Stop You From Watching Yesterday's
Review: To those Celine Dion fans who don't understand why she will never quite equal Streisand in the eyes of many of Barbra's fans, I present exhibit A: Funny Girl. I was 15 years old when I first saw this film and fell in love with Barbra. She simply wowed me. Bounced off the screen with her presence. And that voice! Just an extraordinary talent. Yes, she's become a bit out of control and beyond full of herself as the years have gone by. I can't sit through Mirror Has To Faces and some of her later films. But show me Funny Girl (or The Way We Were) and I'm that 15 year old again who fell in love with "The Greatest Star." If you have never seen this movie before, don't let biases that you might have formed against Streisand in recent years stop you. It is really, truly a must-see. She more than deserved that Oscar! (Something I guess Celine still has on her To-Do List.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Groundbeaking Classic -- Well Worth Another Look!
Review: We has the good fortune to see the newly restored version of FUNNY GIRL on the big screen last month. There were 6 of us in our group (3 men & 3 women) and we all loved every minute of it. The colors in the new print are fabulous, the soundtrack is enhanced, & Barbra is even better than you expect her to be. So here's my question: why was there so little hype for the theatrical re-release of this wonderful film?!?!?

I sent this question to the Internet Movie Database & I was told that FUNNY GIRL was "not a groundbreaking movie or even an important one."

Well, now, let's just look @ this a little closer. Watching it again for the first time in 30 years, one thing that amazed me was how deliberately Wyler had framed Streisand's famous nose. In many scenes, her face is shown in profile against a dark background, so that "the bump" is very pronounced. This actually occurs when she's singing PEOPLE, her big "romantic number."

We are used to hearing that De Niro & Pacino changed the standard of on-screen beauty & made "ethnic" stars acceptable, but it should now be clear that the bulldozer that broke this barrier was Streisand. There she is, surrounded by gorgeous chorus girls, but no one can have any question about who "the star" is.

One final comment: FUNNY GIRL was originally released in 1968, in other words about 5 years before the first publication of MS Magazine & the dawn of the Women's Movement. But here's this woman asserting herself & taking control. Framing her on that tugboat, & sending her plowing right in front of the Statue of Liberty is the most aggressive declaration of reaching out for the American Dream that I know of -- in what other country could a woman even dream of such a thing?

With all due respect, I suggest folks take another look @ this film before thinking they can consign it to the dustbin of history. I can't wait to add the DVD to my permanent collection!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A True Musical Classic
Review: Beautifully restored print captures the best female musical performance in the history of American cinema. I saw the restored print on the big screen in NYC and the DVD captures all the magic!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: At last! Funny Girl on DVD!
Review: I have waited and waited and I am pleased to announce that the wait was well worth it. Having seen Funny Girl many times in its pan and scan version, I was very eager to see what I'd been missing all these years. The restored widescreen version makes this usually enjoyable film even more so. The colors are brilliant, the images crisp, and the restored letterbox format really adds to the overall brilliance of the cinematography. I will say that although I have a top of the line home theater sound system, I didn't notice a remarkable improvement in sound, but Streisand still sounded incredible! I would strongly urge anyone who is a fan of Streisand, or the American musical to purchase this DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: BARBRA SHINES IN HER FILM DEBUT - Now more than ever!
Review: I was fortunate enough to see the theatrical re-release of this refurbished print in Los Angeles last month, and I must say the DVD does it full justice. The incredible dye-tranfer Technicolor print has been faithfully mastered, and the six-track digital sound makes the original six-track mag tracks sound properly bright and full. This film introduced movie audiences to the powerful Barbra Streisand, and everything was designed in this production to show her off the best way possible. Her performance is alternately heart-breaking, hilarious, and resoundingly musical. This is one of her best screen performances, and holds up very well after 33 years. The drama is appropriately weepy, the comedy amazingly specific, and the musical sequences (directed by the late Herb Ross) are superb examples of how musical cues can work on film when handled correctly. This picture is a lush slice of nostalgia that is a full, satisfying evening of entertainment. The only thing keeping me from handing this DVD a 5-star rating is the lack of commentary on alternate tracks, no trailers for the film, and no footage of the excised pieces of "The Swan" ballet parody. It's too bad Sony couldn't have spent some more time and money to make it a genuine collector's item. But the film, and the performance, stand up easily to the test of time - they look and sound better than ever!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great flick, appalling transfer
Review: Great flick, cool extras, but anenormous disappointment nonethelessbecause of a remarkably shoddy andcheapjack quality print ...endlesswhite and black specs in the printfrom start to finish. Why they'd even bother? (For comparasion, I have Judy Garland's A Star is Born on DVD is it's just flawless.) Whata waste, Columbia should be ashamed!


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