Description: This filmed version of the 1927 George Gershwin Broadway musical Funny Face utilizes the play's original star, Fred Astaire, and several of the original tunes, then goes merrily off on its own. Astaire is cast as as fashion photographer Dick Avery (a character based on Richard Avedon, the film's "visual consultant"), who is sent out by his female boss Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) to find a "new face". It doesn't take Dick long to discover Jo (Audrey Hepburn, who does her own singing), an owlish Greenwich Village bookstore clerk. Acting as Pygmalion to Jo's Galatea, Dick whisks the wide-eyed girl off to Paris and transforms her into the fashion world's hottest model. Along the way, he falls in love with Jo, and works overtime to wean her away from such phony-baloney intellectuals as Professor Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair). The Gershwin tunes include the title song, "S'wonderful", "How Long Has This Been Going On" and "He Loves and She Loves"; among the newer numbers is Kay Thompson's energetic opener "Think Pink". For years available only in washed-out, flat prints, Funny Face was eventually restored to its full Technicolor and VistaVision glory.
Amazon.com essential video: Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model--not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - For worlds I'd not replace your sunny funny face
Audrey Hepburn as a dowdy, shy little bookworm obsessed with philosophy to the point of excluding all else? Say it's not so.
But such is the legendary actress' role at the start of "Funny ... Read More
Rating: - We're simply tourist...
Another fun and cheerful musical, but with a most unusual starring character. Audrey Hepburn is charming and delightful as a philosophical bookworm. I don't buy the romantic relationship between her and ... Read More
Rating: - Timeless classic
I enjoyed this movie very much, most entertaining, what more could you ask from the everlasting Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astair.
Rating: - Funny Face is a hit
I love this movie. The box came promptly and was factory sealed. The coloring is great not overdone or garish. A must have for any collection.
Rating: - This face isn't all that funny...
There is no denying that Audrey Hepburn is a charming and endearing actress. Her singing on the other hand is less than phenomenal, so casting her in a musical (which was the big thing to do for a spell) ... Read More
- For worlds I'd not replace your sunny funny face
- We're simply tourist... 
- Timeless classic
- This face isn't all that funny...