Starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire
Screenplay by Leonard Gershe
Music by Adolph Deutsch and George and Ira Gershwin
Directed by Stanley Donen
Production Year 1957
Running time 103 minutes
Stanley Donen is one of the great musical directors from the golden age of Hollywood. His films include such classics as Singin’ in the Rain and On The Town - both starring the wonderfully athletic Gene Kelly.
Funny Face features Fred Astaire whose dancing style was quite different to Kelly’s - gentler and less balletic - but nonetheless supremely skilful. Alongside Astaire is Audrey Hepburn - one of the most enchanting actresses ever to grace the silver screen. Hepburn was born in Belgium and grew up in the Netherlands where she learned to dance, using her craft to raise money to help fund the Dutch resistance during WW2.
Her career continued in London and the United States until her breakthrough film Roman Holiday in which she starred opposite Gregory Peck. Career highlights include Breakfast At Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady and Robin and Marion. She ended her life as a working as a humanitarian ambassador until her untimely death at the age of 64. Funny Face has a wafer thin plot involving a famous fashion photographer (based on Richard Avedon), an ambitious magazine editor and a shy bookshop assistant who longs to study in Paris.
The production is hugely stylish with ravishing costumes by Edith Head - Hitchcock’s designer of choice. The music and songs are a delight and the choreography first rate.
A perfect way to end our screenings in 2013!
