Restored FUNNY GIRL to kick-off TCM's 4th Annual Classic Film Festival

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/1/12 at 4:51pm

Gala Screening of Newly Restored Funny Girl [1968] To Launch Fourth Annual TCM Classic Film Festival


Restored in 4K from the original camera negative by Sony Pictures Colorworks in celebration of its 45th anniversary, Funny Girl stars Barbra Streisand in her Oscar®-winning performance as Ziegfeld Follies comedienne Fanny Brice. Omar Sharif co-stars as high-rolling
entrepreneur Nicky Arnstein, with Hollywood veteran William Wyler in the director's chair.

Adapted from the popular Broadway musical that earned Streisand a Tony nomination, Funny Girl features a score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Among the many memorable songs featured are "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade," both of which became signature Streisand hits.



CLICK ME Updated On: 11/1/12 at 04:51 PM

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 11/1/12 at 7:31pm

Random, but since I've never been, can you buy tickets to a single ever? I'd love to get tickets to just FUNNY GIRL for my mother for her birthday.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/1/12 at 7:52pm

Sucks this isn't one of the numerous multi-city/same-night-only showings like TCM generally does.

[bobs3]

Posted: 11/1/12 at 9:08pm

Will it include the deleted Anne Francis scene (the one that was supposedly cut because Ms. Francis was so good she stole the scene from Streisand)? Or has that scene been lost forever on the cutting room floor?



Updated On: 11/2/12 at 09:08 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/1/12 at 9:24pm

I always wondered why a relatively well known actress like Miss Anne Francis had so little screen time in this film. Now I know why. I don't think her cut scenes will be restored. I think they are strictly sticking to the theatrical release version.

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 3:00am

Really? So good that she stole the scenes from what critics called one of te most accomplished film debut's ever? In what world? The movie was called Funny Girl, not Georgia.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 6:36am

I didn't think this movie was in desperate need of restoration. The DVD looks pretty good (enough). Unlike "Cabaret," which has looked terrible for years.

I'm glad it's getting a spit-and-polish, though. Now those 1920s beehive hairdos will really shine!

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 7:35am

"Really? So good that she stole the scenes from what critics called one of te most accomplished film debut's ever? In what world? The movie was called Funny Girl, not Georgia."

The movie was called "Funny Girl," not the scene. Bette Henritze stole a scene from Maggie Smith and Maggie Tyzack every night in Lettice and Lovage (not Framer and Lovage). But unlike Streisand (reportedly), Smith and Tyzack didn't mind.

[AnthVoice2010]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 2:53pm

Anne Francis could have given a performance for the ages...would anyone have cared?

That's was the main problem with "Funny Girl" from the first preview in Boston in 1964 to the film in 1968.

As one Boston critic wrote, "When the girl (Streisand was 21) is off the stage for any prolonged period of time - you wonder where she is and when she's coming back".

"Funny Girl" was not a show meant to be "balanced" It rose and fell on a singular talent. Otherwise, you'd be able to revive it.

I'm sure Anne would have been a delight - again - no one would have cared.

..as for Streisand being so powerful she could demand editing changes - she didn't protest her cut scenes from "The Way we Were". These were scenes that would have won her that Oscar and really are the finest moments of acting she ever had on screen.

If she couldn't fight for those scenes in 1974 (when she was the biggest female movie star in the world), I doubt she was allowed into the editing bay in 1968.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 3:09pm

^I would assume Francis's purported scene stealing from Streisand occured when Streisand was on screen in the same scene, in the same way Medford arguably stole two scenes from Streisand (and got an oscar nomination for doing so even though her musical role was all but completely cut from the film).

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 11/2/12 at 3:13pm

Hopefully this restoration will lead to a Blu-ray release. And hopefully said blu-ray will INCLUDE the full Swan Dance heavily edited from the film but shown at a gala for William Wyler by Streisand herself!!!

[justoldbill]

Posted: 11/4/12 at 11:05am

For those wondering, Anne Francis' big (cut) scene in the film, as found in the film's paperback novelization, involved her character's decision, late in the story, to recognize her time as a Ziegfeld girl is passing her by (she drinks, you know). I seem to recall this scene also involving Mrs. Brice, and motivates her to urge Fanny to start being more honest with things in her own life.

No doubt by this time, the audience just isn't that interested in the character of Georgia James (and the film is already TOO long) and needs to focus on Fanny and Nick. This seems to have been the same fate of Allyn Ann McLerie, who was written out of the stage play on the road. No doubt, all the trims in Miss Francis' screen time happened AFTER the matter of her billing was settled.

I should imagine if all the cut elements of the film were restored, the film would end up being as long as Wyler's own BEN-HUR, and NOT as good. In any case, I've always enjoyed the stage version of FUNNY GIRL much more.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/4/12 at 11:43am

- she didn't protest her cut scenes from "The Way we Were". These were scenes that would have won her that Oscar and really are the finest moments of acting she ever had on screen.

...and still no one really cares.