Funny Girl On Blu Ray- Page 3

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/7/13 at 9:41pm

Holy Sh!t Snacks!

I ordered them yesterday and they are here today! That was fast! I guess I'm having a Babs night, tonight!

[suestorm]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 10:35am

anne francis was a beautiful actress,
Babs was probably smart for getting her cut out of her scenes..

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 6:00pm

^^^She's also wonderfully warm in the film. I can't think of many other performances in musicals that stand out so well WITHOUT singing, dancing or doing broad comedy.

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 06:00 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 6:27pm

I don't think she stands out at all. She has maybe four lines in the whole movie, and disappears not long after she's introduced.

It's not even a decent cameo. It amounts to a glorified extra.

She was right to sue to have her name removed.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 7:55pm

I only know who she was because of FUNNY GIRL, best12. That's pretty memorable for a role that was chopped to bits. But this is just my impression. Obviously, we can and should agree to disagree.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:07pm

You only know Anne Francis from FUNNY GIRL? For shame...she was in the sci-fi classic FORBIDDEN PLANET and was immortalized in the cult television series, HONEY WEST.

She was utterly wasted in FUNNY GIRL and I don't blame her for suing, what they did to her part was not only un-fair but utterly disrespectful to her.

If the stories are true that Barbra had her scenes deleted then that says a whole helluva lot more about Streisand than it ever will about Anne Francis.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:10pm

Oh, I don't blame Francis for suing either. I'm just saying she stood out to me in a show where all the supporting roles were pretty much eliminated from the screenplay or cut to bits in the editing bay.

(I was too young to see HONEY WEST and I've only seen FORBIDDEN PLANET once, on black and white TV. I realize the latter is a travesty.)

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:10 PM

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:10pm

It says about Barbra how fierce and driven she is, IMO.

Anne suing says the same about her. Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:10 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:16pm

Really allthatjazz. is that what it says to you? Because to me it screams of someone who was extremely insecure and threatened.

If someone is sure of themselves they don't stoop to those kind of tactics.

You need to re-think your definition of "fierce" and "driven" because those are not the actions of someone who is "fierce" and "driven". Insecure, immature, paranoid and threatened maybe, "fierce" and "driven"...no. Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:16 PM

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:23pm

My definition of those words can be applied to anyone who knows for sure where they want to be and will do whatever they have to do in order to get there.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:24pm

"If someone is sure of themselves they don't stoop to those kind of tactics."

Now Carlos... what is wrong with tactics? She did win a Oscar and the movie was a hit. Whatever she did... it worked. Ms Thing don't tell me you wouldn't have clawed your way to a Oscar either.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:31pm

^ Exactly!!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:38pm

SMDH...Oh lord. You've got to be friggin' kidding me with this, right?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:43pm

My definition of those words can be applied to anyone who knows for sure where they want to be and will do whatever they have to do in order to get there.

If someone is talented. They are talented...PERIOD. Streisand was a force to be reckoned with...she didn't have to resort to cutting someone else's scenes to get noticed in a film that she was the star of.

Those actions reek of someone who is insecure, desperate and manipulative.

But whatever the case may be Barbra has her Oscar (well deserved or not) and Anne Francis is long gone...let her rest in peace as I will this thread.

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:43 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:47pm

"let her rest in peace as I will this thread."

She'll always be part of the midnight movie crowd, thanks to her mention in the chorus of "Science Fiction Double Feature."

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:48pm

Sadly, you don't make it on talent alone, you also need malice.

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:48 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 8:52pm

^ PATHETIC. That is all. Good night!

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 08:52 PM

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:03pm

Good Night!

[DAME]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:10pm

Oh come on Papi. Don't be that way. I love me some Anne Francis. And I love me some Babs. Showbiz is not for pussi*es. LOVE FOR ALL.


"Sadly, you don't make it on talent alone, you also need malice. "

Who said anything about malice?

Updated On: 5/8/13 at 09:10 PM

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:24pm

Perhaps malice is not the right word, I was thinking of malicia.

Astuteness would be a better word choice.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:25pm

So my comments last night did not show up in a lot of threads (thanks, iPad) but my comment was about Barbra's performance in hindsight versus the other nominees. We forget that she and Hepburn for The Lion in Winter tied. Babs took the stage as Hepburn did not show up so it was just her show. Even in hindsight, you can understand why the Academy zeroed in on just those two performances as despite a good field of actresses only Fanny Brice and Queen Eleanor endure as characters (and little to do with the fact they are dramatized versions of real people). Hepburn was in a most stronger movie overall but Streisand needs to be credited with carrying a picture. There are plenty of Best Actress who win for not entirely great movies, credited with the notion that without them the movie would sink. That distinction is almost thrown around too liberally (mostly because of what passes as Oscar-worthy performances) but this is a textbook case of a movie without such a performance sinking to the bottom.

I agree that Hello, Dolly! was a much stronger, more enjoyable movie to watch. That and The Way We Were (followed by A Star is Born, that I found tedious at the age of 8 years old) was my gateway into Barbra Streisand.

As far as those tactics on Streisand and Anne Francis, to me that is an Old Wives tale and I have heard various incarnations of the same story (note it is the star ACTRESS and the supporting player ACTRESS that are always at the center of these rumors). Here are a few I have heard in the same instances:

Kelly McGillis' part in The Accused was cut down in The Accused thanks to Jodie Foster

Christine Lahti's part in Swing Shift was cut down by Goldie Hawn (truth be told everything got cut down with Hawn as a driving force but oddly, Kurt Russell and Holly Hunter both got the short ends of the stick in that case)

Beverly D'Angelo in Coal Miner's Daughter cut down by Sissy Spacek because D'Angelo's turn as Patsy Cline supposedly was the one turning heads in the making

The circumstances of Anne Francis' part being cut are simple. The movie was LONG and SLOW as molasses. How could a newcomer in Streisand have that much sway in an era where the studios knew musicals were popular commercially and critically? Why are we all buying the actually pretty sexist notion that an outspoken female artist was out of control on set and intimidated by any other woman on-screen? Why are we actually believing that William Wyler of all people got pushed around and that he accepted that? Wyler and Editor Raymond Swink denied any charge that Streisand had any say in the final cut.



Updated On: 5/8/13 at 09:25 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 9:57pm

I agree with stummergirl's assessment of the "myth."

Streisand was in no position to throw her weight around on her very first film. They almost didn't cast her in it because she wasn't a "bankable" movie star. They wanted Doris Day for the part (no, I'm not joking).

So the studio was finally talked into green-lighting Streisand to reprise her stage role. She had zero clout as a film actress on this movie. She had a reputation as a singing star, a Broadway star, and a TV star ... but not a film star.

Her director was the legendary William Wyler, and she also says that the myths about her directing herself are untrue. She learned a lot while making the movie, and Wyler (and also Robert Wise) had a reputation of letting actors "do their thing" in front of the camera. They rarely made creative suggestions to the actors. When something wasn't working, they said, "Do it again." They didn't micro-manage the cast.

I'm sure it was Wyler (and perhaps the studio) who saw a rough cut of the (hugely bloated) film, and started cutting away at anything that wasn't essential. Both Wyler and Wise really "directed" their movies in post-production, working closely with their editors.

What was clear to all involved with "Funny Girl" was that Streisand was giving an electrifying screen performance. So her scenes were "essential," and everything else got trimmed or cut entirely.

She, however, had no say in that whatsoever.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/8/13 at 10:39pm

Agreed. Old wives tales.

[DAME]

Posted: 5/12/13 at 7:51pm

Interesting piece on the restoration.
Restoration