Director: William Wyler
Screenplay: Isobel Lennart
Based on a Musical Play by: Isobel Lennart
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen, Mae Questel, Gerald Mohr
Year: 1968
Country: USA
BBFC Certification: U (TBC – disc may have a higher rating)
Duration: 155 min
Barbra Streisand shot to fame in the 1960s, at a relatively young age. After some attention-grabbing theatrical performances and TV appearances, she signed a contract with Columbia Records when she was only 21 and her debut album, ‘The Barbra Streisand Album’, went on to win three Grammy Awards.
The following year, Streisand secured a role in the musical play ‘Funny Girl’, reportedly facing stiff competition from several big names. Based on the life of entertainer Fanny Brice, the play was a big hit and gained the actress a Tony nomination when she was still only 22.
Streisand’s success and ambition wouldn’t stop there though. A few years later, Ray Stark, the producer of ‘Funny Girl’ and Fanny Brice’s son-in-law, decided to turn the play into a film and Streisand was asked to reprise her acclaimed performance for the big screen.
Much like the stage version, the film Funny Girl was a huge success, winning Streisand an Oscar for her debut film performance, and, in adding another string to Streisand’s bow, it launched her star into the stratosphere.
Criterion are now adding the film to their collection on both UHD & Blu-ray. I got hold of a copy and my thoughts follow.
As mentioned, Funny Girl is a biographical musical drama that tells the story of Fanny Brice (Streisand), a vibrant and talented young woman who rises from humble beginnings to become a Broadway star. The film follows her journey from a struggling vaudeville performer to a beloved Ziegfeld Follies girl, showcasing her comedic talent and powerful vocals.
Central to the narrative is Brice’s tumultuous relationship with Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif), a charming but troubled gambler. Their passionate love affair is both exhilarating and destructive.
As Brice’s fame grows, she faces challenges both personal and professional. She must navigate the complexities of her relationship with Arnstein, the demands of her career, and the expectations of her family and friends. Through it all, Brice remains determined to pursue her dreams and find happiness, even as her world seems to be falling apart.
The play/film seems like it was written for Streisand, despite being based on the life of another entertainer. The lead role fits her like a glove, due to both Streisand and Brice using their talent and drive to become a star on their own terms, despite unconventional looks and relatively modest Jewish backgrounds.
And Funny Girl is absolutely the Barbra Streisand show. She’s mesmerising to watch, exuding charm and delivering both powerful vocal performances and successful comedy routines. Having played the role on Broadway and on the West End to great praise for a couple of years, she must have been incredibly confident performing it once more and it shows. If the interview with the actress included on this disc is accurate, it sounds like she had a lot of say in the film too.
The highly decorated director William Wyler was in charge though. He made an incredible range of films throughout his career but Funny Girl, which came near the end of this, was his first full-blown musical feature. Quite the achievement given he’d lost much of his hearing after WWII.
Wyler had made the epic Ben-Hur a few years prior to this and brings some of that lavish quality to the screen in Funny Girl. Sets and costumes are handsomely realised and there’s a great use of movement both from the camera and the cast. ‘The Swan’ scene has a particularly impressive use of a camera crane that not only glides across two planes but tilts from side to side, giving a woozy sense of flying through the air. The showstopping ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ song also features some eye-poppingly ambitious helicopter shots that fly in from wide to close to reveal Streisand singing the song on both a moving train and a tugboat.
However, the grand spectacle of Funny Girl and its superb central performance didn’t keep me hooked throughout the length of the film, unfortunately. I enjoyed the first half a great deal, but I lost interest a little as it went on. Whilst the film’s two-and-a-half hour running time is considerable, I wouldn’t call it overlong though. I just found the film lacked drama. The basic crux of the story is the troubled relationship between Brice and Arnstein, and I didn’t feel this was interesting enough to get invested in. Their marital problems don’t really kick in until later on and they feel relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Plus, Arnstein is so often jetting off, you don’t feel like Brice would miss him that much.
Perhaps Sharif, as charming as he is as Arnstein, simply isn’t charismatic enough to match Streisand as Brice, meaning the audience doesn’t really care if he stays or goes. Either way, the relationship the film is built on felt a little unengaging to me.
The second half, whilst narratively unsatisfying, in my opinion, does contain some striking scenes though. Most of the singing in the film is lip-synced, but not the ‘My Man’ performance that caps off the film. This gives that song an emotional intensity that adds great power to the denouement.
Overall then, whilst I felt the story and drama were a little lacking, it’s hard to deny the power of Streisand’s performance here and the production design and cinematography make it easy on the eye. As such, it’s mostly a pleasure to watch, even if I was left wanting a little more.
Film: 
Funny Girl is out on 9th December on 4K UHD & Blu-Ray in the UK, released by The Criterion Collection. I watched the Blu-ray disc and the film looks gorgeous. It’s a detailed, natural picture with pleasingly rich colours and well-balanced tones. Audio is rich and clear too.
* The version of the film included on the discs contains the prelude music (played over a black screen for a few minutes) and interval (also over a black screen).
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
– 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
– One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
– New audio interview with star Barbra Streisand
– New conversation between director William Wyler’s son David and author and Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone
– Directed by William Wyler (1986), a documentary on Wyler’s life and career
– Archival interview with actor Omar Sharif
– Deleted scene featuring Streisand and Sharif
– Featurettes from the original theatrical release
– English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– PLUS: An essay by author and film critic Michael Koresky
– Cover based on an original theatrical poster
There’s a 40-minute audio interview with Barbra Streisand included on the disc which plays out over archival photos and film clips. She talks about how she came on to the project and her experiences in making the play and the film. Being such a turning point for the actress, Funny Girl clearly meant a lot to her, so it’s a passionate interview. She speaks particularly fondly of William Wyler.
The longest extra is an hour-long documentary about Wyler. I enjoyed this a great deal. It covers his whole career and includes interviews with the director himself as well as an incredible array of big names who’d worked with him over the decades.
David Wyler also talks about his father in a separate 27-minute interview. He was on set at times during the production of Funny Girl, so has some memory of that, though he talks more generally about William Wyler’s work and life.
There’s also an interview with Omar Sharif. He talks with good humour about his career, including quite a few stories about Funny Girl.
One deleted scene is included too. I actually thought the film could have benefitted from this being left in, as it develops the central marital problems a little further and earlier on in the story.
Also included are some archival promotional featurettes. It’s quite interesting to see how these were done back then, even if they are rather ‘fluffy’. One focuses on the shooting of the ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ song and shows plenty of behind-the-scenes material, which is a pleasure to watch. Another piece looks at the costumes and consists largely of test footage.
I didn’t receive a copy of the booklet, unfortunately.
So, Criterion have compiled an excellent package for the film. Fans of Streisand and musicals in general would be advised to pick it up.
Disc/Package:
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