This is a fun movie and I like FUNNY FACE. We watch it whenever it's on TV. I've read that Audrey Hepburn couldn't do GIGI because she had committed to doing this movie or she passed on it. She had done GIGI on Broadway and the writer Collette hand picked her for the role. I'm sure she was very good but I think that Leslie Caron was the best choice anyway. FUNNY FACE shows Paris just ten years or so after the end of WWII at a time when just being an American could open doors. Although the city was still a bit sooty this is a perfect travelogue for French tourism. Paris is the most beautiful and exciting city in the world and is the real star of this film. Audrey burst on to the scene with a new look, heavy brows and a 98 pound frame. I shudder to think how this hot new look would have translated to GIGI. I believe I've read that Fred Astaire came out of retirement at age 59 to do this movie. I don't mean to be unkind but she was 29, I mean come on, a thirty year difference in their ages? He was never really a singer and neither was Audrey so I suppose they were well matched in this movie. The fashions for the most part were very good except for that blue bedspread the wore to see Flostre the night of the big show. Some of the music and dance numbers are overly long but all in all this is a pleasant movie that I would recommend to anyone.
Review of Funny Face
