Funny Girl/Funny Lady (DVD)

...the 1968 Oscar Winning musical Funny Girl. This first film follows Jewish girl Fanny Brice as she strives to become a star. Audiences come to love Fanny as she amazes them with her comic antics and her powerful singing voice. As she becomes a major success in her career, her personal life as it's ups and downs. Fanny falls in love with gambler Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif). He romances her and they eventually marry, however this film doesn't have a ...
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The sequel to Funny Girl is the 1975 film 'Funny Lady' (very original title!). The sequel focusses on Fanny's life after Nick Arnstein. Fanny meets Billy Rose (played by James Caan), who is a song writer and Broadway producer. The pair work together and also become lovers. However, unlike the first film, this film focusses too much on her career rather than her personal life. It's still a good film but does not live up to the fantastic Funny ... more

Barbara Streisand reprises her Broadway role of Fanny Brice in the 1968 Oscar Winning musical Funny Girl. This first film follows Jewish girl Fanny Brice as she strives to become a star. Audiences come to love Fanny as she amazes them with her comic antics and her powerful singing voice. As she becomes a major success in her career, her personal life as it's ups and downs. Fanny falls in love with gambler Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif). He romances her and they eventually marry, however this film doesn't have a romantic ending as Nick's gambling gets out of hand and he is arrested. Nick can't handle Fanny's success and the pair eventually divorce.

One of my favourite moments in the film is when Fanny sings about being beautiful and so dresses up as a pregnant lady as she doesn't feel confident enough to sing about herself in a serious way!!

This is a great musical - full of laughs and tears! The songs are great and Streisand is amazing. What a voice!!

The sequel to Funny Girl is the 1975 film 'Funny Lady' (very original title!). The sequel focusses on Fanny's life after Nick Arnstein. Fanny meets Billy Rose (played by James Caan), who is a song writer and Broadway producer. The pair work together and also become lovers. However, unlike the first film, this film focusses too much on her career rather than her personal life. It's still a good film but does not live up to the fantastic Funny Girl. The character of Fanny has changed - she has lost much of her charm. However, this may well be seen as realistic as her turbulent relationship with Nick Arnstein has made her more wary.

Highlites of the sequal are the musical productions - SPECTACULAR!!

CAST
Barbra Streisand - Fanny Brice
Omar Sharif - Nick Arnstein
Kay Medford - Rose Brice
Anne Francis - Georgia James
Walter Pidgeon - Florenz Ziegfeld
James Caan - Billy Rose

AWARDS

Barbara won an Oscar for her performance as Fanny Brice in the original movie and the film was also nominated for a further 7 awards that it didn't win. The film was also nominated for three BAFTAs.

Although Funny Lady did not really enjoy the same level of success as the original movie, it did get nominated for 5 Oscars and 6 Golden Globe Awards. Unfortunately it didn't win any of these awards.

I highly recommend watching Funny Girl. This set can be bought for £9.99 from Play.com. Features include 'Barbra in Movie Land' Featurette and 'This is Streisand' Featurette . There are also filmographies aon bothDVds and some great song highlights! Definitely worth watching!
 

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