Product: Funny Girl [VHS] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
FAB treatment to a Musical Classic! Barbra shines!
I've been waiting for this new version of FUNNY GIRL since the announcement of a possible 30th Annivesary release back in 1998. I am glad Columbia waited and perfected the necessary to present this fabulous version with restored picture and sound. I went to see the limited re-release at the Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC on 9/8 (albeit we had a hack of a projectionist who was a last minute substitute for the regular one that didn't show up). This road-show edition adds back the Overture in its full version (as heard on the Quad copy of the soundtrack album vs. the edited on on the Stereo album and CD), the Intermission and second act music, as well as the Exit music over new credits regarding the restoration after the regular credits. The new technicolor print is glorious. Even on the big screen, the clarity was unbelievable. Watching the heartbreaking MY MAN at the end on the DVD, I actually for the first time saw the tears coming down Fanny's face as she sang....that's how much clarity.The Widescreen edition lets you see the entire spectrum which make some scenes more logical vs. pan-scan. The songs and incidental music is the best quality, even surpassing the digitally remastered CD issued a few years ago. From what I understood originally, I was expecting a "deleted scenes" section or "director's cut" version that would show some outtakes, specifically 3 scenes (early in the film where Nick just lost a fortune, moved into a tenament, learned he just made another bankroll and went back to a swanky hotel; the full 9 minute or so SWAN LAKE sequence; and a scene with Anne Francis in the Arnstein apartment telling Fanny off just prior to the part where Fanny is on the phone, hangs up and her mother asks he if she ever butted into her life). These did not make it on the DVD or recut into the film. However, there are the treats of 2 pre-opening featurettes on where they filmed the train depot sequences and Don't Rain on My Parade, as well as another featurette called THIS IS STREISAND. You will also be amazed that in the beginning, after a montage of scenes from the film, an animation of lights come up recreating the marquee that you see in the beginning of the film, then listing your choices. The new bright-pink box also makes sure "you see it". Fans of this film, and novices wanting to see it for the first time, don't bother with a VHS. Get this one!