Product: Funny Girl [VHS] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
Beyond her vanity lies real genius
Legendary director William Wyler brought out the very best in Barbra Streisand in this 1968 adaption of her Broadway hit. He had a lot of help from veteran cinematographer Harry Stradling, who photographed her so beautifully that you believe it when she looks in the mirror and says, "Hello Gorgeous." She looks great throughout the film and defines the meaning of a "Movie Star." I was surprised though at how many slow moments occur in the later part of the film when her marrriage to gambler Nick Arnstein begins to unravel.Funny Girl is an artist at her peak collaborating with other great artists. In later years, she took to running the show herself, sometimes to good effect with The Prince of Tides and also to bad with the utterly inconsequential Mirror has Two Faces.But hey... any artist deserves to spread his/her wings. I just hope Babs makes a few more films of this calibre before she retires.