The bookshop salesgirl Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn) is accidentally found by the photograph Dick Avery (Fred Astaire),who convinces the owner of the fashion magazine Quality, the powerful Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson),that she could be the new model she wants for the magazine. Jo dreams on going to Paris to meet her guru, the philosopher Prof. Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair),but she cannot afford to pay for the travel; therefore she sees in the invitation, the chance to visit Paris. Once there, Dick falls in love for her.

"Funny Face" has a great cinematography, art direction, set decoration, costume design and most important, a charming and delightful Audrey Hepburn. Kay Thompson is also excellent. The problem is the silly screenplay that shows at least two great mistakes. The first one is the inconsistent and contradictory character Jo Stockton, presented as an intelligent and clever woman in the beginning, but later becoming absolutely shallow, acting like an irresponsible spoiled child. The second big mistake is Fred Astaire (58),thirty years old older than Audrey Hepburn (28),therefore more than twice her age, as her romantic pair. This great actor looks like her father, and there is no romantic chemistry between them. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Cinderela em Paris" ("Cinderella in Paris")

I was surprised at how much I loved Funny Face. It looks beautiful, with stunning locations(Paris especially looks gorgeous),splendid costumes and sets and ravishing photography. George and Ira Gershwin's songs are superb, I especially loved Funny Face and How Long Has This Been Going On?, and the incidental music is suitably mellow, while the story is wonderfully romantic if very simple and the script sparkles with wit.

Stanley Donen's direction is credible, and the choreography fits each musical sequence very nicely, especially that of He Loves, She Loves which is beautifully filmed and Audrey Hepburn is so elegant in this scene. The performances add a lot to this film. Fred Astaire is charming and debonair and acts, sings and dances very well. Audrey Hepburn is beautiful and very beguiling, while Kay Thompson also stands out which is no easy feat considering she is up against two greats. In regards to the chemistry and the age difference between Astaire and Hepburn, I had no problem with the age difference and I thought the two worked really well together.

However, Funny Face does have a few scenes that I am not all that fond of. One is the Clap Yo' Hands routine, it's well performed and choreographed but to me it was also very dated and humourless. The main ones are the ones with the ridicule of Emile Flostre, which came across as very anti-intellectual and very atypical of Donen.

Overall though, it is a very nice film and great fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Funny Face originally started out as a project at Arthur Freed's unit at MGM. The idea was to borrow Audrey Hepburn from Paramount, but as the pre-production was going, the negotiations for Audrey's services bogged down and the film was ready to start without her. Arthur Freed got inpatient with the whole thing and was ready to move on to something else. So the whole package, Fred Astaire and all, was sent to Paramount, even with the services of MGM house composer and arranger, Roger Edens. The something else that Freed was getting involved with was Gigi.

So Funny Face has the unique distinction of the greatest Arthur Freed film made NOT by Arthur Freed. It certainly has the MGM stamp of professionalism about it.

It's original score came from a show written by the Gershwin brothers way back in 1927 which starred Fred and Adele Astaire. The best songs in this film are of course from George and Ira, such classics as How Long Has This Been Going On, He Loves and She Loves, S'Wonderful, Clap Yo Hands, and the title song. The songs by Roger Edens and Leonard Gershe interpolated in the Gershwin score are serviceable, nothing more.

I remember back in the day when all the controversy surrounding Audrey Hepburn and her dubbed voice for My Fair Lady was going on. Apparently Jack Warner had forgotten that Audrey had done her own singing and dancing in Funny Face. She does it quite well and of course with Fred Astaire to partner with, how could it be anything else, but marvelous.

The plot of the original stage version of Funny Face has absolutely nothing to do with what you see on the screen. This version has Fred Astaire as a fashion photographer working for publisher Kay Thompson who has the idea to have a shoot at a bohemian type bookstore in Greenwich Village. Plain Audrey Hepburn manages the place and she gets discovered there. But her head is filled with meeting an influential French philosopher played by Michel Auclair. Of course it ain't philosophy Auclair has on his mind when he meets Audrey eventually.

Meryl Streep for her performance in The Devil Wears Prada must have seen Kay Thompson who steals the film from both stars when she's on screen. My favorite moment in the film is when Thompson and the entire magazine entourage comes into Hepburn's sleepy bookstore and just takes the place over. Thompson was better known for nightclub and radio and she discovered and promoted the Williams Brothers Quartet which included youngest member Andy.

For fans of Audrey, Fred, and the brothers Gershwin which combined must number in the billions. S'Wonderful film.