Vantiy Fair, DVDs
A few days ago N.Y. Times DVD columnist Dave Kehr suckered me into buying the just-released DVD of Stanley Donen's Funny Face. I hate glossy-synthetic '50s musicals -- I've known that for years-- and yet I allowed the smooth-talking, snake-oil-selling Kehr to lead me down the garden path.
This is the second time I've bought a disc based on a Kehr recommendation that I suspected deep down I wouldn't like (the first being the Criterion Collection DVD of John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln), and which I traded in later on. Kehr is a superb writer, but he's a bit of an old-school sentimentalist. Never again.
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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 7, 2007 at 5:21 PM
comment #1
Nate West
says ...
How can anyone be surprised that a 50's musical starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire is a bit "old-school" and "sentimental"?
Fred Astaire. Old school. Sentimental.
I'm shocked, shocked.
Posted by Nate West
at October 7, 2007 6:29 PM
comment #2
Joel
says ...
Hey, I just watched "The Host" last night. Great movie! Have you watched it?
Posted by Joel
at October 7, 2007 6:50 PM
comment #3
TheJeff
says ...
Do you prefer the new school sentimentality of IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH and THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE?
It's hardly fair to blame Dave Kehr for your poor taste in cinema.
Posted by TheJeff
at October 7, 2007 6:54 PM
comment #4
Larry
says ...
Funny Face is better than all but a handful of films to have been released in the last decade.
Posted by Larry
at October 7, 2007 7:36 PM
comment #5
lipranzer
says ...
I can understand you not liking FUNNY FACE (again, just ignore the silliness of the plot, and focus on the charm of the performances, the lush colors, and the great Gerswhin score), but YOUNG MR. LINCOLN? Really? I certainly don't rank it as high as, say, Eisenstein (according to the Criterion booklet, it's his favorite John Ford film), but it is well made and largely free of the stuffiness of many biopics of that era (like, say, THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA, THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR, or THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, to name a few). And Henry Fonda is fine as Lincoln.
Posted by lipranzer
at October 7, 2007 7:51 PM
comment #6
BurmaShave
says ...
I probably wouldn't buy it, by FUNNY FACE is damn near perfect.
Posted by BurmaShave
at October 7, 2007 9:25 PM
comment #7
bagelfilm
says ...
How many complimentary dvds do you get each months? Press people get them free by the dozen, as opposed to the normal guy who really has to buy each.
Posted by bagelfilm
at October 7, 2007 10:53 PM
comment #8
Chris D.
says ...
If you have a problem with it, Jeff, send it to me.
Posted by Chris D.
at October 8, 2007 6:34 AM
comment #9
Chuck Latovich
says ...
Hepburn, Astaire, Paris, Gershwin. And you feel suckered? Sometimes people forget why they started going to the movies in the first place.
Posted by Chuck Latovich
at October 8, 2007 7:11 AM
comment #10
ArchiveGuy
says ...
FF is the second best Donen musical from that year, with the superior "The Pajama Game" being on top. Unfortunately, the DVD transfer mutes many of the colors and is in dire need for a full restoration, but it's a smart, progressive, marvelous musical that's hardly Old School or Sentimental (Doris Day isn't even virginal in this one).
And I have to say that the first half of YML is quite lovely, but it soon turns into a 19th century Perry Mason episode with the rather stupid courtroom hijinks. It's not enough for him to defend his client--watch Honest Abe unmask the real killer!
Posted by ArchiveGuy
at October 8, 2007 9:48 AM
comment #11
nemo
says ...
"Hepburn, Astaire, Paris, Gershwin. And you feel suckered?"
Still photography and titles by Richard Avedon.
Posted by nemo
at October 8, 2007 10:14 AM
comment #12
dixiedugan
says ...
Holy shit, if that's the way you feel about it, like Chris D - send it my way. And since you are in such a giving mood...if you get that John Ford set free and don't want it, I'll take that too.
Posted by dixiedugan
at October 8, 2007 12:34 PM