Funny Girl Details

In his excellent autobiography, Charlton Heston recalls asking director William Wyler if he had any problems with Barbra Streisand on Funny Girl. “Nah, not really,” said Wyler, “considering it's the first film she ever directed.” This was a spectacular switch from stage to screen for Streisand, replicating her Broadway triumph as legendary entertainer Fanny Brice. Streisand's bravura performance earned her a joint Oscar for best actress (she shared the honour with Katharine Hepburn) and the film was nominated for a further seven, including best score and best song. This is a marvellous musical comedy, tracing Brice's rise from vaudeville to the Ziegfeld Follies by way of a troubled marriage to gambler Nick Arnstein, and Streisand is given fine support by the ultra-smooth Omar Sharif. It was the great Wyler's penultimate picture and his first attempt at a musical; its success led to a sequel, Funny Lady, seven years later.

Interminable cliché-ridden musical drama relieved by a few good numbers, high production gloss and the unveiling of a new powerhouse star.