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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Funny Lady (1975)

Funny Lady (1975)

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Released 23-Apr-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Musical Menu Audio
Music Highlights
Trailer-The Prince Of Tides
Filmographies-Cast & Crew
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1975
Running Time 132:23
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (63:10) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Herbert Ross
Studio
Distributor

Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Barbra Streisand
James Caan
Roddy McDowall
Ben Vereen
Carole Wells
Omar Sharif
Case ?
RPI Box Music John Kander
Fred Ebbs


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 3.0 L-C-R (384Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Dutch
Arabic
Bulgarian
Czech
Danish
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Turkish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    This is the second half of the (dramatised) story of the life of Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand). The first half is the movie Funny Girl, made three years before this one — scenes from Funny Girl are shown under the opening credits to remind us of some of the things that happened. If you haven't seen the previous movie you will probably understand most of this one, but you won't get the whole story. Better you should watch that movie before this one.

    Like Funny Girl, this is a musical about a singer / dancer / comedienne. So we get songs that are being performed as part of the story (being performed or rehearsed), and we get songs that are stuck in as part of this musical — you'll understand when you see them, probably better than I can explain the difference.

    This movie picks up where Funny Girl left off, just after Nick left Fanny. The first significant event is Fanny receiving the final decree of divorce.

    This film starts in the Great Depression, and even Fanny Brice is out of work when the show she's in closes. She's talking to her banker when a brash young man breaks in, claiming to be bringing a milk shake to the banker. He introduces himself as Billy Rose (James Caan). The only talent he shows off in this minute is the ability to take dictation at high speed. When she next bumps into him, she discovers that he owns a nightclub, that he's a talented song-writer, and that he is even more brash than she thought at first sight. However, the songs are good enough that she decides to record one. Then he persuades her to star in a show he manages to put together. The opening night of the show is a disaster (and actually quite funny to watch, if you don't empathise too much with the performers), but they manage to fix things during the road tour, including improving a couple of numbers starring Bert Robbins (Ben Vereen - it's a shame he only gets to do a couple of numbers). Things get more successful for them, and they get closer. But hanging over their relationship is the spectre of Nick (Omar Sharif, looking a lot heavier in this movie than in the previous one), her first and most passionate love.

    I wasn't aware that James Caan could sing, but he can, and play the piano. He's not in the same league as La Streisand, but then he only gets to sing a little bit; she gets to sing a lot, including a couple of quite silly songs (I God A Cold in By Dose is a favourite)

    This is not really a sequel so much as it is part two of a two-part story. You don't have to see this film after the first one, but it does bring a sense of closure. Recommended.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    This film is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. That's the original and intended aspect ratio, which is good.

    The image is a little soft, due to film grain that ranges from light to medium throughout the film. Shadow detail is limited, but adequate. There is no low level noise.

    Colour is fairly well rendered (although there are occasional slightly orange skin tones), albeit rather more intense than I expected — so many films of the mid-1970s look faded today; this one doesn't. There are no significant film artefacts.

    There are numerous tiny film artefacts, mostly so small they are barely visible on a regular TV. There are a few that will be visible, but they won't be too annoying: small white flecks and specks. There are no hairs, tears, or larger artefacts at least.

    There is almost nothing in the way of aliasing or moiré — I think the softness covers that. There are no obvious MPEG errors, either.

    There are subtitles in 21 languages, including English. I only watched the English. They are easy to read, well-timed to the dialogue, and no less accurate than usual; unfortunately, they don't subtitle the songs.

    The disc is single-sided and dual layered, formatted RSDL. The layer change is at 63:10, at a break between scenes — it is not at all obvious.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The soundtrack is provided in five languages, but I only listened to the English. It's unusual, being a Dolby Digital 3.0 (at 384kbps) track — it uses the left, centre, and right channels only. Given that there are plenty of 5.1 soundtracks out there that only use these channels, you can regard this as nothing more than a bit more honesty than usual.

    The dialogue and singing are mostly clear and readily understood, although a couple of lines are very quiet. The only definite audio sync gaffe I spotted comes at 68:38, where we're hearing Barbra Streisand singing while she has her mouth closed.

    The music and lyrics are credited to John Kander and Fred Ebbs, without differentiation. There are some excellent numbers, but a few less-wonderful efforts too.

    The surrounds and subwoofer aren't used — they don't get any signal from a 3.0 track like this one. You might hear some sound from the subwoofer, but that will only be bass from the amplifier's bass management.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    The extras are quite limited

Menu

    The menus are static with some music — they are easy enough to use.

Song Highlights

    This is nothing more than a set of shortcuts into the movie to play particular songs:

Trailer: Prince of Tides (2:57)

    A trailer for another Barbra Streisand movie.

Filmographies

    Three-page filmographies for each of director Herbert Ross, Barbra Streisand, and James Caan.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 1 version of this disc sounds essentially the same as this Region 4 disc; the same extras, and a similar decent but not stellar transfer - it even has the same 3.0 soundtrack.

Summary

    A comedy/drama musical given a decent presentation on DVD.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good enough.

    There is not much in the way of extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Tony Rogers (bio-degrading: making a fool of oneself in a bio...)
Friday, October 24, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVC-A1SE
SpeakersFront Left, Centre, Right: Krix Euphonix; Rears: Krix KDX-M; Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5

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