Few have been able to wake up one day and discover they are famous overnight. Lord Byron was one - he discovered that his poetry opened the floodgates to fame that his title had never opened (Byron's family was prominent, but not of the aristocratic elite of the early 19th Century). For our purposes it was Barbara Streisand. She had worked hard in productions, most notably in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE, where she sang "Miss Marblestein". Then she got the role of Fanny Brice, the great Ziegfeld Follies comedienne and star of the turn of the century, and she was a star on Broadway. She got the role in the movies, and won (in the only tie vote for "Best Actress" in Academy Award History) the "Best Actress" Oscar with the same role. I may add, although she has won another Oscar for "Love Soft as an Easy Chair" in her version of A STAR IS BORN, she has never been the recipient of another Oscar for an acting award since then, nor has she been nominated for her three directing jobs (YENTL, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, and THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES). Despite that she did become "the greatest star".
Streisand's insistence on doing her films her way has become legendary, and has built up a negative image legend of egomania gone amok. That her ideas have worked out to be successful more frequently than not is overlooked. It shouldn't be.
FUNNY GIRL was directed by William Wyler, and Wyler was notorious for doing his films his way until they were gotten right. He would do and redo a scene for the closest thing to perfection he could get. It is notable that he and Streisand did not end up at loggerheads on the set but worked pretty nicely together. It is as though they understood precisely what would work for the film in the same way.
Streisand is quite gifted in comedy as well as singing, so that her performance as Fanny is quite on target (such as the sudden dropping into "Yiddish" sch tick - like referring to her "schwans" instead of "swans" in the mock ballet in the Follies). She happens to be better looking than Fanny, but that is not unexpected in any movie. For that matter the handsome Omar Shariff is far better looking than Nicky Arnstein was. Shariff, by the way, is given sufficient time on screen to fill out his character - a good natured man driven by humiliation and desperation to commit fraud. Kay Medford (as Fanny's mother) and Walter Pigeon (as Flo Ziegfeld) give very effective performances in the film as well.
Not all the songs from the show are in the movie. "Cornet Man" is replaced by "I Want to be Blue". The song "Find Yourself A Man" is reduced to a dance tune at Mrs. Brice's saloon. A song sung by Fanny's mother and her friend Eddie, "Who Taught Her Everything She Knows" was dropped (one wonders if it was ever shot). And (as pointed out on this thread) "The Swan" replaced the World War I spoof "Rat-a-tat-tat" ("I'm Private Schwartz bin Rockavay!").
I only have one little comment to make. Nicky Arnstein was a professional gambler, and had worked closely with Arnold Rothstein on several jobs. Rothstein (renamed Peterman here) was responsible for the fraud that snared Nicky. But Nicky was fully aware of the fraud in the sale of the bonds. He was also aware that the powerful Rothstein was someone you did not threaten in a law court by blaming for a fraud. Rothstein would have retaliated - against Fanny and their daughter Frances. So it makes plenty of sense that Nicky took the blame for the fraud. Two years in prison versus potential physical danger to his loved ones - well I can fully appreciate why he made his choice in court.
Streisand's insistence on doing her films her way has become legendary, and has built up a negative image legend of egomania gone amok. That her ideas have worked out to be successful more frequently than not is overlooked. It shouldn't be.
FUNNY GIRL was directed by William Wyler, and Wyler was notorious for doing his films his way until they were gotten right. He would do and redo a scene for the closest thing to perfection he could get. It is notable that he and Streisand did not end up at loggerheads on the set but worked pretty nicely together. It is as though they understood precisely what would work for the film in the same way.
Streisand is quite gifted in comedy as well as singing, so that her performance as Fanny is quite on target (such as the sudden dropping into "Yiddish" sch tick - like referring to her "schwans" instead of "swans" in the mock ballet in the Follies). She happens to be better looking than Fanny, but that is not unexpected in any movie. For that matter the handsome Omar Shariff is far better looking than Nicky Arnstein was. Shariff, by the way, is given sufficient time on screen to fill out his character - a good natured man driven by humiliation and desperation to commit fraud. Kay Medford (as Fanny's mother) and Walter Pigeon (as Flo Ziegfeld) give very effective performances in the film as well.
Not all the songs from the show are in the movie. "Cornet Man" is replaced by "I Want to be Blue". The song "Find Yourself A Man" is reduced to a dance tune at Mrs. Brice's saloon. A song sung by Fanny's mother and her friend Eddie, "Who Taught Her Everything She Knows" was dropped (one wonders if it was ever shot). And (as pointed out on this thread) "The Swan" replaced the World War I spoof "Rat-a-tat-tat" ("I'm Private Schwartz bin Rockavay!").
I only have one little comment to make. Nicky Arnstein was a professional gambler, and had worked closely with Arnold Rothstein on several jobs. Rothstein (renamed Peterman here) was responsible for the fraud that snared Nicky. But Nicky was fully aware of the fraud in the sale of the bonds. He was also aware that the powerful Rothstein was someone you did not threaten in a law court by blaming for a fraud. Rothstein would have retaliated - against Fanny and their daughter Frances. So it makes plenty of sense that Nicky took the blame for the fraud. Two years in prison versus potential physical danger to his loved ones - well I can fully appreciate why he made his choice in court.