Fred Astaire plays Dick Avery, a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in the new release Funny Face - Paramount Centennial Collection, an entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen. Audrey Hepburn stars as Jo Stockton, a salesgirl at a Greenwich Village bookstore who reluctantly allows Avery and his boss, "Quality" magazine owner Maggie Prescott, to transform her into an international supermodel. The film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Writing, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costumes, and features original music by George Gershwin. This movie is a technicolor joy to watch. From the eye-popping colors of Maggie Prescott's office to the brilliant green of the trees in Paris, even Audrey Hepburn in all black seems to glow onscreen. And while I can't claim to have totally understood the sub-plot of her being a "disciple" of a French Philosopher whose philosophy is called empathicalism, I have to guess that questioning … [Read more...]