Funny Face (1957)

A fashion magazine editor (Kay Thompson) and her photographer (Fred Astaire playing at Richard Avedon) take a Bohemian girl (Audrey Hepburn) that they find in Greenwich Village and whisk her off to Paris to become a top model. Ostensibly based on the 1927 George and Ira Gershwin musical which also starred Astaire, in fact, it uses only the title (the plot is completely different) and four of the songs from the original production. The film, a real delight, remains one of the highpoints of movie musicals from the 1950s. Astaire, as usual, is marvelous but Hepburn displays her dancing skills and her plaintive rendition of How Long Has This Been Going On? is poignant and lovely and no one wears high fashion like Hepburn. The wonderful Kay Thompson, a staple of the MGM musicals as a vocal arranger, steps in front of the camera and just about steals the movie. The only sour note and it's a minor one is the film's slightly anti-intellectual bent toward alternative philosophies whose movement it satirizes as well as the fashion industry. Expertly directed by Stanley Donen. With Suzy Parker in her film debut, Ruta Lee, Robert Flemyng, Michel Auclair, Virginia Gibson and Sue England.