Knight at the Movies ARCHIVES
BabsFest 2005:
The Barbra Streisand DVD Collection-Funny Girl/Funny Lady Set
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever DVD
2-2-05 Knight at the Movies column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Five films starring Gay Icon Number One, Judy Garland, received a spectacular marketing blitz last April when
Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the MGM catalogue pre-1970 released them on DVD. To mark the 60th
anniversary of one of Garland’s greatest films, Meet Me In St. Louis, Warners came through with a fabulous two-
disc Special Edition. Not only did they meticulously restore the film but they packaged it with an additional disc of
wonderful extras. These included the little known but Emmy award winning documentary history of MGM,
Hollywood the Dream Factory and a late 1960s TV pilot starring Celeste Holm, Shelley Fabares in Garland’s part
and perhaps most interestingly to our readership, hunky Michael Blodgett as the boy next store (Blodgett also
played Lance Rocke, the blond gigolo who struts around in a leopard bikini before getting beheaded in Beyond the
Valley of the Dolls) Along with the St. Louis release, Warners issued Garland classics for the first time on DVD, In
the Good Old Summertime, For Me and My Gal, Ziegfeld Girl, and Love Finds Andy Hardy. All the films had
assorted extras and were lapped up by Garland fans (this one included).
Now Gay Icon Number Two, Barbra Streisand, is having six of her movies re-released in February, with five by
Columbia, the studio where she has made the majority of her “classics.” A box set with The Mirror Has Two Faces,
The Prince of Tides and The Way We Were hits the streets next Tuesday with a Funny Girl/Funny Lady box set
arriving in two weeks on the 22nd. That same day Paramount is also releasing On A Clear Day You Can See
Forever. The good news is that Columbia is bringing back the deleted DVD title, The Mirror Has Two Faces and
Clear Day, one of my favorite Streisand films, is being released on DVD for the first time. The bad news is that
none of these, aside from The Way We Were, are Special Edition releases and contain any new material like
deleted scenes, making of documentaries or Streisand commentaries (and even The Way We Were is just a
repackage job).
Putting together 1973’s The Way We Were with two of Streisand’s directorial efforts from the 90s, Mirror and
Prince might seem odd but Columbia doesn’t own the rights to Yentl, her first acting-directing film and I think the
packaging works. This trio of films, aside from Mirror’s light comedic tone in its first half, is heavy on the drama
(and the syrup in some places) and fit well together. Streisand did some of her best screen work as Katie Morosky
(and was there ever a more iconic pairing than she and Robert Redford?) under the expert direction of Sydney
Pollack. The old fashioned, tragic love story is steeped with one cliché after another but the intense emotion that
Streisand brings to her scene contrasted with Redford’s unspoken, inner conflict (he matches her scene after
scene) is thrilling to contemplate. And old queen that I am, that last scene still gets me everytime (aided in no
small part by Marvin Hamlisch’s beautiful, sonorous score). The film has a special place in my heart as it was the
first movie I ever reviewed (for my high school newspaper – guess what my column was called) and I still rankle
when I think of the Oscar being snatched away by that bloody Glenda Jackson person. Babs was robbed. Deleted
scenes, a making of documentary and commentaries by all concerned make this the stand out of the trio.
Prince and Mirror – the other two pictures in the set – both have their major pros (Streisand is a great director of
actors, for example – with Nick Nolte, Blyth Danner and Kate Nelligan as evidence of that in the first and Jeff
Bridges and Lauren Bacall in the second) – and their major cons (both films shift focus abruptly – Prince into grand
high romance mode away from the much more compelling history of the Wingo family and Mirror from the
delightful comedy of manners in the first half to the florid drama of the second half). Both movies look and sound
great on DVD and I want to note again the beautiful music scores for each (James Newton Howard did Prince,
while Hamlisch returned for Mirror). One question: a Streisand approved, double laserdisc version of Prince was
released by Criterion (it’s now out of print) that included a full length director’s commentary, deleted scenes and
outtakes along with Barbra’s vocal version of “Places That Belong To You” over the closing credits. Why weren’t
those tantalizing elements included?
Columbia is including the brief featurettes “Barbra In Movieland” and “This Is Streisand” that were produced to
promote Funny Girl but the extended “The Swan” sequence and other vault goodies are not. Nor does Funny Lady
have any extra material but again, for Barbra lovers like myself, having a bookend of these two quintissential
performances is a must. It’s also interesting to watch the difference between the Barbra of 1968 and the much
more assured Barbra of 1975.
I’m happiest/saddest however, with the On A Clear Day You Can See Forever release. Happy because Streisand
never looked more lovely than in this 1970 musical wearing Cecil Beaton’s costumes in the London reincarnation
scenes and she moves effortlessly between the kooky Bronx Daisy Gamble and the cultured, sexy Melinda
Tentrees, and easily cancels Yves Montand out of the movie (a casting decision that’s still a head scratcher). What
makes me sad is the knowledge that director Vincente Minnelli’s cut was taken out of his hands, that many musical
numbers ended up being excised and that none of these are included on the DVD (check out www.barbra-archives.
com for more background info on the movie). But even without the additions of the deletions (including a
Streisand-Jack Nicholson duet!) there’s the eye-popping Minnelli color pallette to behold in the Royal Pavillion
scenes and Streisand’s voice, in my estimation, is at its zenith. Her renditions of the beautiful Burton Lane-Alan
Jay Lerner score are sensational.
All of these are bound to get the Diva DVD treatment at some point. Until then, my recommendation: help yourself
to these six sticks o’DVD butter, nosh to your heart’s content and keep your fingers crossed for later this year
when we Streisandites can look forward to Special Editions of both Yentl AND A Star Is Born. And if that’s not, Gay
Icon Number Three, Bette Midler’s got a Special Edition of Beaches due this spring.
The Barbra Streisand DVD Collection-Funny Girl/Funny Lady Set
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever DVD
2-2-05 Knight at the Movies column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Five films starring Gay Icon Number One, Judy Garland, received a spectacular marketing blitz last April when
Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the MGM catalogue pre-1970 released them on DVD. To mark the 60th
anniversary of one of Garland’s greatest films, Meet Me In St. Louis, Warners came through with a fabulous two-
disc Special Edition. Not only did they meticulously restore the film but they packaged it with an additional disc of
wonderful extras. These included the little known but Emmy award winning documentary history of MGM,
Hollywood the Dream Factory and a late 1960s TV pilot starring Celeste Holm, Shelley Fabares in Garland’s part
and perhaps most interestingly to our readership, hunky Michael Blodgett as the boy next store (Blodgett also
played Lance Rocke, the blond gigolo who struts around in a leopard bikini before getting beheaded in Beyond the
Valley of the Dolls) Along with the St. Louis release, Warners issued Garland classics for the first time on DVD, In
the Good Old Summertime, For Me and My Gal, Ziegfeld Girl, and Love Finds Andy Hardy. All the films had
assorted extras and were lapped up by Garland fans (this one included).
Now Gay Icon Number Two, Barbra Streisand, is having six of her movies re-released in February, with five by
Columbia, the studio where she has made the majority of her “classics.” A box set with The Mirror Has Two Faces,
The Prince of Tides and The Way We Were hits the streets next Tuesday with a Funny Girl/Funny Lady box set
arriving in two weeks on the 22nd. That same day Paramount is also releasing On A Clear Day You Can See
Forever. The good news is that Columbia is bringing back the deleted DVD title, The Mirror Has Two Faces and
Clear Day, one of my favorite Streisand films, is being released on DVD for the first time. The bad news is that
none of these, aside from The Way We Were, are Special Edition releases and contain any new material like
deleted scenes, making of documentaries or Streisand commentaries (and even The Way We Were is just a
repackage job).
Putting together 1973’s The Way We Were with two of Streisand’s directorial efforts from the 90s, Mirror and
Prince might seem odd but Columbia doesn’t own the rights to Yentl, her first acting-directing film and I think the
packaging works. This trio of films, aside from Mirror’s light comedic tone in its first half, is heavy on the drama
(and the syrup in some places) and fit well together. Streisand did some of her best screen work as Katie Morosky
(and was there ever a more iconic pairing than she and Robert Redford?) under the expert direction of Sydney
Pollack. The old fashioned, tragic love story is steeped with one cliché after another but the intense emotion that
Streisand brings to her scene contrasted with Redford’s unspoken, inner conflict (he matches her scene after
scene) is thrilling to contemplate. And old queen that I am, that last scene still gets me everytime (aided in no
small part by Marvin Hamlisch’s beautiful, sonorous score). The film has a special place in my heart as it was the
first movie I ever reviewed (for my high school newspaper – guess what my column was called) and I still rankle
when I think of the Oscar being snatched away by that bloody Glenda Jackson person. Babs was robbed. Deleted
scenes, a making of documentary and commentaries by all concerned make this the stand out of the trio.
Prince and Mirror – the other two pictures in the set – both have their major pros (Streisand is a great director of
actors, for example – with Nick Nolte, Blyth Danner and Kate Nelligan as evidence of that in the first and Jeff
Bridges and Lauren Bacall in the second) – and their major cons (both films shift focus abruptly – Prince into grand
high romance mode away from the much more compelling history of the Wingo family and Mirror from the
delightful comedy of manners in the first half to the florid drama of the second half). Both movies look and sound
great on DVD and I want to note again the beautiful music scores for each (James Newton Howard did Prince,
while Hamlisch returned for Mirror). One question: a Streisand approved, double laserdisc version of Prince was
released by Criterion (it’s now out of print) that included a full length director’s commentary, deleted scenes and
outtakes along with Barbra’s vocal version of “Places That Belong To You” over the closing credits. Why weren’t
those tantalizing elements included?
Columbia is including the brief featurettes “Barbra In Movieland” and “This Is Streisand” that were produced to
promote Funny Girl but the extended “The Swan” sequence and other vault goodies are not. Nor does Funny Lady
have any extra material but again, for Barbra lovers like myself, having a bookend of these two quintissential
performances is a must. It’s also interesting to watch the difference between the Barbra of 1968 and the much
more assured Barbra of 1975.
I’m happiest/saddest however, with the On A Clear Day You Can See Forever release. Happy because Streisand
never looked more lovely than in this 1970 musical wearing Cecil Beaton’s costumes in the London reincarnation
scenes and she moves effortlessly between the kooky Bronx Daisy Gamble and the cultured, sexy Melinda
Tentrees, and easily cancels Yves Montand out of the movie (a casting decision that’s still a head scratcher). What
makes me sad is the knowledge that director Vincente Minnelli’s cut was taken out of his hands, that many musical
numbers ended up being excised and that none of these are included on the DVD (check out www.barbra-archives.
com for more background info on the movie). But even without the additions of the deletions (including a
Streisand-Jack Nicholson duet!) there’s the eye-popping Minnelli color pallette to behold in the Royal Pavillion
scenes and Streisand’s voice, in my estimation, is at its zenith. Her renditions of the beautiful Burton Lane-Alan
Jay Lerner score are sensational.
All of these are bound to get the Diva DVD treatment at some point. Until then, my recommendation: help yourself
to these six sticks o’DVD butter, nosh to your heart’s content and keep your fingers crossed for later this year
when we Streisandites can look forward to Special Editions of both Yentl AND A Star Is Born. And if that’s not, Gay
Icon Number Three, Bette Midler’s got a Special Edition of Beaches due this spring.
More Barbra Than You Can Shake A Buttah Knife At
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