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re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material...

Posted by:	pierce 02:12 am EST 11/04/15
In reply to:	re: UGH! I can't think of a worse choice to re-invent this material... - Michael_Portantiere 11:29 am EST 11/03/15

Have you ever seen the full, unedited version of "The Swan?" Yes, I have. I remember being pretty excited when I finally got a chance to see it - then the number began, and the gloom set in. This was one of those cases where "longer" didn't mean "better." There was a bit where Streisand gets hit in the stomach with an arrow, which she pulls out and plunges into Tommy Rall. And it didn't end with Streisand flying off (looking "ducky," as one columnist put it); instead, her swan character dies, or as Streisand put it, "quacks up." The number might have seemed like a good idea in the planning stages, but once it was filmed it just didn't work. But after all the publicity it attracted during shooting, I guess William Wyler felt he had to keep some of it in the movie - though he didn't do the sequence any favors by superimposing shots of Nick Arnstein gambling over images of Streisand getting dizzy from too many pirouettes. After a few months, that version was removed from the roadshow presentation and replaced with the one you can currently see on DVD. I can't help thinking the movie should would have played better without "The Swan" - although the best idea would have been to stick with "Rat Tat Tat Tat." It's funny - sometimes Herb Ross can stage a number quite effectively for the camera (as we see in most of Funny Girl) and sometimes he can seem utterly clueless (I'd cite "The Swan" and just about every number in Funny Lady as examples).

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