On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Paramount Home Entertainment   Reviewed by Tony Buchsbaum	In 1970, Barbra Streisand was at the height of her popularity. Funny Girl had been an awesome success and she'd won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Hello Dolly, even though an embarrassment, had also found success. Streisand's third film was On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Like her first two films, this was based on a Broadway musical that had starred Barbara Harris. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and featured Yves Montand, Bob Newhart and Jack Nicholson. On A Clear Day is both a contemporary musical-comedy of manners and a sumptuous period piece, the period being late 19th century England. The stories intersect in the person of Daisy Gamble (Streisand), a rather square New York City girl who's engaged to the city's most boring man, Warren, played by Larry Blyden. Warren's entire world revolves around his image, which he believes is what keeps him employed at Chemical Foods Inc. His biggest problem these days is Daisy's smoking habit, which he thinks his boss will find repulsive. Daisy, to her credit, tries to beat the habit by seeing a hypnotherapist, Marc Chabot (Montand). During a session, Chabot unearths a past life, that of Melinda Winifred Wayne Tentrees, a British social climber and psychic. All hell breaks loose when Daisy falls for Chabot -- and Chabot, after many hypnosis sessions, falls for Melinda. On A Clear Day is one beautiful film. Photographed by Harry Stradling, the images are crisp, with deep color and a fine attention paid to the film's star. As Daisy, who's living on a budget, Streisand looks metropolitan divine. As Melinda, she's stunning in gowns created by Cecil Beaton. Perhaps the film's biggest problem is Montand, who seems terribly bored by his role. Add to that his apparent inability to sing his songs -- or his inability to pronounce the lyrics -- and it's fairly disastrous. His French accent all but skewers the words and the result almost derails the film. On A Clear Day works in just about every other way. The transitions between 1970s New York and late 19th century England are handled with finesse, with all the regressions taking place in Daisy's mind. (How Chabot could fall in love, then, with Melinda makes no sense -- but hey, you either get on the ride or you don't). The songs are terrific, starting with "Hurry It's Lovely Up Here," the opening number that Daisy sings to her flowers to make them grow. (And they do, quickly, thanks to time-lapse photography.) There's also "Love with All the Trimmings," "Go to Sleep," and the title song, performed at the film's touching finale. The first-time DVD release unfortunately contains no extras. I imagine a making-of retrospective would have been fascinating, as so many ace talents were involved in the film's production, but this was not to be. Still, the film has been preserved beautifully and is well worth owning for the songs, the costumes, and for Streisand's underrated performance that showcased her early range as she walked both sides of the line between comedy and camp. | April 2005   Tony Buchsbaum is the author of Total Eclipse. He and his family live in Lawrenceville, NJ, and he is Creative Director/Copy for a pharmaceutical ad agency in Philadelphia.	On A Clear Day is one beautiful film. Photographed by Harry Stradling, the images are crisp, with deep color and a fine attention paid to the film's star. As Daisy, who's living on a budget, Streisand looks metropolitan divine. As Melinda, she's stunning in gowns created by Cecil Beaton.