Movie Song Catalog

From The Critics

Songs sung (or dubbed) on screen, their performers, and supporting musicians are the subject of this directory. The authors have included films made from Broadway musicals, nonmusicals containing songs written by famous lyricists and composers or performed by well-known performers, or award-winning songs. All types of movies are listed, including Westerns, comedies, dramas, and concert films and rock musicals Films are arranged by title. Among the information given in each entry are country of origin, year of release, black and white or color, running time, director, music director, production company, name of the orchestra or band appearing in the film, vocalist and backup singers, person dubbing the song (where needed), and alternate titles of the film. Occasionally entries contain explanatory information about the film or snippets from reviews that appeared in "Variety" or the "New York Times". There are indexes of performers, songwriters, and songs at the end of the directory Beyond listing the performe (s) of the son (s), no other performers in the film are listed, and no information is given as to the availability of recordings or videos of the films. Of course, this information is readily available in other sources, while musical information of this depth is not. This volume would be an appropriate acquisition for academic libraries and for large public libraries with film-study collections, or those with busy reference departments where movie-song questions are likely to be asked.

Booknews

Encompassing both British and American films, entries are listed alphabetically by film title, and include full production information. Songs enumerated for each film are accompanied by performer's, lyricist's, and composer's names, and brief reviews of the period are often noted. Offers indexes by song, performer, and songwriter, and a painless way to discover who was really singing for your favorite tone-deaf star. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)