Customer Reviews

Billboard Top Movie Hits: 1955-1959 (Soundtrack Anthology)

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You can't help noticing that, in spite of the title suggesting that this covers the top movie hits from 1955 to 1959, five are from 1955, one from 1956, and four from 1957. There is nothing representing either 1958 or 1959.

But then again, the best 1958 had to offer was Gigi from the film of the same name. It did win the Academy Award as best song that year, however the movie version did not dent the charts and only the Vic Damone rendition did anything, reaching a lowly # 88. On the other hand, in 1959 Frank Sinatra "and a bunch of kids" had a # 30 with High Hopes from the film A Hole In The Head, and it too won the Academy Award as best song.

But, to make room for either or both of those would have required the producers to drop a couple. In my opinion they could have started with track 10. Although the Bernstein version did come from the soundtrack, his was an especially raucous presentation of a tune not pleasing to the ear, and one that, seemingly, everyone and his uncle attempted that year. These included Richard Maltby, who had the top-ranking version [# 14 compared to # 16 for Bernstein], Dick Jacobs, The McGuire Sisters, Billy May, Les Elgar, and Buddy Morrow - under varying titles from Molly-O to Delilah Jones.

But it would have been difficult to select another for deletion, as all were mega-hits. Tracks 1, 2, 4 to 6, and 8 all rose to # 1 and, combined, spent 32 weeks at that position. Track 3 topped out at # 5, but spent 39 weeks on the charts, while track 7 climbed to # 2 and stayed around for 37 weeks. The lowest charter, aside from track 10, was Jane Morgan's Fascination which, nevertheless, peaked at a quite respectable # 7.

So, all things considered, Rhino and Billboard came up with a neat little package supplemented by two pages of liner notes offering interesting snippets of information on each track. As always with those involved the sound reproduction is excellent.

In keeping with the trend to re-release some of those early 10-selection CDs and expanding the contents, this series would be a good choice to go to 15 or 18 tracks and bring in some of the selections by-passed the first time around.

This is a wonderful collection of the most popular love songs from hit films of the late '50s. Debbie Reynolds singing "Tammy's in Love" from the charming movie Tammy and the Bachelor has haunted my dreams since childhood. And it's not just me; "Tammy" was #1 on the charts and was the THE top soundtrack single for ALL of the 1950s; and another version done by the Ames Bros. went to #5 on the charts.
Also there's teen idol Pat Boone singing "April Love" and the very popular Doris Day with "Que Sera Sera" and also "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and... well you can read the titles above. This is a great collection of love ballads.