Customer Reviews

White Cliffs of Dover

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She didn't have the jazzy pipes of Bing Crosby or Rosemary Clooney, but she had a clear, pleasant voice that had a lot of warmth to it, like bringing your cold hands up against a warm teapot. This box set has many of her greatest classics on it. "The White Cliffs of Dover" was inspired by England's privation during World War II, and although it was written by an American who had never been to Dover (and who didn't know that bluebirds are far and few between on those chalky cliffs), English people loved it too. Another popular song, "We'll Meet Again," still speaks to people separated by war and other disasters, it's cheerful, but there's a tear behind the smile.

Vera Lynn is still alive, nearly ninety, though her days of public performance came to a gentle halt in the mid-1990s. We saw quite a bit of her then, for that was the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, and whole generations of her fans have been dying every day. Some youngsters however still admire her clarion call of a voice, and I hope that one day we will be seeing her three feature films on DVD, for she wasn't a bad little actress either. The films were "We'll Meet Again," "Rhythm Serenade," and "One Exciting Night."

In the meantime, film fans who love Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove" are innately familiar with Vera Lynn's majesty, because she can be heard singing over the final scenes of the film.

I could feel the emotion in the singing,she will always be England!