Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"when did your sparkle turn to fire, and your warmth become desire?...", February 26, 2007
GIGI is for me the ultimate movie musical from M-G-M. So many wonderful characters, and so many classic moments. The soundtrack album (newly-expanded and restored from the fine people at TCM), is a great new way to remember this fine film.
Based on the novella by Colette, the story centers around a headstrong young tomboy called Gigi (Leslie Caron), whose childhood friendship with eligible bachelor Gaston (Louis Jourdan) takes an unexpected twist. Tired of the constant stream of gold-diggers and debutantes who want to marry him, Gaston decides to ask Gigi. Her grandmother and aunt (Hermione Gingold and Isabel Jeans), two of the most noteworthy of courtesans in their youth, insist that Gigi shouldn't be tied down by marriage. Gigi is faced with the task of becoming a glamorous courtesan, but Gaston wants a wife...
The gilded, sweeping score of GIGI was provided by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, still riding high on the success of "My Fair Lady" on Broadway. With such wonderful, character-driven numbers like "She is Not Thinking of Me" (a devilish waltz for Gaston and his latest feather-brained partner); "The Parisians" (Gigi's plea for understanding the ways of love); and "I Remember It Well" (a comical duet for Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold).
This soundtrack album features the entire score, newly-restored in true stereo for the very first time, plus extensive incidental music and background scoring. Leslie Caron was never a good singer, and her vocals were dubbed here by Betty Wand. Included are three bonus tracks of Caron in rehearsals, performing her own renditions of "The Parisians", "The Night They Invented Champagne", and "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight". While the songs of Gigi aren't especially demanding, listening to Caron on these tracks gives you a clear understanding of why she was later dubbed (despite the fact that she gives Gigi the youthful innocence so befitting of the character).
GIGI was the final hurrah for the M-G-M movie musicals. It won the 'Best Picture' Oscar plus nods for the composers, and 'Best Song' for "Gigi" sung by Louis Jourdan. It remains to this day one of the most enjoyable - and joyous - movies of all time. The soundtrack album is a must for all fans, and the overall quality and standard here is superb.
[TCM/Rhino 7243 8 38115 2 6]
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Orchestrations presented beauitfully, vocals not so beautifu, December 28, 2001
I am by no means an expert on the technicalities of sound recording, and it usually doesn't bother me, but while the brilliant orchestrations on the underscoring of the soundtrack of this classic film are heard generally well, the singers sound a bit strange (Particularly Louis Jourdan) and it's a bit disconcerting. It definitly seems like a sound problem. The problem might be that, unlike the usual case in movie musicals, the singers and orchestra were recorded at seperate times and in seperate locations to save time. Maybe the singers were recorded too hastily and the many takes combined too quickly to worry too much about sound problems and the folks at Turner/Rhino (Who generally do an excellent job remastering the MGM soundtracks) couldn't really fix them. The sound on Jourdan's vocals (especially in "Gigi," as on the recording) isn't that great on the video copy I taped off a television airing, either, so I guess it's a permenant problem. What's really sad is that the performers sound like they're in a recording studio and it's hard to imagine them as they are in the film, which again is probably the sound's fault, but what can you do?Oh, well, enough about the technical stuff. In spite of the sound problems, you are sure to enjoy the performances of Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermoine Gingold, Betty Wand dubbing for Leslie Caron, and even Caron herself in the first verse of "The Night They Invented Champagne" and in three piano/vocal recordings of her songs (before it was decided to dub her) included as bonus tracks. They could shine through even the muddiest sound, as could Lerner and Loewe's wonderful score, which may not be politically correct at times but is so irresistably charming you can't help but love it anyway. And as I said, the orchestra sounds superb and Loewe's lovely and witty underscoring is really given its due. Music you can't really pay attention to in the film, like the waltz underscoring the "Ice Skating Sequence," and the urgency, seeming hopelessness and hilarity the underscoring of the "Lessons" scenes conveys, are really compositions that can be enjoyed in their own right, apart from being buried under the decor and dialogue of the film. Unless you are even more tolerant about sound problems that I usually am, you may have some quibbles about this soundtrack, but overall, it's still as great as the film itself.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the finest original musical scores in film history., July 28, 1998
Although one could quibble that GIGI lumbered across its CinemaScope expanse like a leaden elephant, the beauty of its sets and costumes, the charm of its performances, and the joy of possibly the most elegant original score ever written for a film musical make this an aural experience that is hard to beat. Loewe's sumptuous music and Lerner's lyrics ("like finely cut crystal") are as bubbly as champagne itself. The LP was quite short - just over 30 minutes - with the 11 set numbers. The CD goes back to the original track and fills in with background scoring that adds much to the lilt and grace of the aural experience. Caron was the only singer who was dubbed (Betty Wand). This is a masterpiece of song writing and scoring. Don't miss it!
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~ William Warfield
~ Deborah Kerr
~ André Previn
~ George Gershwin
by Alan Jay Lerner 
