This seems to have gone straight to video and I'm surprised it got made at all in this day and age. The writer director has nothing else on his CV and according to the DVD this was made seven years ago albeit only released in 2009. The idea of several standards in one film appealed strongly to me but I was disappointed by the weird phrasing which occurred at least once in every number with both principals being at fault. They also have trouble getting through an entire number and one of the most truncated is the very first, Irving Berlin's 'They Say That Falling In Love Is Wonderful', one of the ballads from 'Annie Get Your Gun'. The male lead sings the first stanza (the song is in A,A,B,A) skips the second 'A' section and the Release and segues straight into the last 'A' section. Maybe it was a budget problem but given that he was in his own apartment and it was just voice and piano and especially given that the lyric points up what is to follow - he is going to meet and fall for Amy Adams - you'd think they would have stretched to thirty-two bars. 'You Go To My Head' is also truncated; this is performed as a duet and they miss the first 'A' section completely and begin with the second. Amy Adams does get to sing 'In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning' all through but veers badly from the melody. On the plus side we get a great soundtrack, performers who are clean, well- dressed and free from tattoos or body piercings; there are no drugs, no swearing, no sex; on the minus side the great songs are thrown away.
Review of Moonlight Serenade
