Thirty-five years after the 1955 release of the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Kismet (and of its corresponding soundtrack LP), it had become, along with other MGM properties, the possession of SBK Record Productions, Inc., which contracted with CBS Special Products for the assemblage of a new, expanded soundtrack album. Producer Dan Rivard and annotator Bruce Eder (who selected the tracks) did not simply add some bonus material to the original album; they went back to the film track itself and excerpted nearly 63 ...
Read More
Thirty-five years after the 1955 release of the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Kismet (and of its corresponding soundtrack LP), it had become, along with other MGM properties, the possession of SBK Record Productions, Inc., which contracted with CBS Special Products for the assemblage of a new, expanded soundtrack album. Producer Dan Rivard and annotator Bruce Eder (who selected the tracks) did not simply add some bonus material to the original album; they went back to the film track itself and excerpted nearly 63 of its 113 minutes, including lots of dialogue and background music. That still meant, of course, that the score lacked several songs that had been heard on Broadway, since they simply never were part of the film. Typically, Hollywood had excised songs sung by minor characters, in this case "Was I Wazir?" and "He's in Love," while adding a new number for one of the stars, "Bored," sung by Dolores Gray. (Although one of the newly added tracks was called "Rhymes Have I," this was not the song by that title from the show, but a dialogue segment.) Thus, the soundtrack to Kismet remained inferior to the Original Broadway Cast album, despite boasting an unusually strong-voiced cast itself, led by Howard Keel and including Vic Damone (who got to sing "Stranger in Paradise") and Ann Blyth ("Baubles, Bangles and Beads"). (Not long after this album appeared, the rights to the film passed to another entity, resulting in yet another version of the recording released by Rhino in 1996.) ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
Read Less
![Kismet [1955 Soundtrack] [CBS Bonus Tracks] - 1955 Soundtrack](https://www2.alibris-static.com/kismet-1955-soundtrack-cbs-bonus-tracks/cover/f77482tgn9w_l.jpg)
![Kismet [1955 Soundtrack] [CBS Bonus Tracks]](https://www2.alibris-static.com/kismet-1955-soundtrack-cbs-bonus-tracks/cover/f77482tgn9w.jpg)
![Kismet [1989 British Studio Cast Recording] [Highlights]](https://www4.alibris-static.com/kismet-1989-british-studio-cast-recording-highlights/cover/o01291rnq7w.jpg)
