1953 Mantovani And His Orchestra: The Song From The Moulin Rouge

As 'bic' has become a generic term to describe all pens, so 'Mantovani' has come to conjure up a blanket bland genre of instrumental confection designed solely to pour out of lift speakers the world over. Not entirely fair, but with 'The Song From The Moulin Rouge' as evidence, it's hard to mount a credible defence. Taken from the soundtrack of John Houston's 'Moulin Rouge' (about painter Toulouse-Lautrec and his nineteenth century cronies making whoopee in Paris), this theme is not something that's come to define the movie the way that, for example, John Williams' 'Jaws' or Elmer Bernstein's 'Magnificent Seven' soundtracks have come to define theirs. Rather than anything striking or memorable, it wafts by in a lazy evocation of quiet Parisian evenings (ironically, of the type that Monsieur Lautrec didn't enjoy too many of) and as mood music it works well enough. But in it's drift, it's more lift music than uplifting music and though enjoyable while it lasts, it's forgotten almost as soon as it's over.